Dawns Everlastin' (former title: Dusk Before Dawn) Book 2 Read Free

five days had badly shaken
her convictions about herself. If she could convince herself a good
cry would lessen her misery, she would weep a river.
    Ha!
    All she would likely get was
another headache.
    * * *
    "So where the bloody hell
are you, Lannie, you swineheart!"
    Roan continued to pace
beneath a circular array of swords mounted on one parlor
wall.
    "I didn't bargain for this,
I can tell you! Where are you? Laughin' off yer fool head, no
doubt!"
    He sharply looked over his
shoulder, his heated gaze targeting a large portrait hanging over a
Victorian marble mantel. A snort escaped him then, turning on a
heel, he walked to the stoked hearth and glowered at the
heart-shaped face of the woman in the painting.
    "Beth, give me a hand, here.
I know ye're still around. You brought me here to help. Weel, I
did. Now, dammit ,
I would like to return to Aggie, if you please."
    A sigh of frustration heaved
his chest. "The wind's pickin' up. I wasn't plannin' on gettin'
stuck here. No' even for you."
    Hooking his thumbs onto the
waistband of his trousers, he sighed. "Beth, lass, I don't want the
responsibility o' a spunkie Yank and her obnoxious laddies. I've
no' the patience to put maself ou' for strangers. I've ma own life
to worry abou'."
    Something compelled him to
look to his right. His heart rose into his throat when he found
himself staring into a sea of fiery green eyes. It felt as if an
invisible fist slammed into his gut. The skin on his arms and nape
tingled uncomfortably.
    "How long have you been
standin' there?"
    Laura released the crystal
doorknob and advanced into the room. Pale, her eyes seeming too
large for her gamin features, she stopped within an arm's length of
her host.
    "Long enough." She spared
the portrait a glance before spearing Roan's eyes with a look of
unquestionable hostility. Then her gaze swept over him, and her
right eyebrow haughtily arched. Snug, dark brown trousers
accentuated his narrow hips and muscular thighs. Dingy white wool
socks covered his feet. In place of the sweater she'd soiled, a
dark purple and blue plaid lap blanket was draped over his
otherwise bare shoulders.
    Placing his balled hands on
his hips, he further exposed the pale, curly blond hair matting his
chest to his collar bones.
    A pulse drummed at Laura's
temples. Her skin twitched. "For the record, Mr. Ingliss, I didn't
deliberately drive onto this property to have a wreck. I lost
control of the car...which, considering the condition of the roads
is quite understandable. At least it would be understandable to a
reasonable person!"
    "Save yer temper for the
laird o' this...." Roan offered a snide, lopsided grin.
"...house."
    "You're not the
owner?"
    Shaking his head, he folded
his arms across his chest. "There's no consanguinity between an
Ingliss and a Baird."
    The news took her aback, but
she nonetheless kept her spine stiff. "When do you expect the owner
to return?"
    "He's somewhere abou'," he
replied, casting the room a scornful glower.
    Somewhere about? Laura narrowed a fuming look on
him . He talked to that portrait kinder
than he talks to me! "Look, I'm grateful
for what you've done—"
    "No!" Roan exclaimed with a
flag of a hand. Turning, he went to a pink and gold embroidered
settee positioned atop an enormous red and blue Persian rug, and
seated himself. "I don't want gratitude, Miss Bennett. I responded
to the heat o' the moment. Nothin' mair."
    "Have you always been such
an ass, or is this little performance being staged strictly for my
benefit?"
    Roan was at first shocked by
her words then threw back his head and released a booming laugh.
When he looked at her again, his bearish countenance had softened.
A gleam of mischief brightened his eyes beneath the arched
precipices of his eyebrows.
    "It’s been a long day, Miss
Bennett. Forgive ma ill mood."
    "Don't talk to me about long
days, Mr. Ingliss," Laura said through clenched teeth. "My first
and last visit to Great Britain has been nothing short of a
nightmare. So,