A Laird for Christmas by Gerri Russell Read Free Book Online

thoughtful.”
    He frowned. “I suppose I should thank you for including me among your many suitors.” A hint of irritation lingered in his words. Perhaps he was not so changed after all.
    “You are here at my invitation, Bryce,” Aunt Margaret interrupted.
    For an instant, venomous anger flickered in Bryce’s eyes. He shot a glance at Margaret then turned back to Jane. “No matter who invited me, I am here.”
    Jane frowned. Nay, he had not changed at all.
    His dark eyes fixed on her. “I intend to marry you and keep what should be mine.”
    “Nothing is certain, Bryce. I get to decide—”
    His face hardened. “You brought me here. I must have just as great a chance of winning your hand as any of these fools.” He stepped forward, intent, his concentration focused to a rapier sharpness. Jane pressed back against the chair until the wood bit into her back. He smiled, one side of his mouth turning up and carving a deep line beneath a high, broad cheek. A wicked smile. A devil’s smile.
    “Bryce, you will have to play by the rules. All of the rules,” Jane breathed.
    Bryce reached past her to place his hand on the back of the chair and lean in. His stance emphasized his much greater height. His gaze drifted down her face and throat and lingered where her breasts swelled in agitation above the low, square neckline of her dress. “Rules are meant to be broken.”
    Out of the corner of her eye she saw David tense. Lord Galloway’s eyes darkened.
    Jane shifted her attention back to the man before her. His gaze unsettled her. “Bryce, please…”
    “Please what? Please myself?” He gave a humorless laugh and darkness flared in his eyes.
    A sense of panic rose within her as he closed the short distance between their mouths. He crushed her lips. She fought against the intimacy, pushing him away. When pushing failed to remove him, she struck his chest with her fist.
    The puppy in her lap growled. A heartbeat later Bryce was ripped away. Jules had him by one arm, David the other. Both men’s faces were flushed and their eyes were wide with anger. “Are you all right?” Jules asked.
    “I am unharmed,” she said, dragging the back of her hand across her lips, her gaze fixed on Bryce. “Never kiss me without my permission.” To hide the anger that made her fingers tremble, she turned her attention to the puppy in her lap, stroking the animal behind the ear. The pup immediately curled into a ball and settled in her lap once more as though nothing had transpired.
    “You are done here,” David snarled, as he pulled Bryce from the dais and returned him to his men below.
    Jane pressed her bruised lips together, then released them. Quietly, to her aunt she said, “I am more determined than ever to continue the competition, because of Bryce and his antics.”
    “Then I suppose I should thank him for that,” Aunt Margaret conceded in as hostile a whisper as Jane had ever heard from the woman. “He will never have the opportunity to treat you thusly again, especially in your own hall.”
    Jane straightened and abandoned the single flower bud on the arm of her chair. “I am ready to meet the next suitor.”
    “Very wise, my dear,” Margaret said. She patted Jane’s shoulder before returning to the edge of the dais. “I call forth Sir Nicholas Kincaid.”
    Jane looked up sharply. She longed to see Nicholas again—longed—but half dreaded, too.
    He bowed, then came forward carrying a small parcel.
    “I trust you to be a proper gentleman,” Margaret said, her eyes narrowing sharply. “You are here by my good graces. Do not do anything, say anything, that might harm Jane any further than you already have.”
    Nicholas’s brows drew together in confusion. “I would never hurt Lady Jane.”
    Oh, but he had
. Jane had imagined this moment in her thoughts and her dreams for the last six months since the rumors had started to circulate. Inthose moments, she had wanted to act with cool reserve. She wanted to hurt