The Invisible Husband Read Online Free Page A

stream of whispered curses.
His first meeting with Eve had not gone remotely as planned. She
clearly thought him a lecherous lunatic. He wasn’t sure which hurt
more, being told not to touch her or being laughed at. His mother
was right; he was the biggest romantic fool ever born. His stupid
heart had led him into another patch of trouble. The impulsive
heart, which had compelled him to call out a man he knew could kill
him because the man had ravished a local girl, had compelled him to
wed a stranger named Eve. The local girl had never thanked him for
nearly dying to salvage her disreputable honour and it appeared
unlikely that his wife would thank him for marrying her. The
thought of facing her scorn across the breakfast table wearing his
cursed silly eye patch made him leap off the bed and hoarsely roar
his impotent rage. Why did life have to be so difficult? All he
wanted to do was to take his wife in his arms and cover her with
kisses. Just because he was a stranger didn’t mean he couldn’t win
her over given time and opportunity. Three lazy knocks made him
scowl at the door. He knew that knock. He stomped over to the door
to the hall and yanked it open. “What the devil are you doing here?
I told you to stay away until she falls in love with me.”

    His beautiful
baby brother merely blinked in disinterest at the topic and pushed
past him into his bedchamber. “So how did it go last night? You
must be quite a lover old man. I accidentally pressed my ear to her
keyhole and heard the most delicious laughter every few
minutes…”

    Adam paled in
horror, she was still laughing at him? “I paid you good money to
keep your pretty face away from home for at least two months. Don’t
tell me you’ve lost all that money on another stupid wager?”

    “Mother says
she’ll skin me and feed me to the ravens if I wager another penny.
You know what that means. She’ll marry me off to Cousin Guinevere.
Why couldn’t you marry Guinevere? She thinks you and your eye patch
are to die for. The horrid woman made me sing fifteen pirate songs
before I could escape her the last time Mamma made me call on her.”
The younger man fell onto his brother’s bed and put his hands under
his neck. “So how did it go last night?”

    “It didn’t! She
fell asleep before I could introduce myself now go away before she
falls in love with you.”

    “No wonder
you’re in a bad mood.”

    “I’m not in a
bad mood. Now go away before she sees you.”

    “Relax old man;
you’re the wealthy Lord, I’m the penniless fourth son.”

    “Yes and she’s
now my wife which means I’ve cracked all my eggs and you’re more
handsome and charming so be kind to me and run away. I’ll be in a
bad mood for life if she falls in love with you.”

    “You should
write all this down and turn it into a play. You’re worse than
father; just go tell her you’re in love with her and roll her onto
the bed with sweet nothings. It always works for me.”

    Adam rolled his
eyes in irritation. “You’re a genius Luke! I’ll waltz into my
wife’s chamber, throw out my arms in a theatrical gesture of
conquering hero and in a whisper proclaim she owns my heart (even
though we’ve never met making myself look a complete ass) and
demand my conjugal rights. Yes, I’m sure that would win her over.
What woman could resist such stupidity?”

    “It’s no more
stupid than the mess you’ve cooked up. I told you to put on your
eye patch and call on her. She probably loves one eyed Lords. For
all you know her favourite doll only had one eye. It’s not like
you’re ugly. Your teeth are still good and I’ve seen dozens of
ladies watch you with admiration.”

    “No doubt they
were all whores admiring my purse.”

    “Listen old
man, you have got to stop thinking rot. You’re quite pleasant to
look at. So you look silly with an eye patch; so what? At least you
don’t also have a peg leg. Mother is concerned that you’re going to
end up with a broken