Read Online Smitten by the Spinster by Cassidy Cayman - Free Book Online

dead by the time he was three and his father a drunken rabble-rouser, he only seemed to have fond memories.
    “You make it sound so wonderful,” she said. The thought of being surrounded by loved ones on a peaceful, secluded farm seemed idyllic.
    “Do I?” he asked. “It’s really verra dreadful. I didna mean to misrepresent it so.”
    She tilted her head and studied him, his face completely innocent and perplexed. It took her a moment to realize he was teasing her and she swatted his hand with a giggle.
    Quinn asked her about her childhood home and she tried to tell the truth as much as she could. For some strange reason she wanted to tell him more, like how she’d got her first starring role as Wendy at thirteen, the zit cream commercial she’d been so chuffed about at sixteen but now prayed never saw the light of day again, the countless auditions and classes, but it only made her melancholy for her old life and against the odds, she was actually enjoying herself with Quinn right now.
    She couldn’t remember the last time she’d enjoyed right now. She’d become accustomed to regretfully looking back or desperately hoping for when she’d be able to get to her own time again. She hadn’t felt so relaxed in ages. Danger, a tiny voice in the back of her mind whispered, but she ignored it.
    “And how did a fine young lady like yourself, surrounded your whole life by the gentry, not get scooped up by some lord of something?” he asked, eyeing her boldly. “I beg you’re pardon if that’s too forward.” He didn’t look sorry at all, and she considered ignoring the question, but he seemed awfully sure he knew all about her and she wanted to set him straight.
    “I’m not a fine young lady at all,” she said. “Working class all the way. My grandmother worked hard and gave up a lot to make sure I got the best education.”
    He frowned then. “I wonder if we didna do well enough by Catie. She canna dance or play any instrument, and barely knows two words of French.”
    “And are they swear words?” she asked, nudging him with the pawn she captured. He grinned, and for the first time, she didn’t almost get knocked out of her chair by it, but was glad she was the cause.
    “Truly, your granny did well, lass. Ye’re verra accomplished,” he said.
    “I wasn’t trying for a compliment.” Lizzie felt her cheeks burning. “And Catie seems to have had a lovely upbringing. Her manners are beyond reproach.”
    He kept smiling at her, making her smile back like a loon. “All that from merely trying to find out if ye were attached in any way,” he said.
    Her smile disappeared as she remembered herself. Or the way she was supposed to be. “Now, that is too forward, sir,” she said, softening the blow with a wave at the board. “Are you going to retaliate against my ruthless taking of your pawn?”
    She managed to recover from his basically asking her if she was single and tried to keep from wondering why he cared. They played in near silence, though it wasn’t awkward. He seemed to know she needed a bit of space and she appreciated the quiet friendliness that settled over them. They could have been at her apartment in her own time, just having a nice evening in.
    “Are you setting me up?” she asked after she beat him a second time. There was no way someone who was so bad at chess would ever have suggested the game in the first place. “You’re going to propose we wager on the next game and then mop the floor with me, aren’t you?” She leaned back in her chair and enjoyed the false look of outrage that took over his handsome features. She really did like looking at him.
    He burst out laughing, unable to keep up his charade. “Ye’re verra savvy for someone who’s so poor at chess.”
    “So, you did let me win! And I’m not so bad.”
    “Aye,  and ye are. It was difficult to lose to ye. But I didna mean to make an unfair bet. I just wanted to see a smile on your lovely face.”
    He grinned at