Free Moonlight Lover by Marie Ferrarella Page B

learning, he had always believed, was only for the rich who didn't have to worry about working for a living. "Not a word."
    Sin-Jin crossed his arms before him as he leaned back in his chair. He couldn't imagine having the written word remain a mystery to him. "Doesn't that bother you?"
    "Why?" Bronson challenged, then his tone mellowed. "Who the bloody blazes has time to read? I'm busy from sunup to sundown." He laughed, trying to imagine himself even holding a book. "Besides, what would I read if I did have the time?"
    "I have books in the library." Sin-Jin gestured around the room to make his point. Two walls were completely devoted to shelves he had made himself. They were filled with books. Well-thumbed books.
    Bronson looked around solemnly as he thought was expected of him, though he had been in this room countless times. "They make the room like nice and cozy, they do," the overseer declared, thinking that was the response Sin-Jin wanted.
    Sin-Jin shook his head. "They're not for decor, Bronson." He saw that the man didn't comprehend. "I don't have them here just to look impressive."
    The thick brows met once again over the bridge of Bronson's aquiline nose. "You don't mean that you've read them?"
    Sin-Jin bit his lip to keep from laughing. He didn't want to hurt the man's feelings. "Yes."
    Bronson crossed to the nearest bookcase and looked at it slowly. There were books from floor to ceiling. He turned back to Sin-Jin, awed. "All of them?"
    "Yes." Sin-Jin rose to join his overseer. "I had them sent from back home."
    Odd, he thought, how he could use the word and yet not feel the stirring that went with it. He had spent most of his life in England, yet his life had only really begun once he had arrived on these shores. Once he had shed a way of life, a role that was thrust onto him. Only when he had taken up a life of his own choosing did things begin to fall into place for him.
    Bronson ran a wide, thick fingered palm over the spine of a black covered volume. Letters that were a complete mystery to him glittered there. "And it didn't hurt your head any?"
    "I didn't read them all at once." Sin-Jan laughed. He cocked his head, considering a newly conceived thought. The crops were in and the nights that stretched before him promised to be long. It would be satisfying to have a hand in educating someone and doing something worthwhile with his time.
    Sin-Jan placed a hand over Bronson's wide shoulders. "Tell you what, man. Come by the house after dusk tonight. I'd like to teach you."
    Like a bull taking a stand, Bronson shook his head from side to side. He didn't need things cluttering his head.
    "Thank you, but if it's all the same to you, Mister Lawrence, I think I'll pass on the offer. No offense, but reading's for gentlemen with time on their hands." To make his point, he spread his hands, palms down, in front of him. They were far wider and beefier than Sin-Jin's. "I work with mine."
    To humor him, Sin-Jin spanned his next to Bronson's. The difference was considerable. But Sin-Jin pressed on. "I promise it won't hurt your hands if your mind is educated." He dropped his hand to his side. "Tonight. After supper." His tone was firm.
    Bronson sighed. It was all foolishness to him. But Mr. Lawrence did pay his wage. "Yes, sir, Mr. Lawrence."
    Sin-Jin could read the older man's thoughts in his eyes. It seemed inconceivable to Sin-Jin how someone could be content to have an entire sphere of knowledge shut away from them. He tried to approach it in terms Bronson could understand. "That way, no one'll cheat you when I send you into town for supplies."
    If that was all he was worried about, Mr. Lawrence could save himself the trouble. "No one's ever cheated me before."
    Sin-Jin crossed his arms before him. "How would you know?"
    "Because—"
    Bronson opened his mouth and a foolish grin overtook it. The wide shoulders rose and fell once again beneath the loose, stained white shirt. He spread his hands wide. He weighed two