Midnight Star Read Free

And then what will you do? I can see that the thought worries you. Perhaps, my dear, if you would consider being . . . nice to me . . .” He saw her draw back, anger making her extraordinary eyes gleam. Their strange mahogany color fascinated him. “Yes, just be nice to me, Elizabeth. I can give you things, teach you things. I cannot believe that a husband of any worldly worth is in your future. But a husband is not a necessary commodity.”
    So different Owen was from Guy! Or perhaps he was just more honest. “Owen,” she said calmly, “you are my cousin. Nothing else. Pray do not speak to me thus again.”
    Lord, but she was lovely, he thought, not at all deterred by her coldness. A bit on the thin side for his tastes, but even her confining corset couldn’t hide the fullness of her breasts. Heimagined her slender long legs wrapped around him and felt a surge of lust harden in his groin. But it was her eyes that drew him. He could see the slumbering passion in their depths. They flashed an amber gold at this moment, lightened in her anger.
    “Proud little thing, ain’t you, cousin?” He laughed hoarsely. “You shouldn’t be now. No more living in a fancy house with servants bowing to your every whim. And a doting father to buy you pretty things. All you can hope for is a . . . protector.”
    She laughed; she couldn’t help it. “You, I take it, are applying for the position?” She watched his face pale in his anger, his eyes narrow. “Leave me alone, Owen, do you hear me? And stay away from the schoolroom.” She added sarcastically, “Perhaps even your sisters will learn something of value if you’re not there to scoff!”
    “Perhaps,” he said very softly, “you will quickly change your mind.” He reached for her, clasping her against him, his movements so quick that she did not have time to react. His hands were moving toward her breasts, his breath was on her face. She did not think of laughing now. “Play dead, my baby,” she heard her old nurse tell her. “Then give that Smith boy a pain he’ll not soon forget!”
    She went limp. Owen, elated with her submission, eased his hold on her as he lowered his head to find her mouth. Without a thought to the consequences, Chauncey brought up her knee with all her strength. Owen bellowed with pain and fell back, clutching his groin. “You bitch!” he snarled at her. “You’ll pay for that!”
    “I doubt it, you miserable toad,” she said harshly. “We will see what your mother has to say about your molesting me!”
    Chauncey had gone immediately to her aunt’s room, filled with righteous anger. She shook her head now, still disbelieving her Aunt Augusta’s attitude.
    “Whatever are you talking about, miss?” Aunt Augusta demanded, breaking unceremoniously in on her recital. She rose from her dressing stool, flinging a jar of pomade onto the tabletop.
    “I am talking about Owen, Aunt Augusta. He has behaved most improperly.”
    Aunt Augusta regarded her, her lips pursed. “Really, Elizabeth, such a tale ill suits you. I understand it, of course I do, but it won’t work. You will cease flirting and teasing my son. He will not marry you.”
    Chauncey gaped at her. “You believe that I’m making this up? Marry Owen? I would sooner wed a waterfront pickpocket!”
    Owen had stalked her after that, but Chauncey wasn’t a fool. Would he never give up? she wondered. He appeared to enjoy stalking her, a cat-and-mouse game that left her always on edge. Thank God for the lock on her door!
    What will happen to me when I turn twenty-one next month?
     
    Chauncey stood quietly outside her aunt’s bedchamber door, her hand raised to knock. There was so little time before her birthday, and she must speak to her aunt. Surely her father’s sister must care at least a little about what happened to her!
    Her uplifted hand froze as she heard her aunt say with spiteful clarity, “The girl has no notion of how to go along. Look what we have done