An Accidental Seduction Read Online Free PDF Page B

cant her head at him, to narrow her thoughts.
    “And what exactly might you mean by that?”
    “Me apologies,” he said, and though he dropped his head in the semblance of chagrin, his eyes were steady when they reached hers again. “It but seems strange that such a bonny lass should spend her time alone on this estate so far from the company of others.”
    Bending an elbow, she flicked an invisible fleck of dust from her sleeve. “Perhaps the carefully bred don’t become lonely so easily as the lower class,” she said.
    His eyes sparked again, but whether with anger or humor, she couldn’t quite tell. Neither did she care, she thought, but it was not so easy to lie to herself as to others.
    “And what of boredom, me lady? Do the carefully bred feel that?”
    She tilted her head at him. In the past three days she’d been bored enough to chew off her own arm. But he was watching her, and perhaps it would not suit her elegant persona to admit as much. “I’ve but a desire to see how my lord’s estate looks after the rain,” she said, thenpursed her lips and perused him for a silent moment. “If you’ve no objections.”
    Their gazes met and melded, and then he grinned. “No objections a’tall, me lady.”
    She placed a splayed hand to her chest with dramatic flare. “What a pleasant relief.”
    He laughed and gestured to a gelding tied to the nearby wall. He was as black as pitch. Tall and broad, he was deep through the heart girth and smooth through the forearm. Every elegant line flowed like river water into the next. He turned his broad head toward her, showing intellect and curiosity in his seal-brown eyes.
    And suddenly it mattered little if she was Rom or royalty, for her heart was filled to brimming with something rather akin to love at first sight.
    “Here then,” Gallagher said, breaking the spell. “Allow me to move Indigo so that you may mount your own steed.”
    Tugging the gelding’s lead from the ring through which it was tied, he led the black away, only to reveal a paunchy chestnut adorned with a lady’s silly sidesaddle. Little more than a spavined pony, the mare was barely fourteen hands at the withers. Never flicking an ear, she stood with one hip cocked and her bottom lip drooping.
    Savaana stared at the aging hack for all of fiveseconds, then turned toward her unwanted escort. “You jest.” Her tone was perfectly level. Perfectly bored.
    He raised a brow at her. “Me lady?”
    Their gazes clashed. “Surely you do not expect me to ride that…” She lifted a dismissive hand toward the chestnut. “…thing.”
    Gallagher scowled as if confused, but even an inbred Irishman couldn’t be as daft as all that. She was quite certain of it…until he spoke. “Mr. Gregors said to make certain you remained safe, and Daisy here will do just that.”
    She smiled, making sure the expression did nothing more than move her lips into a ghoulish configuration. “Did Mr. Gregors also say to make sure I do not move above a snail’s pace?”
    He shook his head once, looking befuddled. “I don’t believe he made mention. But if that be your preference I shall surely—”
    “Change the saddles, Lowwick,” she ordered, though in truth she had never ridden aside as well bred ladies did.
    “Me name’s Sean, lassie. Sean—”
    “I don’t give a damn if you’re the king’s first cousin. Unless you’ve a penchant for riding aside, you’ll change their tack about.”
    “The mare is a fine mount, me lady. A bit long in the tooth, mayhap, but well trained and responsive if you’ll but—”
    “Did I ask about the state of her teeth?”
    He shook his head. “Nay, me lady, but I fear Gregors will be sore—”
    She slapped the quirt against her skirt. “Remove the saddle or you’ll have apt reason to fear.”
    There was something in his damned eyes again. If it was humor, she might well have to kill him. “Truly, my lady, I do not think—”
    “And ’twould be a bad time for you to