And the Bride Wore Plaid Read Online Free PDF Page A

lips twitched. The maid’s breath might be sweet, but her language was not. “If you don’t wish to be mauled, then perhaps you should try to be a little less tempting.”
    “Tempting? Me?” Kat Macdonald blinked into the blue, blue eyes of her captor, fighting a losing battle to appear unaffected. Her mind whirled around the fact that the handsomest man she’d ever beheld had swept her into his lap and bestowed an expert, passionate kiss on her astounded lips. Then she’d had to fight the fact that her body had immediately softened, her heartbeat had tripled, her chest had tightened with an unfamiliar emotion.
    It had been all she could do to appear bored, though she’d managed. It was the best way to depress unwanted attentions, something Kat excelled at. Something she was far too familiar with, as it was. But in a way, that was her own fault. She’d sold her reputation for something that had seemed far more important, only to discover that she’d been wrong, dead wrong. Now she was forced to deal with the repercussions of that decision, one made so hastily eight years ago.
    He lifted a finger and traced the curve of her cheek, the touch bemusingly gentle. “You are a lush, tempting woman, my dear. And well you know it.”
    Kat’s defenses trembled just the slightest bit. Bloody hell, how was she to fight her own treacherous body while the bounder—Devon something or another—tossed compliments at her with just enough sincerity to leave her breathless to hear more?
    Of course, it was all practiced nonsense, she told herself firmly. She was anything but tempting. She looked well enough when she put some effort into it, but she was large and ungainly, and it was way too early in the morning for her to look anything other than pale. Her eyes were still heavy with sleep, and she’d washed her hair last night and it had dried in a most unruly, puffy way that she absolutely detested. One side was definitely fuller than the other, and it disturbed her no end. Even worse, she was wearing one of her work gowns of plain gray wool, one that was far too tight about the shoulders and too loose about the waist. Thus, she was able to meet his gaze and say firmly, “I am not tempting.”
    “I’d call you tempting and more,” Devon said with refreshing promptness. “Your eyes shimmer rich and green. Your hair is the color of the morning sky just as the sun touches it, red and gold at the same time. And the rest of you—” His gaze traveled over her until her cheeks burned. “The rest of you is—”
    “That’s enough of that,” she said hastily. “You’re full of moonlight and shadows, you are.”
    “I don’t know anything about moonlight and shadows. I only know you are a gorgeous, lush armful.”
    “In this?” She looked down at her faded gown with incredulity. “You’d call this gorgeous or lush?”
    His gaze touched on her gown, lingering on her breasts. “Oh yes. If you want to go unnoticed, you’ll have to bind those breasts of yours.”
    She choked.
    He grinned. “And add some padding of some sort in some other areas.”
    “I don’t know what you’re talking about, but please let me up—”
    “I was talking about padding. Perhaps if you bundled yourself about the hips until you looked plumper, then you wouldn’t have to deal with louts such as myself attempting to kiss you at every turn.”
    She caught the humor sparkling in his eyes, and it disarmed her a bit more.
    “Furthermore,” he continued as if he’d never paused, “you will need to hide those eyes of yours and perhaps wear a turban, if you want men like me to stop noticing you.”
    “Hmph. I’ll remember that the next time I run into you or any other of Strathmore’s lecherous cronies. Now, if you’ll let me go, I have things to do.”
    His eyes twinkled. “And if I refuse?”
    “Then I will have to deal with you myself.”
    “Oh ho! A woman of spirit. I like that.”
    “Oh ho,” she returned sharply, “a man who does