Chapters (53)
- Cover
- About Alison Stuart
- Also by Alison Stuart
- Title Page
- Dedication
- Prologue
- One
- Two
- Three
- Four
- Five
- Six
- Seven
- Eight
- Nine
- Ten
- Eleven
- Twelve
- Thirteen
- Fourteen
- Fifteen
- Sixteen
- Seventeen
- Eighteen
- Nineteen
- Twenty
- Twenty-One
- Twenty-Two
- Twenty-Three
- Twenty-Four
- Twenty-Five
- Twenty-Six
- Twenty-Seven
- Twenty-Eight
- Twenty-Nine
- Thirty
- Thirty-One
- Thirty-Two
- Thirty-Three
- Thirty-Four
- Thirty-Five
- Thirty-Six
- Thirty-Seven
- Thirty-Eight
- Thirty-Nine
- Forty
- Forty-One
- Forty-Two
- Forty-Three
- Forty-Four
- Author’s Note
- Acknowledgements
- Preview of The Goldminer's Sister
This time she heard the floorboards creak as he crossed the room. The key turned in the lock and Caleb stood in the doorway, his shirt undone and a towel around his shoulders, his hair, properly barbered on their first morning in Melbourne, sticking up damply as if he had been rubbing it dry when he had been disturbed.
He looked her up and down, swallowed and stepped to one side to allow her to enter. ‘Is there a problem, Adelaide?’
‘No,’ she said, surprised by the huskiness in her voice. ‘No. May I come in?’
He stood aside, then closed the door behind her. He whipped the towel from around his shoulders, tossing it in the general vicinity of the washstand and stood facing her, running his fingers through his damp hair, which only had the effect of making it stick up more. Even in the thoroughly respectable newly purchased shirt and trousers, Caleb still seemed a wild thing and she wanted him. How she wanted him … She stood in the centre of his spacious room, the peignoir falling in graceful folds around her body, revelling as his gaze travelled from her head to the bare toes that peeped from beneath the silk flounces.
‘Adelaide … I don’t recognise you,’ he said at last.
A qualm caught at Adelaide’s confidence. When she had rehearsed this scene in her mind, it had not begun like this.
‘On the first night we were here, Caleb, you said this was our “honeymoon before the wedding”. Unless you have changed your mind about wedding me on our return to Maiden’s Creek …’
He smiled. ‘No. This is perfect. I can’t imagine a wedding night spent in the best bedroom in The Empress can match this.’ His eyes searched her face. ‘Are you sure this is what you want, Adelaide?’
‘More than anything.’ She swallowed. ‘I—I—that one time with Richard. I had no idea what—’
He laid a finger on her lips. He may as well have touched them with a brand.
‘Hush,’ he said. ‘That is forgotten. You are here and I am here. No ghosts, no memories. Let it just be about the two of us tonight.’
She shivered as his thumbs caressed the skin of her arm through the thin material. Every nerve in her body jangled and it felt to Adelaide that if he didn’t kiss her she would simply melt into the carpet.
But he didn’t kiss her.
With deliberate slowness, he undid the ribbons and pushed the peignoir away from her shoulders, revealing the scanty silk nightdress. He smiled as his hands skimmed her form beneath the thin material, shoulders, waist and hips, every nerve tingling at his touch.