Kitty: Bride of Hawaii (American Mail-Order Bride 50) Read Online Free Page B

other waiting for me. Unfortunately, the only type of women desiring a connection with me are more interested in my wealth and social standing than anything else.”
    Her gaze traveled over him slowly. “I find that hard to believe. I imagine women would desire a relationship with you even if you lost your standing and fortune.” She blushed, her gaze returning to her food.
    He just barely stopped his jaw from dropping. Never, not in his entire life, had a woman said such a thing. They flattered and fawned over him, hoping to catch his notice, but never once had they expressed that it was he and not his wealth that they were after.
    And yet, Kitty had, as if she couldn’t believe otherwise. He was the prize. Not his possessions or social connections.
    His attraction sharpened to a lethal degree as he digested the feelings bombarding him.
    There was no escaping it. No denying it.
    Kitty Jones was special.

Chapter Four
    K itty closeted herself away in her room for two days. She was a coward and wasn’t afraid to admit it. But after dining with Warren, she knew she couldn’t subject herself to furthering their acquaintance until she brought her feelings for him under control.
    Her attraction to him was outrageous and completely unreasonable. One touch of his skin, and her body had flushed as if he’d touched much more than just her hand. Nothing else had mattered in that moment. Including her engagement.
    It was dangerous to spend time alone with him when she couldn’t trust her body. Or her heart.
    She didn’t know how it had happened, but he’d managed to get her to reveal more about herself and her past than she normally shared. The only people in her life who knew more about who she was and what she ran from were Josie, Lessie, and Maddy.
    Loneliness speared through her as she thought of her friends. The twins were headed to Utah to be mail-order brides for a set of cousins, and Maddy had agreed to marry a man in Nebraska. Kitty would never see them again. She wished they were here so she could talk to them. She could use advice from objective friends who knew everything.
    Why had she ever thought Hawaii was a good idea? It may be far away from Frederick Craven, but at the time, she hadn’t thought about how very far it was from everything else. Her past, her mother’s and father’s graves, her friends. She’d left all that behind.
    She slammed the book she held in her hands closed. There hadn’t been another choice. Not unless she wanted to die young in one of the many factories clogging up New York’s streets, living in squalor at filthy boarding houses she could barely afford from her factory pay.
    No. She’d made the right decision. Timothy Banner was her life now. She was grateful to the man, and she would be faithful to him. She might not be able to help her attraction to Mr. Castle, but that didn’t mean she had to act upon it. Those feelings needed to be locked away and forgotten.
    She wasn’t Kitty Jones, the illegitimate daughter of the late Marshall Craven, billionaire railroad tycoon, anymore. She didn’t have choices.
    She’d do best to remember that.
----
    W arren’s muscles clenched as he stared out to sea. Boots braced apart, he listened to the winds picking up, slapping the waves into a frenzy.
    “Do you feel that?” Captain James asked, taking his position next to Warren against the railing.
    Warren nodded grimly. “How long do we have?” There was no question in his mind they were in for it, and it was going to be bad.
    “A few hours, tops.” The wind-chapped man pointed to the darkening horizon. “You can see it coming in from there.”
    “How bad will it be?”
    Captain James spit over the rail. “It’s hard to tell, but I think we’ll have to fight.”
    Damn. He’d learned that whatever the seasoned sailor thought would happen always came to pass. It was damned annoying at times, but it had saved his cargo, and his life, too many times to ignore his advice. “Could we