Read Online In the Bed of a Duke by Cathy Maxwell - Free Book Online

have backed out.”
    She was right.
    “Perhaps,” she continued thoughtfully, “the reason you are so angry—”
    “I’m not angry,” he assured, and he wasn’t. Not any longer.
    “You had to be,” she pressed. “Especially if your heart was involved. Miranda had assured me it wasn’t—?”
    “It wasn’t,” he interjected. “But my pride was. There,” he said, “complete and brutal honesty. It feels good. I haven’t had the opportunity to practice it that much in London.”
    “And there is no one to witness it?” she said, her voice light.
    “There’s you, Miss Cameron. There is you.”
    She studied him a moment, her intelligent eyes alive with speculation.
    “But don’t,” he warned her, “push your luck. I only have so much candor to spare in a day.”
    His admonishment startled a surprise laughout of her, and he was transfixed at what a smile could do to her. No one had a more glorious smile than Charlotte Cameron.
    And the idea that it was he who brought it to her lips pleased him greatly. More greatly than it should.
    She started walking.
    He could only follow.
    They came out of the woods into another field. Here the land was rolling pastures. The clouds had parted to reveal a full moon that gave off a light almost as bright as day.
    Phillip noticed a three-sided hayrick with a thatched roof on the other side of the field. He started toward it. Here was shelter for the night.
    Miss Cameron skipped a step to stay even with his since Homer was eager to reach the hayrick.
    “So, what are you doing in Scotland?” she asked Phillip. “Especially since you are apparently risking your life to be here.”
    “We’ve already had this discussion,” he said, brushing the question aside. The grass was short but very thick. His boots were soaked. Her kid slippers could not be better. He reached for her hand to help her over a muddy gully time had eroded in the field.
    She jumped it, almost landing in his arms. She pulled away immediately without looking athim. “Several times,” she agreed. “You haven’t answered my question yet.”
    “Because I don’t wish to,” he reminded her.
    Exhibiting a remarkable tenacity, she pressed, “Is it because of the feud?”
    “After almost two hundred years?” Phillip shook his head. “Please, Miss Cameron, give me some credit. I have few thoughts about Scotland. My family considers itself English.”
    “But you have Scottish roots?”
    Phillip stopped, realizing she would pursue her line of questioning until she had answers or discovered the truth—and he had no desire for her to know about his twin Justin. It would be best if he gave her something to occupy her nimble mind. “We held land up here at one time,” he said with undisguised irritation, “but my father sold it—and at a good price, too. Perhaps that is what has them all foaming at the mouth.”
    Miss Cameron wrinkled her brow in puzzlement. “Has anyone ever attacked you before about this feud?”
    “No,” he answered and then hesitated, realizing that her questions were some he should have asked himself before he’d taken off hell-bent for leather upon receiving Nanny Frye’s letter. It didn’t make sense—and yet, his brother may have been kidnapped over it. “I knew of the feud asfamily lore from both my grandfather and father. My father knew the present laird. They went to school together.”
    “They were friends?” she asked, as if startled by the information.
    “What did the laird say?” he answered, curious to her response.
    Miss Cameron didn’t like having the questions turned upon herself. In the silence, Homer tried to drop his head and graze. Phillip tugged at his lead, a silent command for the disgruntled horse to be still. The movement gave her an opportunity to dodge his question. “He’s hungry. We should let him rest for the night.”
    “Oh, no, Miss Cameron. You will not evade me, not after hounding me most of the night with your questions. What did the