Total pages in book: 91
Estimated words: 87502 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 438(@200wpm)___ 350(@250wpm)___ 292(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 87502 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 438(@200wpm)___ 350(@250wpm)___ 292(@300wpm)
Since then, I’d only been allowed to read the very tamest love stories—mostly about Amish women who pined quietly for strong young Amish men who were apparently more interested in splitting kindling and raising barns than having sex.
It occurred to me that now that Carter was gone, I could go check out anything I wanted. Or I could buy myself an e-book reader, and download all manner of filth that would have turned my late husband’s hair blue with shock.
Maybe I’ll do it, I thought to myself, as I washed my face. I had already ordered some new clothes—clothes he never would have approved of. But I didn’t even know if I would have the nerve to wear them alone in the house—let alone out in town.
I changed into a modest nightgown with a lace neck and wrapped myself in a matching robe. I belted the robe tightly around my waist and slipped my feet into my favorite furry slippers.
There, I thought with satisfaction, glancing at myself in the full-length oval mirror on its antique wooden frame. I look perfectly modest.
No one who saw me in my long robe and fuzzy slippers, my face washed clean of make-up, could imagine I was trying to start anything untoward with the handsome young heir who had come to town.
I shook my head. Now where had that thought come from? Of course I wasn’t trying to start anything with Kor! Even if I wasn’t a Moon Widow, he was much too young for me. It would still be completely indecent for us to…to…
I pushed the thought out of my head before it could fully form, still wondering what was wrong with me. I was acting like I had never seen a man before.
A young, handsome man, whispered the voice of temptation in my head.
Much too young for me, I sent back briskly.
Really, there was no point in even thinking such forbidden thoughts. Kor was a decade my junior. There was no way such a tall, handsome young Alpha would be interested in a dried-up Omega who didn’t even get her Heat Cycle anymore.
Keeping that thought firmly in the front of my mind, I marched through the winding corridors of the mansion back to the East Wing.
I had some cocoa to make for my guest and that was all I was going to think about.
SIX
KOR
I shocked the pool and then made my way back to the East Wing, the strong, sharp scent of chlorine trailing after me. The smell was irritating to my sensitive Were nose, but at least it calmed the arousal that had rushed over me in a wave when Vivienne had put her hand on my arm.
She barely touched you! What’s wrong with you? I shouted at myself mentally, as I made my way through the huge mansion. I wondered how many bedrooms Wolverton Manor had. Then I wondered where Vivienne’s bedroom was and what she looked like curled up in bed…
Damn it, there I went again. It was unnerving to be so attracted to someone I had never met before…and who was so completely and totally off limits. I got the sense that my late Uncle’s pack was extremely strict about not breaking the Unbreakable Laws. Vivienne was a Moon Widow and therefore untouchable.
Why the fuck are you even thinking about this? I asked myself sharply. She doesn’t want to be with you that way! She doesn’t even know you—and you don’t know her. Hell, you just met her an hour ago. So stop it with these crazy ideas.
Resolving to push the whole ridiculous attraction out of my mind, I found my way to the kitchen…and had to stop in the doorway to catch my breath at what I saw.
There she was—standing at a stove that looked like it cost more than my car back home. Her long, wavy black hair was down around her shoulders, and her curvy figure was wrapped tightly in a dark blue silk robe that seemed to emphasize her full breasts and hips—though I was sure that wasn’t her intention.
Though I hadn’t known her long, Vivienne seemed to be a modest woman. She’d blushed scarlet when I complimented her beauty and truly didn’t seem to realize how lovely she was. Though how that was possible, I wasn’t sure. She was flat-out, drop-dead gorgeous and if my late uncle hadn’t told her that every day of his life, then the man was a fool.
She must have heard me standing by the door because she looked up then and I had to fight not to drown in her eyes. They were a deep, cerulean blue with a thin ring of pure gold around each iris. “Royal Gold” I’d heard some people call it. It was supposed to denote someone who had the blood of the Royal Were Family in their veins.