The Thawing of Mara by Janet Dailey Read Free Book Online

amused slant of his mouth lacked humor. "As a matter of fact, I didn't take time for coffee before I left the cottage."
    "Pour the gentleman a cup, Mara," her father instructed.
    "All that's left is the bottom of the pot," she added a last warning, irritated that Sin Buchanan was taking advantage of the hospitality he must guess she didn't wish to extend.
    "I like my coffee strong and black," he informed her, and glanced at her father. "Thank you for offering, Mr. Prentiss," expressing his gratitude to whom it was due.
    "Sit down." Her father waved a hand to indicate a chair at the table. "And please call me Adam. With you staying at the cottage, you're virtually our closest neighbor, and I've never liked formality between neighbors."
    "Neither have I," was the agreement. "I didn't introduce myself on Friday. Sinclair Buchanan," he identified himself, and shook hands with Adam before sitting in one of the chairs.
    Having emptied the coffeepot into a mug, Mara carried it to the table and set it in front of him. "I believe your friends call you Sin, don't they?" Her subtle jibe was followed by the thought, Sin by name and sin by nature.
    His blue eyes glanced up at her, challenge lurking in their steely depths. "That's correct," he admitted.
    Immediately her remark seemed churlish. "You said you liked your coffee black?" She sought his affirmation to cover her previous words.
    "Yes, thank you." The frosted gray hair inclined briefly in affirmation, something vaguely condescending in the action. As Sin lifted the mug to sip the scalding hot coffee, his gaze was directed at her father. "Adam Prentiss—I have the feeling I should know that name."
    Adam had been studying his daughter. At the questioning remark addressed to him, he brought his attention back to the man at the table.
    "I'm something of a local historian," he offered in explanation.
    "Adam is being falsely modest," Mara inserted. "He's a very well known Civil War historian."
    "That's where I've heard your name, then." Sin absorbed the information Mara supplied but ignored the acid sting in her voice. "A close friend of mine is an avid Civil War buff, and your name probably came up in our conversation."
    Mara felt a curiosity for the identity of his friend and heard herself inquire skeptically, "Miss Taylor?" His red-haired mistress didn't seem the type to her.
    "No." Sardonic amusement danced in his eyes while the rest of Sin's strong features remained smoothly expressionless. "A close male friend of mine."
    Mara had the distinct impression that she had walked into a trap he had neatly set for her, and she didn't like the feeling. Sin Buchanan was an irritating and offensive man. She wished she could stop rising to his bait and learn to ignore it.
    He was speaking again, this time to Adam. "I believe John mentioned your name as the author of a book he'd recently read about the Battle of Gettysburg."
    "That's possible," her father conceded with a faint smile. "I have written one on the subject. It's a comfort to know someone has read if and it isn't gathering dust on the library shelves."
    "I confess that I know very little about the battle or the Civil War." But Sin Buchanan wasn't apologizing for his ignorance or previous lack of interest.
    "When the South lost the Battle of Gettysburg, they virtually lost the war even though it dragged on for another two years," Adam explained the significance of the battle in history.
    "I don't think Mr. Buchanan is interested in hearing a lecture on it." Mara stated before her father could warm to his favorite subject. She turned a challenging look toward the blandly guarded expression of her tenant. "You said there was something you wanted to speak to me about, Mr. Buchanan?" She pointedly reminded him of the reason for his visit.
    The slashing lines that ran from nose to mouth became more pronounced. Behind his lazy regard, Mara sensed he was laughing at her, silently, cynically. It heightened her feeling of antagonism toward