Courting Susannah Read Online Free PDF

have her investigated before he made a final decision, and he knew just the man for the job.
    For the present, she was attempting, without much success, to cut the drumstick on her plate with her knife, and the pinkening of her neck indicated that she knew he was watching her.
    â€œOut here in the wild west,” he said, taking pity, “we eat fried chicken with our fingers.”
    She glanced at him uncertainly, as if she thought he might be mocking her, and he took up a wing with his hands, to prove his contention, and took a bite. He thought he saw a tentative smile lurking in her gray eyes, though he couldn’t be sure, for she lowered her heavy lashes right away, like a veil. But she set aside the knife and fork and nibbled at the drumstick with delicate restraint.
    He felt something stir in the depths of his belly, watching her, and shifted uncomfortably in his chair. “How long have you been traveling, Miss McKittrick?” he asked, in an effort to distract himself as well as to make conversation.
    She looked at him solemnly, as if to determine his reasons for asking even so innocent a question. “I left Nantucket ten days ago,” she said after a moment’s consideration.
    â€œYou don’t seem to have much baggage,” he commented, refilling his wine glass. She had already refused his gestured offer to pour some for her with a shake of her head.
    She lifted her chin, and her eyes darkened to astormy shade of charcoal. “I have very few encumbrances,” she replied flatly.
    He’d said something wrong, though he wasn’t sure what it was. Women could be very prickly creatures. “Julia owned a great many dresses,” he ventured to observe, hoping he wasn’t insulting her. “They’re in the armoire in her room. Help yourself to whatever you want.” He paused, cleared his throat. “You’ll want to alter them, I suppose. Julia was—bigger.”
    She surprised him with a wan but genuine smile that left him shaken and even more off-balance than before. He wasn’t sure he’d ever recover from the sweet, fiery shock of finding her asleep on his bed. “That is very kind, but I don’t suppose Julia’s garments would be appropriate for a child’s nurse. As I remember, her tastes ran to silks and laces.”
    Aubrey frowned, recalling without admiration how delectable Julia had looked in her elegant, costly clothes and how she had used her singular charms to make a fool of him before the whole city of Seattle. “There might be a few more practical garments. Please—help yourself. She would want you to have her things.”
    She continued to assess him, and though there was nothing untoward in her expression, he felt increasingly unsettled, as though in some unaccountable way she might be seeing far more than he would have chosen to reveal. A splotch of color blossomed on each of her cheeks. “You and Julia didn’t—didn’t share a room?”
    He laughed, and the bitterness of the sound surprised even him. “That is an audacious question,” he remarked, provoked in a way that could not have been described as even remotely unpleasant, “for a woman who was wildly embarrassed to be found sleeping on someone else’s bed.”
    The blush intensified, then drained away, leaving pallor behind. “I have never been wed, Mr. Fairgrieve,” shesaid evenly, “but I am not ignorant. I know that most husbands and wives share a chamber, at least in the early years of their marriage.”
    â€œJulia enjoyed social engagements. She did not like to disturb my sleep, coming home at all hours of the night as she did, and so she asked for her own room. I was only too happy to oblige.”
    â€œI see.” She spoke coldly, her food forgotten.
    â€œI don’t think you do,” Aubrey answered. He pushed back his chair and stood. What the hell was happening to him? He’d always