How to Seduce a Scot by Christy English Read Free Book Online Page B

piled on top of her head as it had been the night before, only now she wore no flowers in it. Her girlish, light blue walking gown did nothing to camouflage the glinting intelligence in her green eyes. He wondered why she had bought such a simple dress, or if perhaps she had made it herself.
    The thought of her tiny hands manipulating a needle and thread was almost his undoing. He had to breathe deep before he stepped into the room and let his presence be known. His angel sat and waited for him, as calm as a bishop.
    â€œThank you for indulging me, Miss Middlebrook. I would be deeply horrified if you left my house wounded, with no one to care for you.”
    â€œThis is the duchess’s house,” his angel said. She smiled as she looked up at him with a sideways glance that on any other woman would have seemed coy. On her pure face, it only looked like harmless teasing. Still, that look made him want to touch her lips with his. “And my mother might look after me,” she said.
    â€œShe might,” Alex conceded, keeping his tone light. “Still, I would rather see you put to rights before you go.”
    â€œI will not keep my family here for dinner, in spite of your sister’s generous offer. I think your brother has very likely had all of the Middlebrook family that he can stand.”
    Alex laughed. “My mother has forced him to sit with much tougher ladies than your mother and sweet sister. Put your mind at ease. I would be obliged if you would stay and eat with us. The duchess’s cook keeps feeding us as if we are a standing army, and it would do us good if you took a bit of the pressure off Robert and me. We are always troubled to send so much food back to the kitchen untouched.”
    â€œMary Elizabeth doesn’t help with eating it?”
    Alex laughed again, beginning slowly to unbind the makeshift bandage at her wrist. “She eats more than the two of us put together.”
    Miss Middlebrook did not laugh as he had intended, for though a small table stood between them where she sat in one armchair and he in another, his fingers were on her wrist as he opened the bandage for inspection. He was sorry that his touch left her silent, but he could not help her without touching her. He kept his focus on her arm, and did not look at her face, in case he embarrassed her further.
    It was a shallow cut but long, reaching from the base of her wrist halfway up to her elbow. Even as he unbound the cloth, a bit of blood began to seep out again. He clucked his tongue as his old nurse had done every time he or Robbie came home with a scrape.
    â€œThat could turn nasty,” he said. “I’m glad you’re letting me have a look at it.”
    Miss Middlebrook spoke then, and her voice was soft. “Thank you for helping me. I did not think it would still be bleeding.”
    He cleared his throat. She suddenly seemed a good deal nearer than she had only a moment before. The skin of her arm was hot beneath his fingers—not feverish, but warm. He wanted to place his lips against the inside of her wrist. Instead, he washed away the blood with the soapy, clean rag he had brought from his dressing room.
    â€œIt is good that it bleeds a little,” he heard himself say. He felt as light-headed as a green boy who had just kissed his first girl. He ordered himself to stay alert, and to hold to his word not to malign her, even with his thoughts. “A little blood keeps the wound clean.” He opened the crock of honey at his elbow.
    She jumped under his hands as he applied the first of it to her open wound.
    â€œThis will help the bleeding stop, and will help the cut heal.”
    â€œI’ve never heard that,” she said, eyeing the crock suspiciously.
    He almost laughed out loud at the wary look on her sweet face. He wanted to kiss it away.
    He kept his voice light, though his tongue was growing thick with longing in his mouth. Her breasts rose and fell with her