Madly Yours (Nora Reed) novel Chapter 179

Hudson's expression froze for a fraction of a second, but it passed in a flash.

He raised an eyebrow, his lips curving into a smirk. "What? Forgot where I just went?"

Nora was stunned for a moment before realizing what he meant.

Right.

He had just been to the Lancaster ancestral home. He must have run into Tiffany there.

So it made sense that he knew her name.

Whether she was Eleanor Vance or Nora Reed...

She definitely wasn't Jade Reed.

Nora lowered her eyelashes, her fingers curling involuntarily.

"Um... does that not bother you?"

After all, the Reed family had deceived him, and she had taken her sister's place in the marriage...

Regardless of whether the 'warding off bad luck' superstition was nonsense or not, it was still a matter of life and death in their eyes.

From what she knew, many elite families in San Francisco still believed in that sort of thing.

At the very least, old Mrs. Lancaster Sr. believed it; otherwise, she wouldn't have made Hudson marry her to change his luck.

But now that the bride had been swapped, did the superstitious blessing still count?

Wasn't he afraid?

As if guessing what she was thinking, Hudson reached out and laced his fingers through hers.

His palm was dry and warm, completely enveloping her slightly cool fingers. His thumb gently stroked the back of her hand.

"I'm actually grateful the Reeds swapped Jade for you."

Nora's heart skipped a beat.

"Because it's you, I couldn't be happier."

In that instant, her breathing seemed to falter.

She could vividly hear the sound of her own heartbeat—heavy, fast, threatening to hammer its way right out of her chest.

She had only been with him for a dozen days.

In the grand scheme of a long life, it was barely a blip on the radar.

But in those few days, she had experienced things she had never felt in her entire twenty-plus years of life.

She wasn't made of stone.

Her heart could race.

She could fall.

She could be uncontrollably drawn to this man.

Nora froze.

Rode him?

When did she ever do that?

She blinked twice, and suddenly, the memory from the bathtub last night crashed into her mind.

The freezing water, the steam. He had pulled her into the tub, completely soaked.

And then he...

Nora's face instantly burned, the heat radiating from her ears down to her neck and collarbones. She felt like she was on fire, desperately wishing for the ground to swallow her whole.

"You... shut up!" She reached out to cover his mouth.

Hudson let out a low chuckle, catching her wrist to stop her from pulling away. "What? Bold enough to do it, but too scared to admit it?"

Nora glared at him, flushed with embarrassment and irritation. "That... that was because you forced..."

"What did I force?"

His lips curved up, a layer of amusement dancing in his eyes.

Left entirely speechless under his gaze, she simply buried her burning face into his chest and mumbled, "Just shut up."

Hudson chuckled aloud. The sound rumbled deep in his chest, vibrating against her and making her heart flutter wildly.