Free Forbidden by Rachel van Dyken, Kristin Vayden, Kelly Martin, Nadine Millard

away.
    Someone had been in to light the fire while
she slept and she moved toward it to warm herself, suddenly aware
of the cold that seeped through her light night rail.
    Her head pounded, no doubt from the tears she
had shed and the fitful sleep she had gotten.
    But today was a new day. And a new attitude
was in order.
    Perhaps she had engaged in foolish fantasies
and romantic notions about Mr. Haverton but that was at an end
now.
    Yes, he was handsome. Yes, his kiss drove her
wild. Not to mention his smile.
    But he was a rude, arrogant, boorish bully
who was probably, in all honesty, also a little insane.
    She didn't think he would hurt her. Not
physically anyway. But her emotions just weren't up to withstanding
his ire.
    So, what she would do, she decided with a
false bravado, was ignore him as much as humanly possible, get the
library finished then get the hell out of there.
    Staring into the dancing orange flames of the
roaring fire, Mariah let her imagination wander as it was wont to
do. She gave it free reign now; envisioning bumping into him and
his mysterious woman in the village square and being marvellously
nonchalant about it; seeing him at a dance in the assembly rooms
and laugh at his pining after her while she danced with all the
dashing young gentlemen who begged her.
    She'd never been begged for dance in her
life, and the gentlemen of her acquaintance fell abysmally short of
dashing but that was neither here nor there.
    Feeling a little better, she managed an
almost genuine smile when Dora came with a cup of chocolate and to
help her dress, taking Mariah's borrowed night rail to wash out and
ready for that evening.
    Mercifully, she had brought Mariah's own
simple muslin gown, freshly washed and pressed. Mariah didn't think
she had the fortitude to wear another of the mystery lady's
garments.
    "Are you hungry?" asked Dora.
    "Famished."
    "Good," Dora said with a smile, buttoning the
back of Mariah's dress. "Mr. Haverton said we were to make sure
there was plenty for you to eat this morning, since you didn't eat
last night."
    Mariah's heart skittered at the mention of
last night as well as at the fact that he had been so considerate
of her.
    "And will Mr. Haverton be at breakfast?"
    Mariah sat at the vanity while Dora started
to brush out and pin her hair.
    "No. He said to extend his apologies but he
had a tonne of work and would be locked in his study for the
day."
    Mariah didn't realise she'd been holding her
breath until it left her in a whoosh of relief. She didn't know if
he was avoiding her or giving her the chance to avoid him, but
either way, she was vastly grateful.
    Still angry. But grateful.
    The dining room seemed larger than before
with nobody in it but Mariah and the footmen who were attending
her, but that did not put her off her breakfast. She enjoyed a meal
so large that her mother would have rung a peal over her head for
having an unladylike appetite.
    As soon as she had eaten her fill, she took a
pot of tea and hid herself away in library. She had absolutely no
desire to see Mr. Haverton. She did not even know what she would
say to him.
    The morning went on and on and still the snow
fell. Outside looked incredibly bleak and Mariah was grateful for
the roaring blaze of the fire and the maid who diligently attended
to it, ensuring that it never went out.
    Mariah took lunch on a tray in the library
and kept working with a dogged determination to be finished and
gone before she ever had to set eyes on Brandon Haverton again.
    By mid-afternoon it sounded as though the
howling of the wind had lessened slightly and Mariah hoped against
hope that that meant the storm was easing.
    As the dinner hour approached, her stomach
knotted more and more. She snuck from the library, her muscles sore
and cramping from having been leaning over heavy tomes all day. She
wanted nothing more than a hot bath and a long sleep, and when she
rang the bell for Dora, she informed the young girl of this.
    "Won't Mr. Haverton