The Ties That Bind Read Online Free Page A

still have enough energy to accommodate my desires tonight as well."
    "If James doesn't return, I would be delighted."
    He angled her face back until he could kiss her. "Tonight will be extraordinary, I promise you. We will explore new territory and expand our horizons." His tongue slid into her mouth and she forgot herself in his kiss. "Do you think his lordship knows who I am, yet?"
    "He knows I have taken a lover." She pouted. "Although he doesn't seem too perturbed about it."
    "You would prefer it if he shot at me?"
    "Of course, not. It's just that I am unsure whether he simply doesn't care or if he feels unable to condemn me because he has lovers too."    
    "His lordship has never struck me as a man with much humility."
    "Before our marriage, he showed me numerous examples of his good will and amiable disposition. I thought he was truly an intelligent and understanding man." Arabella frowned as she realized she was defending her own husband to her lover.
    Tom knelt in front of her and took her hand. "Then why do you think he changed?"
    "We've discussed this before. And I'm still not sure." Arabella got to her feet and took a few agitated steps around the room. "Although lately, I've wondered if my father had more to do with his desertion than I realized at the time. It's strange that he's chosen to come back, now, isn't it."
    She glanced at Tom who now sat gingerly on the fragile couch. He shrugged. "Not so strange if you consider he now owns your fortune free and clear. He can do anything he wants, can't he?"
    Instant words of denial crowded her throat. Was she so eager to forgive James after one night of passion that she'd allow him to fool her all over again? She nodded slowly at Tom.
    "I'll remember that. I'll not let down my guard too easily until I've had the opportunity to talk things through properly with James.
    "Good for you." Tom walked toward the servants stairs. "I saw his lordship heading down to his study. Why don't you catch him there before your dinner guests arrive?"  
    After seeing Tom safely down to the kitchen, Arabella retraced her steps to the ground floor and headed for James' study. She found him with his feet up on the massive desk smoking a cigarillo.   He was already dressed for dinner in a dark blue coat and gray waistcoat which enhanced the azure of his eyes. He didn't bother to rise as she approached him, just gave her a lazy intimate smile.
    "Ah, my darling wife. Am I late for dinner?"
    Arabella laced her gloved fingers together. "Last night you intimated that the reasons for your desertion were more complex than I realized."
    James raised an eyebrow. "Did I really?"
    Arabella prayed for patience. "I admit that you were struggling to think rationally at the time but I assure you, that is what you said."
    "You, of course, were unaffected by my lovemaking then?" He sat up in his chair, knocking a pile of papers to the floor. "Your father was an overbearing monster."
    Surprised by his abrupt change of subject, she fought an instinctive desire to defend her family. Every time she had a rebellious thought about how she was raised, she half expected her father to rise from his grave and accuse her of disloyalty.
    "He was a difficult man to live with. He made his money with the sweat of his own hands and I think that gave him a distaste for the aristocracy he found hard to conceal."
    James snorted. "It didn't stop him wanting his only child to marry into the peerage though, did it?"
    Arabella met his cool stare with one of her own. "It didn't stop you from taking the lure either did it?" She took two steps forward until she was in front of the desk. "Because of your profligate nature, your family was desperate for money. You agreed to sell your ancient family name for money. Let's not forget that."
    "I didn't."
    "You didn't what? Marry me?"
    "I didn't agree to sell my family name for money."
    She struggled against a desire to cry. "Oh no, you were forced into it weren't you? A big strong man