His Wicked Kiss Read Free Page B

fiercely.
    “Well, why not? If all this fuss boils down to your hank ering for a husband, you needn’t look far. If it’s time for you to take a man, have Connor.”
    “Father!” she cried, scandalized.
    “The man worships you, if you haven’t noticed.” A smile of mingled pride and amusement tugged at his lips, as if she were still a four-year-old learning the Greek alphabet. “He has my blessing and then we could all remain together just as we are, continuing on with our work. It is the most convenient situation. Well, why not, what’s wrong with him?”
    Clearly, Papa had forgotten the incident in the forest when she was sixteen.
    She lowered her head, not bothering to remind him, for she was loath to speak of it herself.
    “Connor cares for you, Eden. There’s no arguing that. He’s proved himself a hundred times over. Well, he’s a fine, strapping specimen for you, ain’t he? Fearless, capable, as the male of the species should be. Strong, robust bloodlines. Good instincts. Sharp mind,” Papa said, ticking off his protégé's many virtues as Eden lifted her head again, folded her arms across her chest, and held her father in a quelling stare. “Of course, there’s no vicar in residence, but what’s a bit of paper in a place like this? You could be married by the local shaman—or have a hand-fasting like the Scots. Don’t fuss, girl. There’s no shame in it. It is but Nature’s course, my dear. All creatures take a mate upon reaching reproductive age.”
    “Really, Father!” she exclaimed, finally mortified past bearing by his blunt scientist’s speech. “Is there not one atom of romance in your soul? The propagation of the species might very well serve for a frog or a monkey or a-a fish, but I, Father, am an intelligent, beautiful—well, reasonably attractive—young lady. I want roses a-and poetry before I’m past my prime, and boxes of candy, and drives in the park! Is that so much to ask? I want to be wooed by Town Corinthians in coats from Savile Row! I want courtship, Papa, and suitors—even one will do. Maybe I
can
recite every genus name in the
Aracaceae
family, but that only goes to show what sort of oddball I’ve become in this place!”
    “Well, so’s Connor! A perfect match.”
    “Will you please be serious?” She sat down again with a huff. “It won’t do, Father. I mean to rejoin the world someday, but Connor cares for civilization even less than you do. It’s torture for him when we visit your friends in Kingston Society. He won’t talk to anyone. He sits in a corner brooding and doesn’t even try to fit in.”
    “Well, Eden , he’s shy.”
    “I
know
. And I feel sorry for him—but I don’t want to marry someone just because I feel sorry for them,” she whispered so Connor, with his sharp senses, would not hear and be hurt.
    “Well, suit yourself,” Papa concluded with a sigh. “But I’m afraid there is nothing to be done for it, in any case. We cannot afford passage now that our grant’s been cut. The voyage is too expensive.”
    “Couldn’t you buy it on credit?”
    “Put myself in debt for something I don’t even want? You would have me as profligate as Lord Pembrooke!”
    “We can pay it back once you’re settled in your post at the college.”
    “No! I am not taking the post, Eden . Ever.” He stood abruptly, turned away, and avoided her gaze as she stared at him in shock. “I’ve given the matter a great deal of thought,” he said brusquely. “I probably should have told you sooner, but I shall not be able to fulfill the promise that you wrenched out of me last year. We’re not going back to England , and as for
London
Town
, I’d sooner visit Hell.”
    “What?” she breathed, paling.
    “I’m sorry to break my oath to you, daughter, but you’re all I have left, and I’ll be damned before I’ll ever expose you again to that vile, stinking cesspool of a city that killed your mother,” he finished with a bitter vehemence that