Seduced by a Rogue Read Free Page A

position
     she might take in trying to persuade him to leave.
    As she sought tactful words to tell the two men they would have to wait and deal directly with her father, her outspoken sister
     said, “Surely, the two of you should not be prowling here for
any
reason without my lord father’s consent.”
    “Did ye no hear him, lass?” William Jardine said, leering. “Rob acts for the sheriff. And the sheriff, as even such a bonnie
     lass must know, has vast powers.”
    Tossing her head again, Fiona said, “Even so, William Jardine, that does not explain what right
you
have to trespass on our land.”
    “I go where I please, lassie. And as I’m thinking I shall soon give your wee, winsome self good cause to ken me fine, ye should
     call me Will. Nae one calls me William except me da when he’s crabbit or cross.”
    “Enough, Will,” Maxwell said as he met Mairi’s gaze with a rueful look in his distractingly clear eyes.
    Despite her certainty that he would soon clash with her father, Mairi’s heart beat faster, radiating heat all the way to her
     cheeks.
    Robert Maxwell smiled, revealing strong white teeth. His eyes twinkled, too, as if he sensed the inexplicable attraction she
     felt toward him.
    Was he as arrogant and sure of himself, then, as his friend Will Jardine was?

    Noting her reddening cheeks and the quizzical look in her gray eyes, Rob felt an immediate and unusually powerful reaction
     that he could not readily define.
    She looked so small and fragile on her horse, and so extraordinarily fair that the light dusting of freckles across her nose
     and cheeks seemed out of place, as if she had been more often in the sun than usual. But as he returned her disturbingly steady
     gaze, he sensed serenity and an inner strength that warned him to tread lightly. It also made him glad that he had made the
     effort to silence Will.
    She seemed oddly familiar, as though he knew how she would move and what she might say next, as if he had recognized the soft,
     throaty nature of her voice, even the confident way she held both reins in one smoothly gloved hand.
    Despite his having met her just minutes before, the feeling was, he thought, the sort a man might have if she had occupied
     his thoughts before, and often. He realized he was smiling—as if he were delighted to be meeting her at last.
    That notion being plainly daft, he tried to dismiss it. He saw then that her light blushes had deepened to a painful looking
     red spreading to the roots of her hair.
    Hastily, and without looking at Will, Rob said, “I hope you can forgive the lad’s impudence, and mine own, my lady. Is there
     aught else you would ask of me?”
    “You are kind to explain things,” she said. “But as we are only women”—Rob saw the younger lass cast an astonished look at
     her—“you would be wiser and would accomplish more, I am sure, by explaining yourself instead to our lord father.”
    He would speak to Dunwythie later. Now, though, he smiled again, ignoring instinct that warned him he might be making a mistake
     to press her. “You can save us much time if you will just tell us how large your estates are,” he said. “Men talk often of
     the size and value of their holdings, do they not?”
    The serene gray eyes flashed, but her voice remained calm.
    “Not to their womenfolk, sir,” she said. “I doubt you would take my word for their size if I
could
tell you. My father will return this afternoon. You can talk with him then. Come, dearling,” she said to her sister. “We
     must go.”
    With a nudge of heel and a twitch of reins, she turned her horse and rode back the way she had come.
    Her sister followed, reluctantly and only after a last twinkling smile for Will.
    Rob watched the two young women until they vanished into the woods.
    “Sakes, Rob, ha’ ye lost your wits? Ye stared at that lass like a right dafty.”
    “Unless you want me to teach you manners, Will Jardine, keep silent until you have something worth