Border Bride by Arnette Lamb Read Free Book Online Page A

there."
    Mischief, or perhaps anger, flashed in her eyes. Then she laughed and flattened her palms on the window seat. Bracing her arms, she tipped back her head and studied the stuccoed ceiling. "Most of the eligible Englishmen who came to the island were second or third sons without a farthing to their name. They gambled or speculated with what little they had. Few of them made a successful go at anything more than betting on a winning cock."
    Seeing her posed as she was, Malcolm had an unobstructed view of her slender neck. Suddenly he thought those second and third sons foolish. Still, she had professed to having affairs, in the plural. He couldn't resist saying, "Did you ever wager on a cock?"
    She stiffened. "Ladies do not attend cockfights."
    "If Alpin MacKay has grown into a proper lady, the Hanoverian king is fluent in Scottish."
    She laughed. "I truly am a lady."
    "I see." Mature? Aye, she was that, but he doubted she acted like a lady. "You used to wear breeches and ride bareback."
    She grew serious, her eyes luminous, her lips softly parted. "I also used to live in the stables at Sinclair Manor, or have you forgotten that?"
    Taken aback, he returned the knife to a drawer in his desk. "I thought you preferred your menagerie of wounded creatures to your cousins."
    "I traded one set of creatures for another. That's why I ran away and came here."
    She'd made Malcolm's life a living hell and had sown the seeds that would destroy his future. He buried the old hurt behind a halfhearted smile. "I caught you stealing food from our kitchen."
    She shivered and rolled her eyes. "I was so frightened I almost wet myself that night. You said they would hang me and use my ears for fish bait."
    "It was the only time I had the upper hand with you, as I recall."
    Blinking, she said, "Is that truly what you believe?"
    Some of their childhood confrontations did seem humorous now, as he looked back on them, and he took a moment to wonder if he wasn't planning to deal too harshly with her. "What do you believe?"
    Then she leaned forward and, over the rustling of her petticoats, said, "I know that you held me down and kissed me, and you made me promise to give you a child."
    Like the waning sunlight outside the window, his objectivity faded. "Rest assured, that's one promise you'll never keep, Alpin."
    Her inquisitive gaze roamed his face, his neck, and his legs. A flush stole up her cheeks. "I never presumed that you expected me to… that we would… that…" Flustered, she toyed with the gold cord on the drapes.
    Amused by her discomfiture, he blithely said, "What did you never presume?"
    Palms up, she opened her mouth, then closed it. At last she said, "That we would consummate the promise. I'm here because, as usual, I have nowhere else to go, Malcolm. Charles knew that when he transferred the plantation to you."
    "How did you find that out? 'Twas supposed to be a private transaction between men."
    "But it concerned me. Charles assumed you would do the honorable thing and make me your ward. We could be friends. I've even agreed to become your housekeeper." More forcefully she added, "I will not accept charity or be a burden to you."
    Damn. He hated feeling guilty. All contrition, he said, "How can I call you a burden if you earn your own way?"
    She swallowed, her gaze darting from the globe to the desk to the tray of inedible food. "Very well. I suppose we should discuss my salary."
    Malcolm hadn't considered compensating her. He had other plans where she was concerned. "Since you belong to me, as you so vividly put it, I'm responsible for clothing you and furnishing whatever essentials you need."
    She swung her feet. The gesture made her seem endearingly young. "The same as you do for Mrs. Elliott?"
    Affronted by the analogy, he said, "I hardly provide Mrs. Elliott with silk gowns or a dressmaker to sew them."
    She plucked at the skirt. "It's cotton, not silk. And Elanna will make my gowns and hers."
    The black woman. "I must say