Top
Free Shipping On Orders Over $35!
Get Rewarded for Ordering Your Textbooks! Enroll Now
Customer Reviews Read Reviews
Write a Review
What is included with this book?
The New copy of this book will include any supplemental materials advertised. Please check the title of the book to determine if it should include any access cards, study guides, lab manuals, CDs, etc.
The Used, Rental and eBook copies of this book are not guaranteed to include any supplemental materials. Typically, only the book itself is included. This is true even if the title states it includes any access cards, study guides, lab manuals, CDs, etc.
Once upon a time ...
He was drunk.
Not drunk in a silly manner, or even drunk in avaguely belligerent fashion, but head-spinning, worldwhirling,out-of-his-mind drunk. He hadn't meant to getso foxed; it had simply happened. One brandy had led toanother and then another, until his feet became as heavy aslead and his entire body was engulfed in woozy numbness.
He liked being numb.
Still, his inebriation wasn't so consuming that it kepthim from remembering the promise he had made earlierthat day. He had asked the fair Eleanor to marry him, andshe had agreed. All that was left was to tell her father, andas the earl was a friend of his own papa, there would be noobstacles to the union. The license would be procured, andEleanor would be his. Soon he would kiss her sweet lips,feel her luxuriant body against his, and make her his in a way that would seal his claim to her. The very thought of itcaused him to stiffen with desire. Perhaps he wasn't asdrunk as he'd thought.
Tossing back one more glass, he decided it was time toleave the company of these amiable gentlemen, whoseemed more than happy to pour brandy down his throatby the barrelful. He could stay there all night, drinking. Itmade him feel so very free. Eleanor made him feel free aswell. And Eleanor didn't make his head ache the nextmorning.
The image of her face swimming in his mind put aspring in his step as he made his way through the darkenedcorridors of the manor house, up the stairs to his chamber.Country house parties were always such fun.
In his room he kicked off his boots and tossed his coaton the floor. Waistcoat and shirt followed. He tripped takingoff his trews and fell onto the bed with a gleeful"Oops!" He kicked at the offending garment until hislimbs were finally free and lay on the bed gloriouslynaked and gloriously warm, as a soft summer night breezedrifted through the windows.
The world wasn't spinning, but it swayed a bit as heclosed his eyes, and he gave himself up to the sensation. Itwas like being in a boat on gently rippled lake. He likedboats. He liked this rocking feeling. It lulled him towardthe uncompromising darkness of a spirits-induced slumber.No thoughts, no insecurities, no dreams. Nothing butsweet blackness.
He was on the verge of slipping under when somethingtouched his thigh. His brow wrinkled with the effort oftrying to will his eyes open. Reluctantly the lids partedslightly, revealing the blurred vision of a woman with longblond hair hovering above him.
He smiled. "Eleanor." Even her name was calming, anaudible representation of serenity. What was she doingthere? They hadn't made their understanding known yet.She could still be ruined if anyone found her there in hisroom. He didn't want their marriage to start off with rumorssurrounding it. "You should not be here."
"Shh," she replied, her soft hand sliding up between histhighs. She stroked his growing erection until he archedhis hips in languid arousal. And when she closed hermouth around him, a groan escaped his lips.
Where had an inexperienced virgin learned such technique?Had he been sober, he might have given the questionmore thought. Had he been sober, he might havegiven the woman kneeling between his legs with her lipswrapped around his pole a second glance, but he wasn'tsober. And he didn't do either of those things.
Later, as he slipped between her eagerly spread thighs,he thought he heard someone gasp behind him, but thesound was drowned out by Eleanor's welcoming coosand sighs as he nudged her body open and slid into herwarm, welcoming wetness. There was no barrier to hispossession -- a detail that should have given him pause,but didn't. Right now he didn't care if she was a virgin ornot. All that mattered to him was that she belonged to him.
The amazing, wonderful Eleanor was finally his.
London, September 1819
"You are not actually entertaining the idea of acceptingBurrough's invitation, are you?" The question was askedin a tone both incredulous and vaguely insulting.
Over the edge of the invitation, Brahm Ryland flashedan annoyed glance at his brother. He and Wynthrope had been on speaking terms but six months now, and theslightly younger man still knew how to get under his skinlike a festering splinter.
"Actually," he mimicked dryly, "I am doing just that,yes."
Wynthrope's tanned brow creased in a scowl that toldBrahm in no uncertain terms what the younger Rylandthought of that answer. "Are you foxed?"
From anyone else, that question would have been themost insulting they could ask. However, Brahm knew hisbrother was capable of being much, much more obnoxiousthan that. He leaned back in his chair, crossing his freshlypolished boots on the top of his desk. "I am as sober asAunt Jane."
His brother blinked. "Aunt Jane is dead these pasttwenty years."
Brahm smiled condescendingly. "I imagine it has beena while since she had a drink, then."
"Prior to her death, she was sauced every day of herlife -- except for Sunday, of course."
"Of course." Closing his eyes, Brahm stifled a sigh. Washis brother deliberately provoking him, or was Wynthropetruly stupid? It had been so long since they'd had a brotherlyrelationship -- not that they had one now -- that therewere times when he really didn't know what to think of hissibling. He loved him -- sometimes he even liked him -- but most of the time he thought ofWynthrope as the wind;the only thing constant about him was that he was never,ever constant. Not with Brahm, at least ...
Still in My Heart. Copyright © by Kathryn Smith. Reprinted by permission of HarperCollins Publishers, Inc. All rights reserved. Available now wherever books are sold.
Excerpted from Still in My Heart by Kathryn Smith
All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.
Need Help? Copyright © 1999-2024