Mia Marlowe by Plaid Tidings Read Free Book Online

reach the ground, so she hooked her ankles and let them swing back and forth with nervousness.
    He began to regret asking her to sit. From this angle, he could see down her bodice into the shadowy hollow between her breasts. They were plump and sweet and likely to fit his palm to perfection. His body would never settle with this sort of feminine distraction so near.
    “I wonder,” he said, casting about for anything to fill the silence that yawned between them, “if this betrothal isn’t a bit easier for you than for me.”
    “Why should it be easier for me?” She crossed her arms, pressing her breasts together and deepening the cleft between them. Alexander ground his teeth, but couldn’t drag his gaze away. “D’ye think I want to be saddled with a man I didna even ken?”
    “No, I suppose not, but at least you knew you were betrothed.” He moved around the bench and sat down. If he leaned forward, elbows on his knees, his arousal should be less obvious. “When I won Bonniebroch from its previous owner, I had no idea you’d come with it.”
    “Read the contract, my lord,” she said in a biting tone. “Ye’re also getting a prize Blackface ram.”
    He chuckled. “Well, that makes all the difference in the world.”
    She obviously didn’t find that as absurdly funny as he did, for she shot him a searing glance and then looked away.
    “This is every bit as difficult for me as ye,” she said. “I might’ve had another beau, ye ken.”
    “Do you?” If she was pining for a Highlander somewhere, perhaps Alexander could convince her to negate the contract. His problems would be over. He’d even foreswear the clause that forfeited her family’s wealth to him if that was what kept her from balking.
    “That’s no’ the issue. Even if I did have a beau, I have two more sisters. Ye could take yer pick between Aileen and Mary in that case.” She turned to him and he felt himself in danger of tumbling into her green eyes again. He couldn’t decide if those shaded glens were a balm for the soul or a hideaway for bandits. “That’s no’ a bad idea. Would ye fancy one of my sisters, then? I’ll be pleased to step aside, if that’s the case.”
    As if he needed another way to wound her. “No, I don’t fancy one of your sisters.”
    “Is it that ye dinna like women, then? I’ve heard whispers of such men, but never did I think to meet one.”
    Indignation made his hackles rise.
    “Trust me, I like women.” He was tempted to unfasten his trousers and show her just how much he liked women. Her delectable form especially, at the moment.
    “I simply didn’t intend to marry . . .” ever, he finished silently. Now to avoid it, he’d have to find a quick husband for not only Lucinda, but both her sisters. It was a daunting prospect, but not impossible. He latched onto the idea as the only hopeful one he’d had all morning.
    “Ye dinna want to wed at all?”
    “I’m counted young for it still.” He was not yet thirty, but the depth of his pockets meant he could well afford a wife if he wanted one.
    “Ye seem old enough to me.” She folded her hands in her lap, lacing her fingers so tight, her knuckles whitened. Alex was trained to notice minute ticks, small tells of deception or subterfuge. Lucinda might try to project an image of calm, but she was like a duck, skimming lightly over the surface of the pond with hardly a ripple and all the while paddling furiously underneath. “Perhaps ye feel guilty over winning Bonniebroch in a game of chance.”
    “No, poque is more skill than chance.” For better or worse, he’d earned his new Scottish title.
    “So ye fancy yourself a knowledgeable betting man. Perhaps ye’d care to make another wager then, based on something else in which ye may be skilled,” she said.
    “What do you have in mind?”
    “I told ye I didna have a beau. In fact, I’ve never had one. Many a gentleman caller, o’ course, but none I cared to keep. In fact, I’ve never even