Read Rebel Dreams for Free Online Page B

with every available female. He sat up and began to brush himself off.
    “My mistake. I rather thought you enjoyed it too.”
    Before she could deliver a scathing reply or scramble down
the haystack and away from him, the barn door creaked and a sliver of light
pierced the gloom.
    “Miss Wellington? Is that you? I can explain about the hay—”
The man entering stopped abruptly as he caught sight of them sliding from the
stack. Then, staring at the floor, he finished hastily, “I’ll be removing the
hay shortly if you have need of the storage. Good day, Miss Wellington. Sir.”
    The color had drained from Evelyn’s face by the time the man
departed. Her eyes were huge wafers beneath sable lashes, and Alex experienced
a guilty pang at how vulnerable she suddenly seemed. He had thought her as
strong as he, he realized. That was an entirely idiotic notion, considering the
differences between their ages, sex, and experience.
    “I am sorry. Is he likely to carry tales?”
    Evelyn squeezed her eyes closed. “I don’t know. I don’t know
him that well.” She shook her head and took a deep breath. “It doesn’t matter.
I am twenty-one and responsible only for myself.”
    Alex gave her a skeptical look. Any young lady of his
acquaintance caught in such a compromising manner would be screaming marriage,
particularly since he had initiated the action. Despite her occupation and
hoydenish behavior, he could not believe that she was the type of woman who had
no reputation left to damage. Her pompous uncle would have packed her off to
China if that were so.
    Deciding he had only himself to blame for falling into such
an obvious trap, Alex shrugged off the incident. He wasn’t the type to cry
marriage either. Perhaps she had learned her lesson. “Very commendatory of you,
my dear, but perhaps I ought to take you home now before anyone else steps in.”
    “Yes, go on. I’ll walk. Perhaps you might just tell me your
suggestion to our problem sometime at the office. Or send me a letter. I don’t
care. Go away.”
    Amused by her sudden abstraction in comparison with her
normally clipped, precise thinking, Alex shook his head. “I’ll admit to being a
cad, but I do try to keep up appearances. I will accompany you home, and to
hell with your neighbors. Now, come on.”
    Evelyn jerked her elbow from his grasp and glared at him. “Haven’t
you caused enough trouble for one day? I am accustomed to walking. It is not
that far. I don’t need your charity or your company.”
    “What you need is a little more respect and a little less spite,
but I won’t hold my breath,” he grumbled. “You will either ride out of here
under your own volition or I will pack you out of here over my saddle. If that
doesn’t convince you, think of your mother. How will she feel if the gossip
reaches her, and she hasn’t even met me?”
    It was obvious that she hadn’t considered that. Tightening
her lips, she marched out into the sunlight as if to her own hanging.
    Alex threw her up on the swaybacked nag that it had been his
misfortune to rent, then joined her before she had a chance to change her mind.
Her hair beneath the silly hat was all tousled, and he plucked a straw from it.
Mischievously, unable to resist the temptation of her slender curves in his
arms, he nibbled at her ear. “You look like you’ve been rolling in the hay,
Miss Wellington.”
    “Stop it. Just stop it, or I will jump down. I will never be
so glad to see a man leave this town as I will you. When do you sail?”
    Her words were low and choked, and he guessed he had touched
the impervious Miss Wellington a little more than anticipated. He had ever been
prone to overindulgence.
    Taking up the reins, he held her waist with one arm and sent
the nag into a jarring walk with the other. “The Minerva sails when I
tell it to. That won’t be until I find out who dares to use me as a pawn in his
rotten game. So you might as well become used to my irritating company.