Free Love Me Forever by Johanna Lindsey Page B

occurred to Megan. She tested her theory at dinner, putting her best effort forth to be amusing and to keep those around her smiling, if not laughing. And it worked. Kimberly relaxed and seemed to thoroughly enjoy herself, and each time she laughed, Lachlan seemed to turn her way.
    Of course, it was too bad of him that he was also sending seductive smiles and looks Megan’s way.
    Megan sighed, realizing she was going to have to have another talk with him about his continued interest in her—before Devlin took note of it. The only way she’d been able to get around her husband’s stubborn refusal to allow the Highlander to stay was to stress the possibility of matching him with the Earl of Amburough’s daughter. If he happened to notice where MacGregor’s interest lay, albeit temporarily—Megan would see to that—there wouldn’t be any talking around him again. The Scot would be given the boot immediately, if Devlin didn’t take him to task with his fists again instead.
    That was, unfortunately, an ongoing possibility, considering Devlin’s antipathy toward the Highlander. But sitting near each other tonight, with only Duchy between them, they seemed to be doing an admirable job of ignoring each other. Too admirable, possibly.
    Though it might become apparent to those around them how completely they were ignoring each other and cause speculation and gossip, they didn’t have that to worry about quite yet, not until they started socializing outside of Sherring Cross. But then, plans had been made for doing just that within the next few days.
    Duchy had managed to convince Megan that putting all her eggs in one basket wasn’t a brilliant idea. As much as she liked and had settled on the notion of helping Kimberly and Lachlan on the path to discovering true love, and as convenient as it was, having both of them in residence to hurry that along, it might simply not bemeant to be. So in all fairness, they each needed to be exposed to a nice range of eligibles. And the Wigginses’ ball in London, only a few days away, was just the thing to get that out of the way.

11
    K imberly was feeling pleasantly tired as she slowly made her way down the many hallways back to her room. She still hadn’t caught up on her sleep yet, but hopefully she would make up for that tonight. And her cold, miraculously, seemed to be gone completely, thanks to Lucinda’s wonderful, foul-tasting concoction.
    All in all, she’d actually enjoyed herself this evening. She’d been looking at all these upcoming social gatherings with something more like dread than anticipation. But Megan St. James had been such a charming and amusing hostess tonight that Kimberly had actually forgotten her reason for being at Sherring Cross.
    Amazingly, she’d also been so distracted by her hostess that she’d managed to forget, for brief periods anyway, the presence of the man who so fascinated her. It had helped that he sat at the far end of the table from her, far enough that she couldn’t even hear his voice in whatever conversations he joined in.
    It was only when she had the strangest feeling of having MacGregor’s eyes on her that she recalled him at all. Not that she looked even once to confirm if he was staring at her or not. And it was more likely just her imagination giving her that feeling, because he’d have no reason to pay attention to her when the lovely Megan was present.
    Kimberly knew exactly where his interest lay. After all, she had overheard everything he’d said to the duchess when he arrived. And not for a moment did she think that their banter had been the kind of harmless flirtation that men and women engaged in. He’d been serious. He meant to pursue a married woman. And that married woman had been obviously annoyed and exasperated with him because of it, not in the least bit receptive to the idea. But that wouldn’t stop him. His behavior tonight proved that.
    Kimberly heard the footsteps behind her just as she turned into the