How to Treat a Lady by Karen Hawkins Read Free Book Online Page B

it.”
    â€œOh. Do you…do you know where you came from?”
    He paused a moment, as if thinking, then said, “No, I don’t know that, either.”
    Her gaze narrowed. She was a tough one, he realized with a faint sense of appreciation.
    â€œDo you remember where you were going?”
    Chase pursed his lips as if he could almost remember that. But then, after a moment, he shook his head. “No.”
    â€œAre you married?”
    â€œNo! I mean,” he added hastily, “I don’t think so.” Damn, I have to be careful or she’ll figure me out.
    She muttered something that sounded to his fuzzy ears like “piffle,” if that was indeed a word.
    â€œI beg your pardon?” he asked.
    â€œNothing. I was just thinking.” She crossed her arms, staring at him as if he were a particularly nasty bug to be pinned to a display. “Do you remember being attacked?”
    Chase frowned. Should he pretend to remember that? Or not? Perhaps the best answer was a nonanswer. “I suppose…I think…you said you found me in a forest?”
    â€œYes. Not far from here. By the way, your horse is fine.”
    He brightened, then caught her eye and realized his error. He forced himself to frown. “A horse? I must have been riding, then.”
    â€œAnd drinking.”
    Of course he’d been drinking. He’d been desperate to dull the pain of his homesickness. Still…that was not something he wished to admit to the little puritan facing him now—and he was quite certain she was a puritan. No one else could look so disapproving and for nothing more serious than a few gulps of brandy.
    Chase opted for an innocent lift of his brows. “Are you certain I was drinking?”
    â€œYou reeked of brandy, and an empty bottle was found nearby.”
    â€œPerhaps it was in my saddlebag and just leaked out,” he suggested mildly.
    â€œHm.” She appeared unconvinced. Completely unconvinced.
    Chase’s amusement was quickly leaving, replaced by a sort of wary fascination. Miss Harriet Ward was obviously no fool. And she ruffled up like a wet hen when she was upset. For some reason, Chase found that he rather liked that outraged expression. Liked it a lot. Liked it so much that it made him want to reach out, scoop her up, and kiss her senseless.
    He touched his forehead and wondered how hard he’d been hit. “I need to see a doctor.”
    She turned and picked up a cloth and dipped it in a bowl that sat steaming beside the bed. “Dr. Blackthorne just left. He said you’d be fine.”
    Chase had no doubt that Blackthorne was some sort of country bumpkin who knew more about torn horse ligaments than doctoring actual people. “What exactly did the good doctor say?”
    As if she detected the sarcasm he’d tried to hide, Harriet shot him a look from beneath her lashes. Shewrung out the cloth, then reached over and pressed it against his brow. “You can speak to the doctor yourself when next he comes.”
    The warm cloth worked magic on Chase. He closed his eyes, a strange lassitude weighing him down. The ache behind his eyes began to melt away.
    Harriet, for her part, was having a difficult time remaining stoic. The man was so handsome, resting against the pillows, his black hair falling over the bandage in the most interesting way. His eyes had especially caught her attention. Bright blue and clear, she had the feeling that she could see all the way into his soul.
    Heaven help her, but he was a beautiful man. And the realization that this bit of perfection had held her in his arms and kissed her madly, passionately, as if she were the only woman in the world…Harriet thought she would burst into flames at any second. Not from embarrassment, though had she any sense she would feel at least a little, but from pure hot lust.
    Harriet was no stranger to kisses. She’d been kissed before. Twice, in fact. Once was three