The Heiress Bride Read Free Page A

attention, and herlaughter would make him smile, it was so carefree and lovely and innocent. And she would lean down and kiss him on the cheek and hug him hard. But she wasn’t laughing now. Why the hell was she looking so damned diffident? As if she’d done something unbelievably awful? Sinjun didn’t have a shy bone in her body, not from the moment he’d first picked her up out of her cradle and she’d grabbed his ear and twisted it until he’d yowled. He folded the paper on his lap. He frowned. “What do you want, brat? No, you’re too advanced in age for brat anymore. My dear, then. Come in, come in. What is the matter with you? Alex said there was something on your mind. Out with it. I don’t like the way you’re acting. It isn’t like you at all. It makes me nervous.”
    Sinjun came slowly into the library. It was very late, nearly midnight. Douglas waved her to the seat opposite his. It was odd, she thought, as she approached. She had always believed Douglas and Ryder were the two most handsome men in the entire world. But she’d been wrong. Neither of them came close to Colin Kinross.
    â€œSinjun, you are behaving quite strangely, not at all like yourself. Are you ill? Has Mother been tormenting you again?”
    She shook her head and said, “Yes, but she always does, saying it’s for my own good.”
    â€œI will speak to her again.”
    â€œDouglas.”
    She stopped, and he blinked to see that she was staring down at her toes and she was actually plucking at her muslin skirt.
    â€œMy God,” he said slowly, the light dawning finally, “you’ve met a man.”
    â€œNo, I haven’t.”
    â€œSinjun, I know you haven’t overspent your allowance. You’re so tight with your purse strings thatyou’ll be richer than I am in a matter of years. Mother picks at you, but most of it bounces off. You pay her no mind, truth be told. Alex and I love you within the bounds of common sense, and we’ve tried to make you as comfortable as we can. Ryder and Sophie will be arriving in a week or so—”
    â€œI do know his name, but I haven’t met him!”
    â€œAh,” said Douglas. He sat back, grinning up at her, steepling his fingers. “And his name is?”
    â€œColin Kinross, and he’s the earl of Ashburnham. He’s a Scot.”
    Douglas frowned. For a moment he’d hoped it just might be Thomas Mannerly she liked. No such luck.
    â€œDo you know him? Is he married? Betrothed? Is he a gamester? Has he killed men in duels? Is he a womanizer?”
    â€œYou would have to be different, wouldn’t you, Sinjun? A Scot! No, I don’t know him. If you haven’t even met the man, then why are you so damned interested?”
    â€œI don’t know.” She paused, and looked extraordinarily vulnerable. She shrugged, trying for a glimmer of her old self, and gave him a crooked smile. “It’s just there.”
    â€œAll right,” Douglas said, eyeing her closely. “I’ll find out all about this Colin Kinross.”
    â€œYou won’t say anything to anyone, will you?”
    â€œI will to Alex but no one else.”
    â€œYou don’t mind that he’s a Scot, do you?”
    â€œNo, why should I?”
    â€œThomas Mannerly had a touch of scorn in his voice, called him a barbarian, that kind of thing.”
    â€œThomas had a father who believed to the soles of his viscount’s feet that a true gentleman must be born breathing the fine, just air of England.It appears that Thomas has adopted his departed sire’s absurdities.”
    â€œThank you, Douglas.” Sinjun leaned down and kissed his cheek.
    As he watched her leave the library, a thoughtful frown settled on his forehead. He tapped his fingers slowly together. The only thing he had against a Scot was that if she married one, she would live very far away from her family.
    He followed his