I’ll Be True (Chapter 14)

Read Chapter 13 before you continue…

In the end, Elaina and Matthew got less than an hour’s sleep before she had to sneak back to her room. The departure was reluctantly conceded by both and hindered by frequent kisses and playfulness and repeated promises to meet later in the day. But when they heard the sounds of breakfast being prepared in the kitchen, they agreed that it was indeed time for Elaina to head back to her room if they did not wish to create an awkward scene for everyone in the household.

Elaina felt different. It was perhaps clichéd but she did. She had breezed through her bedroom into her attached bath for a quick shower but when she returned, the place looked different. It was a room she had lived in all her life but suddenly the white filigree vine motif crisscrossing across her faded yellow wallpapers did not look like they belonged. She needed new wallpapers, perhaps in a more vibrant color. She knew she was being ridiculous the moment the idea popped into her head – she was setting too much store by one night. Granted it was a glorious night but not enough to change the wallpapers of her room, which have been hanging there for over two decades.

So she waited a half hour longer than it took to get herself dressed before she went down for breakfast. She figured it was long enough for Matthew to have his breakfast and take his leave. She was still not sure how she would feel about seeing him in the morning light now that she had been with him fully naked in moonlight. As expected, when she entered the kitchen, she only found her mother occupying it.

The Bridgerton Series

Are book reviews supposed to be short? Well, if they are, indulge me, as I make this book review long. My excuse is that I’m reviewing an entire series of eight novels at one go. I’m telling you about a family that made a match between my heart and the works of an author with whom I became acquainted in 2012. Meet The Bridgertons:

I’ll Be True (Chapter 13)

Read Chapter 12 before you continue…

“Elaina?”

He did not sound gratified as she had hoped. He did not even sound happy. Mostly confused. Elaina mentally rolled her eyes. She had been all but dancing naked before his eyes since he had arrived, he was staying over, and everyone was asleep. What did he think she was going to do with this opportunity – be a good girl?

“Surprise?” she ventured for airy but anxiety laced her voice nevertheless.

“I wasn’t expecting you,” he admitted the obvious sheepishly.

Sheepishly? She was standing in only one tiny piece of underwear beneath her oldest, flimsiest, most formfitting shirt and he was feeling sheepish? Part of her was losing her nerves – the part that was not busy feeling embarrassed and more than slightly resentful that he was not overcome with passion.

“I just thought,” she began and then stopped. She obviously thought too much. She was not the kind to inflame the senses of men; she was good old Elaina, one of the boys. Those stolen kisses in the stables, in the middle of the lake, etc. – those must have been about the moments. What red blooded American male could resist a soaked bedraggled cowgirl in the middle of the lake?

Elaina fumbled behind her back reaching for the doorknob, ready to make a hasty retreat, her proverbial tail between her legs since obviously nothing else was getting between them tonight. “Never mind what I thought. You go back to sleep.”

Matthew was on her before she managed to turn the knob, his palm firmly keeping the door pressed shut. “Where do you think you’re going?”

I’ll Be True (Chapter 12)

Read Chapter 11 before you continue…

 

“Atta girl! C’mon now, you know you can do this. We all have a lot of faith in you. You’ve been a real good girl all this time, don’t give up.”

The recipient of these words of encouragement nickered in protest before dropping her head back onto the hay. She was matted with sweat, her body straining to accomplish what seemed impossible at this moment.