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"Of course,you like, as well"

Nodding, she could not stop her gaze fro to McKinney His eyes were inscrutable as he watched her move away She prayed he would not be here when she returned She found it unlikely he wanted to listen to her read to the earl Perhaps if she took her tione when she returned

As she slipped inside and made her way into the library that was precisely her hope

Chapter Twelve

Watching her leave, Logan was quite certain she would take Thru a bookif for no other reason than to avoid hioodie’s voice allanced swiftly to the old aze trained on where Miss Hadley had disappeared

"Nothing silly about her Not like so ers toward the lahere Libba and two other ladies played their gaentleman "She’s lived a different sort of life before this You can see it in her eyes It ree with that She wasn’t vacuous or spoiled or vain She loved othersto sacrifice herself for her fahlands wasn’t like life in Town There weren’t the teas and vast entertain jaunts to Bond Street But he did not suspect she would ut They could find other ways to divert the hi hi his

He could especially see her in his bed in the long, cold nights of winter--the fire fro her skin as he sank hihs

He blinked, sed, disturbed to find himself uncomfortably hard Damn the lass She did this to hiht At any rate, it was all a fantasy until he persuaded her to marry him

"Too bad I happened upon her so late in life If I were a younger man, I could be a real husband to herinstead of thisshell" He punched a gnarled fist upon his blanket-covered thigh

Logan blinked, startled at the old man’s bluntness, and not a little disoodie had made up his mind and intended to an wondered if they weren’t already betrothed When he’d arrived, he’d felt as though he were interrupting an intimate moment between the two of the their closeness It never occurred to hioodie could have already proposed

"I suppose I’ll get about the ot too et down on a knee these days, but I’ll e She acceptsAnd she’s exceedingly solicitous of my needs More than anyone elseeven the servants"

Logan heaved a sigh of relief He wasn’t too late then But he best not dally Thruh a proposal was ime of anger Did she really wish to arded her as little s: "Have you ever been married?"

"No"

"Well, think hard before you settle on sohtly Choose the ferimaced He made a wife sound like a slave to her husband His mother had been a true partner to his father She’d ruled their faeneral before and after his death When his father left for the Crimea, his mother had been the one to put food on the table and oversee the crofter’s grievances She was so oodie’s voice droned on "Most gentle out a cravat than a wife I could never understand that A potential wife should be weighed with the sa his steed"

Logan blinked at the oddness of this conversation Strange consul indeed, considering he was presueness was even greater if one knew Logan’s trueMiss Hadley As he sat beside her decrepit beau, listening to hiht steal Miss Hadley out from under hi advantage of the situation Not just for himself but for Miss Hadley, too She deserved more than an old man who, by his own admission, could never be a real husband to her

The silence stretched and he stared at the double doors in the distance where she’d departed, longing to give pursuit "You’ve known Miss Hadley long?" he asked

Thru cough Regaining his breath, he gasped, "Do you ever really knooain in the direction where Miss Hadley had disappeared He supposed there was so her as she wept over her baby sister, her grief over not being there to carry her to the churchyardhe had learned everything he needed to know about her in that an rose to his feet He didn’t have tioodie so very close to proposing

Cleo finally narrowed her selection to a voluested she choose so she would enjoy, too She perused further, in no hurry to return to the lahere she’d left him with Lord McKinney She need wait only a little while As determined as she was, Libba would doubtlessly override his protests and claim him

"Have you found a book that gling to keep her expression cool and coht you needed to relax"

"I feel quite invigorated actually" He leaned against the wall just inside the library, arms crossed over his chest He looked very masculine and forned boredo back on the shelf "Interesting You should play croquet with the others then"

He pushed off fros quickly covering the distance between theait--his very appearance--struck her as predatory Not the first tiray of his eyes seemed dark, almost charcoaland intense in a way that made the tiny hairs at the back of her neck prickle

"Ga his head in a partial nod His dark stare held her for a long, tensehimself directly before her Only a scant inch separated his chest from hers Her neckline was aze scanned her face before dropping to her throat, her chest "But I’ when it comes to you"

She held her breath, riveted by his eyes, his face, the movement of his lips as he spoke