Secrets of a Viscount Read Free Page A

between two of the panels. A second later, her nightrail came to rest on top of the other crack.
    Sebastian chuckled at her gesture. “That’s not going to keep me from peeking,” he teased, quietly padding over to the screen. He grabbed the side of her cloak that was hanging on his side of the screen and pulled it off just in time to catch a small glimpse of one of her legs stepping into her steaming bathwater. He snatched down her nightrail and peeked again from that angle, being rewarded with a very generous view of one of her pert, pink-tipped breasts before she shifted in a way that no matter which crack he peeked through all he saw was her back or if he looked over her shoulder he could see her feet at the end of the tub.
    Small amounts of water splashed over the side of the tub as his new bride scrubbed her body and washed her long cinnamon-colored hair. Sebastian stood entranced behind the screen as he watched her fingers work the lather into her silky hair. He had no idea she had so much of it. Perhaps tomorrow when she took her bath again she’d allow him to wash it for her.
    “Can I bring you a towel?” He winced at how uneven his voice sounded to his own ears.
    A wet hand reached out from behind the screen and waved in anticipation for him to hand her a towel.
    Sebastian smiled and picked up the rolled up towel that rested on the stool right next to him. He extended it to her and just as her fingertips touched the end of the soft garment, he pulled it back, grinning at the way her empty fingers closed around nothing but air. Her hand flipped over with her palm facing up and she wiggled her fingers. “My towel, please,” she said softly.
    “ Come and get it,” he encouraged, bringing the towel up and briefly touching the bottom of her hand with it.
    “ I don’t want to play games, Sebastian,” she whispered.
    He frowned. Why was she still whispering? And more importantly, why didn’t she want to play games and have fun? This was their honeymoon, after all. They may be married now, but they were both still young.
    “Fine, you can have your precious towel,” he said, tossing the towel over the screen.
    “ Ooof,” she squealed when the towel flew over the screen and landed on her head.
    “ Not what you expected,” he teased, poking his head completely around the screen and eliciting a little scream out of Belle. Belle? He blinked. “What the blazes are you doing here?” he demanded, reaching for her arm to guide her out from behind the screen.
    “ Trying to dry off,” she replied smugly, bringing the towel up to cover the front of her body.
    Sebastian closed his eyes again, more tightly this time. Surely he was mistaken. He had to be. He married Rachel, not Belle. He’d gone into Rachel’s room, he was sure of it. This all just had to be a figment of his imagination. He’d barely slept last night, opting instead to drink to his final night of freedom. Then he’d gone to her house and fetched Rachel, then traveled to Scotland and been married in a dirty smithy shop. That was a lot for a man of nineteen. Perhaps his brain was so muddled from all of those activities, or the after effects of the whisky, he was seeing things. He opened one brown eye and looked at the creature in front of him. No he was not mistaken. Isabelle Knight with her dark red hair, emerald eyes, bow shaped lips and stubborn attitude stood before him glaring in his direction as if he were the one in the wrong.
    “Once again, what are you doing here?” he asked tightly.
    “ I already told you. I'm drying off.”
    “ I know that,” he bit out. “Why are you here?”
    “ Because we just got married,” she said as if he were a young lad and she his governess.
    “ Why?” he growled. “Why did you do this?”
    “ Do what?” she asked, blinking those sparkling green orbs at him.
    Sebastian jammed his fisted hands into his pockets so not to give into the temptation to throttle her. “Get dressed. We’re