Page 13 (1/2)
A license to do and say anything she wanted--with no repercussions
No Eberhard, no guns, no bad memories
Maybe this place wasn’t so bad after all
CHAPTER 5
ADRIENNE HAD BEEN WANDERING THE GROUNDS OF DALKEITH for several hours when she stu two-day ride from Comyn Keep to her new home--Dalkeith-Upon-the-Sea--by cantankerous steed, she’d planned to collapse in the nearest soft bed, sleep for days, and then when she woke up (if she was still here) find a good bottle of Scotch and drink herself into oblivion And then check again to see if she was still here
Not only hadn’t she been able to find a soft bed in the riotous castle, but there had been no Scotch, no sign of a husband, and everyone had sunored her Made it awfully hard to feel at home Grimm had made haste froranite walls of the Douglas keep, although he’d see the journey
But she was no fool She didn’t have to be hit in the head with a stick to figure out that she was definitely not a wanted wife Wed by proxy, no welcon of a husband Definitely not wanted
Adrienne gave up her fruitless search for husband, bed, and bottle and went for a stroll to explore her new hoh the rowan trees and upon the forge at the edge of the forest Upon thethe steel of a horseshoe
Adrienne had heard that her husband by proxy was too beautiful to be borne, but this nificent Grimm a veritable toad
There just wasn’t this ht in helpless fascination as she watched him work To see this kind of ain entry to that inner sanctu his body in hoe to himself But in this century such a man existed by si to survive, to command, to endure
When the smithy twisted and swooped to switch hammers, she saw a rivulet of shich had beaded at his brow run down his cheek, drop with a splatter to his chest, and trickle, oh, so slowly along the thick ridges of muscle in his abdomen To his navel, to the top of his kilt, and lower still She eyed his legs with fascination, waiting to see the drops of sweat reappear on those powerful calves, and wondering deliriously about every inch in between
So intense was the shie her need, that Adrienne didn’t realize he had stopped for several moments
Until she raised her eyes froasped