To Seduce a Bride Read Free

mush…must know…I am feeding her.”
    â€œYou came here to feed the stable cat?” His tone held surprise and a hint of disbelief.
    â€œShould I have let her starve?” Lily asked rhetorically. “Boots is an excellent mouser, but at the moment she has more important tasks to occupy her, namely taking care of her kittens.”
    His handsome mouth quirked. “Do you mean to remain there with the cats?”
    â€œNo. I will come down as soon as my head clears. I seem…to have drunk a bit too much champagne.” To her chagrin, she was too dizzy just now to climb safely down the ladder to escape Lord Claybourne’s unwanted presence.
    â€œThen you won’t mind if I join you,” he said, moving across the aisle to put a foot on the lowest wooden rung.
    Yes, she minded! Lily sat up abruptly, wondering how she could prevent him from imposing his company upon her. “You cannot climb up here, my lord!” she exclaimed, yet her protest obviously had no effect, since his head soon appeared above the ledge.
    â€œI believe I can. I plan to keep you company.”
    With his torso in view, he paused to survey her with interest.
    â€œYou will get your coat dusty,” Lily said lamely, eying his elegantly tailored evening coat of burgundy superfine—Weston, no doubt—that fitted those magnificent shoulders to perfection.
    â€œMy coat will survive.” His gaze raked over her own attire. “What about you? You are wearing a ball gown.”
    â€œThat is different. I don’t care about clothing.”
    When his eyebrow shot up, Lily realized that her retort could have two meanings. “I d-don’t mean that I like to go
naked
…” she stammered, feeling scalding heat flood her cheeks. “I only meant that I don’t care about
fancy clothing
…ball gowns and shuch.”
    â€œHow novel.” His tone turned wry as he climbed the last few rungs and settled a hip on the loft’s edge. “It strains the imagination. You must be the first female I have ever met who isn’t interested in fancy gowns.”
    â€œBut you see, I am not normal, my lord. I am very
abnormal.
”
    â€œIs that so?” he replied, easing himself closer to sit beside her.
    Even in the dim light, she could see that his hazel eyes were dancing. He was laughing at her!
    Stiffening her spine, Lily opened her mouth to remonstrate, but he spoke first. “What is so abnormal about you, angel? You look exceedingly normal to me.”
    When his gaze drifted downward again over her body, Lily pressed her hands to her flaming cheeks and willed herself to calm down—which was deplorably difficult considering the fluttery, flustered sensations that were racing through her at his lordship’s close proximity.
    Stretching up to her full sitting height, she tried to appear regal and made her tone dampening as she replied. “I
meant
that I am not usual for a
female.
”
    â€œI have little doubt about that.”
    She shot him an exasperated look. “The thing is, I should have been born male. I would have been mush happier.”
    â€œOh, and are you so unhappy now?”
    In her slightly inebriated state, her thoughts were more sluggish than usual, and she had to consider his question for a moment. “Well…no. I like my life quite well. But women have little of the freedom that men enjoy.”
    â€œWhat freedom would you like to enjoy, love?”
    Lily bit her lower lip, abashed at how her tongue was running away from her. Yet she couldn’t seem to help herself; the champagne had loosened her tongue deplorably. “Never mind. Don’t listen to me, my lord. I don’t hold my liquor at all well.”
    â€œSo it would seem. What made you drink so much then?”
    â€œI was drowning my sorrows, if you insist on knowing.”
    â€œWhat sorrows?”
    â€œAt losing my sister to matrimony. I was indulging in a bout