Jade Lee by Winning a Bride Read Free Book Online Page B

I hope to have hot food now? Sheets that are not scorched? No dead cats in my bed?”
    Will’s eyebrows raised. “There was a dead cat in your bed?”
    “Um, no, sorry. That was a rat. And I believe that was courtesy of my wife’s cat. Damned thing is always leaving me gifts.”
    To the side, the Scotsman choked back a laugh. “My sister’s feline was always doing the same thing. Which is why I got a dog as soon as I was able. A big, ugly, cat-eating dog. Never found another present—dead or otherwise. God, I loved that dog.”
    “Miss Josephine prefers cats,” Will said.
    The Scot turned and frowned down at him. “What did you say?”
    Will lifted his chin, not backing down even though it was a ridiculous discussion and not at all relevant to anything. “Miss Josephine, sir. Your intended? She prefers cats. Hates dogs.”
    “Does she now?” No hint of malice, just an underlying current of wariness. “And how do you know that?”
    “Nearly five years ago when she first came to this village, she was attacked by a crofter’s dog. Ever since then we keep the dogs back from her.” In truth, the crofter had set his dog on Josephine, so Will had tossed that man and his mangy dog out the very next day. And good riddance to the blackguard.
    Meanwhile, the Scotsman was watching him with eyes that were much too intelligent. “So she developed a fear, did she?”
    “Yes, sir. So if you want the woman, perhaps you’d best learn to like cats.”
    “Or perhaps I’ll teach her to overcome her fear.”
    And just like that, the battle lines were drawn.

Five
    Mr. Montgomery was a gentleman. That’s what Josephine decided and it wasn’t necessarily a compliment. Upon arriving at their home, he had greeted them warmly enough. He was good looking, smiled often, and she found the slight burr in his voice—his Scottish accent—rather appealing.
    But after a very short visit, her father had invited him into the library for a gentleman’s discussion. Translation: come look at the lands that would soon be in her dowry. Yes, her father had explained the exact details of his plans regarding her “assets.” He thought she’d be pleased, but instead the shame burned in her gut. Her father had to pay an exorbitant amount to get her wed. And her future groom was clearly more interested in the land than he was in her.
    But it was done, and now Mr. Montgomery was closeted with Papa and Will Benton, discussing, dissecting, and probably directing her assets in minute detail. All without her even in the room. Because, of course, her assets had absolutely nothing to do with her. It was the land, and what was her relevance to that?
    It was the way of the world, she knew, but it still hurt. If she and this gentleman were going to marry, you would think he would want to spend some time with her and not their damned steward!
    And right there was yet another person who made her blood boil and her brain seethe: Will Benton. Damn the man for finding a new way to torment her. It was bad enough that he’d spent the last five years looking down his rather prominent Roman nose at her, but two nights ago he had explained in excruciating detail exactly why he thought so little of her.
    Because people didn’t change . That’s what he’d said, and yes, he’d been speaking about his brother, but she had been easily able to extrapolate that to herself. He’d hated her from that first summer, and that was never going to change.
    And while his bad opinion of her became set in stone, he’d committed the unforgivable sin of making her feel sympathy for him. He’d made her feel for all that he’d lost. Hell and blast, he’d made it sound like he was the victim of some heinous crime when nothing was further from the truth. In her mind, he was the second son of the Crowles and had done exactly what second sons did. If they didn’t go into the military or the clergy, they managed the land they’d been born to. They became a steward. It didn’t