Stealing a Lady's Heart: A Regency Fairytale (Fairfield Fairytales Book 1) Read Free Page B

on his heels. He found Charlotte anything but annoying. It was probably best that she didn’t like him much. 
     
    * * * *
    Charlotte reached her room and quickly closed the door leaning against it. Blimey!What had gotten into her? First she was ogling him and then she was snapping at him. Graham had hardly said a word.  But what he did say seemed to rankle her. He set her on edge just looking at her. She wrapped her arms around herself. A few comments from Graham had her all out of sorts.
    Men didn’t usually talk to her like that. That wasn’t entirely true. Some men did but she rarely reacted like that. She usually just ignored them. It must be that she sensed he was a rogue and would take advantage of her.
    A thought suddenly crossed her mind.  His lips on her lips.  His hands touching her skin.  Her body pressed against his.  A blush climbed up her cheeks again and she pressed her cool hands against them to calm her heating skin.  She willed herself to stop thinking these thoughts.
    A servant entered the room and she helped Charlotte change into her night clothes and climb into bed. She had told the truth, it had been a long day in the saddle. But as she lay in bed, sleep did not come. Thoughts of Graham kept enticing her mind and it felt like hours before she finally fell asleep.
     

STEALING A LADY’S HEART

    CHAPTER THREE
    The next morning Charlotte rose early but the house seemed to already be in full swing.  She dressed and headed down to breakfast.
    “Good morning,” she said to Baron Fairfield.  “Where is everyone else?”
    “Already at work. The boys are trying to get as much done as they can before the real heat of the day.” The baron’s pride in his sons was clear in his voice.
    “What are they working on?” Charlotte was curious. Most aristocrats were still in bed at this hour. And physical labor was never part of their day.
    “Will is a huntsman when he is not in training for the baronship. He has gone to provide dinner for the people of the manor. The other three boys are working on the house.” Baron Fairfield waved toward the front façade of the manor.
    “May I be so bold as to ask what has happened to the manor?” Charlotte bit her lip. It was a rude question under any circumstances, but she had just met this man.
    He did not look offended though and instead answered easily. “The winters have been especially bitter. We’ve been losing cattle in record numbers. Many of the peasants, fearing starvation, have left to work in factories. Without people, we cannot grow again.” He grimaced. “It has been as if a dark cloud has been resting over us. It is not this manor alone but the whole of our area that has suffered.” The darkness in his face brightened. “With Will back home, we can catch other food. And since Nick studied under a merchant, we will begin shipping more of our beef to sell and Tom can build our families respectable homes. We should be able to attract more people to the land.”
    “And Graham?” Her voice sounded frosty even to her own ears. She wanted to hear that Graham was good for nothing. His handsome looks had to mask a deplorable man. 
    “Graham volunteered to fight for our country against Napoleon. One brother had to go and he stepped up for our family. When it came time to pick a trade, I let him follow his heart. He chose to be a locksmith. Besides, if we are to begin trading, every ship can use a safe.”
    Charlotte blushed slightly. She had been ready to cast Graham as the ne’er do well brother. Despite annoying her, he clearly was loyal and hardworking. 
    Charlotte carried her breakfast out to see the repairs. There, dangling from a window and repairing the damaged siding, was Graham. He was shirtless, wearing only his breeches. Blast, he was handsome. 
    His muscles rippled as he stretched first one way and then another to take off broken pieces of siding from the upper floor and replace it with new boards.  He worked quickly and easily