Becoming Countess Dumont Read Free

telling yourself that.
    My mind drifts to earlier when she fucked that arsehole. I couldn’t get her out of my head and with every moan he drew from her, I wanted to slit my goddamned wrists to escape the taunting of her voice. Sure, I had driven into the blonde over and over again, but it was Edith’s name that was sitting on my tongue. And when I slammed my eyes closed before I came, I imagined her haughty raised eyebrow and that mouth of hers. The blonde was a vessel. It wouldn’t be the first time I got off with my wife on my mind while I fucked my lovers.
    It’s a goddamn mess.
    She’s my wife. I should be allowed to have her any time I damn well please. But is that what I want?
    The thought of another man coming into her room ever again infuriates me. I cannot allow it any longer. In fact, we’re leaving this wretched city in the morning. I’m ready to take her to safety and introduce her to my family.
    She whimpers in her sleep and the fierce need to protect her overwhelms me. It shocks me but I don’t hate the sensation. I rise from my seat in the corner of the room and stalk over to her bedside. With each breath she takes, I watch her. Her dark locks are still wet from her bath and I have the urge to twist my fingers into them. Dark lashes jut out over her naturally rosy cheeks and I decide, in this moment, that she is very beautiful. Why else do I think about her continuously?
    Another terrified sound comes from her lips as she sleeps. I want to comfort her but I’m not sure I even know how. With a deep sigh, I kick off my shoes and crawl into bed behind her. She’s warm and appears to be so tiny without all of her frilly clothes on that she normally wears. I do what feels right and wrap an arm around her.
    How could I have ever put her in such a dangerous situation? What if he had killed her?
    The thought causes bile to rise in my throat. I squeeze her tighter to me and inhale the lovely scent of her hair. If someone were to come in, they’d see me acting like her damn husband.
    I am her damn husband. It’s high time I begin acting like it. Especially if we set off to see Father tomorrow.
    Not long ago, after we signed our agreement, she had mouthed off at me and wondered what would happen if she were to confess our sham of a marriage to my father. I’d gone off on her and told her I’d kill her myself to keep the secret.
    It was all a lie though. A lie she believed—a lie I needed her to believe to make this work.
    Truth was, however, I would never lay a finger on Edith. In fact, the moment I had delivered my threat, I instead wanted nothing more than to take her mouth with mine—to taste the woman that agreed to be my wife so easily.
    But I was blinded by my contract to her—I didn’t want to mix business with pleasure. After we’d gone off to the inn where I’d reserved two rooms, we parted ways until our wedding the next evening. Once we had our ceremony, however, I realized just how difficult that would be—not mixing the business with pleasure—and I nearly destroyed it all in one evening.
    “You may kiss your bride,” the officiant says blandly. I had called for him last minute and apparently he has better things to do with his time, even though I paid him handsomely for his services.
    Edith lifts her wide, brown eyes to mine and I see the hope in them. I’m snared in her gaze—a gaze that says she believes this marriage may evolve into something more than a contractual binding of two people.
    And that simply cannot happen.
    Too much is at stake.
    My inheritance for one.
    The other is her heart. I’m simply not a man that falls for one woman and stays there. I enjoy the company of a lady in my bed but by dawn I will have grown bored of her. They’re for my pleasure without unnecessary ties securing me to them. If I allow myself to kiss her—to taste the mouth that I’ve learned can be quite saucy—then I’ll lead the poor girl on.
    I can see it in her eyes.
    She is the type to