Free Rebel Enchantress by Leigh Greenwood

backbone.”
    She said that just as blithely as if she were telling him to expect company for dinner. If this was her idea of how to seduce a man, she would never get married.
    “Let’s hope your mother is in for a big surprise,” he said, trying to control his temper. “It would be a shame if all of us had to leave Maple Hill.”
    “We can’t. Where would we go?”
    Nathan could see genuine fear at the back of Priscilla’s eyes, and some of his impatience disappeared. She was selfish, vain, and maybe a little bit stupid. She could never adapt to poverty.
    Delilah could go from being rich to poor without a pause, he thought. And without making her husband feel it was his fault. Not only that, she would find a way to help him get ahead again. With a woman like that, no man would be poor.
    Damn! He had to get his mind off Delilah.
    “Tell Aunt Serena I won’t be back for dinner,” Nathan said as he picked up his gloves and riding crop from a long, narrow table.
    “You always work so hard. Don’t you like to have fun?”
    “I don’t have time,” Nathan replied impatiently. “I’ve got to see several people tonight. It’ll be easier if I eat at the tavern.”
    “You must be tired of talking to men all the time. You need a change of company.” Priscilla smiled sickeningly. She oozed over and leaned suggestively against Nathan.
    “The more I move among the neighbors, the more quickly I will begin to understand them,” Nathan said, disengaging himself once again. “And the quicker I understand them, the better I will manage my property. I want to start making money, not just to be trying to collect what’s owed me.”
    “Uncle Ezra always said the easiest way to make money is to take what someone else already has.”
    That’s not my way,” he said.
    But now he understood his uncle better. It was a wonder the old bastard had been allowed to die in bed.

Chapter Five
     
    Nathan had a choice. He could think about the cold and tasteless dinner served him at the tavern, he could brood over the fact that everyone seemed anxious to avoid his company, or he could ignore both disagreeable realities and let his mind dwell on Delilah.
    He took the easiest alternative, despite knowing it was a waste of time to think about her. Or any woman. They could not be trusted. He had reason to know. He had made a fool of himself once already.
    Nevertheless, thoughts of Delilah invaded his mind. He couldn’t fool himself into thinking this weakness had its roots in a feeling of guilt over leaving Maple Hill before she’d had time to settle in. Delilah could take care of herself. He’d seldom seen a more self-sufficient woman.
    No, he had run away because he couldn’t control his response to her. Not admirable behavior, certainly not the kind he expected of himself. And he couldn’t use Delilah’s devastating effect on him as an excuse. Any self-respecting man ought to be in better control of his emotions. It was probably just as well he’d learned of his susceptibility. A few days more and it might have been too late.
    If their first meetings had been battles, he would now be suffering from nearly mortal wounds. And as far as he could tell, he had yet to make any impression on her. She still hated everything he stood for, and her feelings for him consisted of equal parts of dislike and distrust.
    A prudent man would recognize when the encounter was lost. He would withdraw his forces and wait for a more propitious moment to fight. If the war could not be won, he would gather his forces and remove to a foreign land where he might begin over again.
    Nathan knew he wasn’t being prudent. He might never win the friendship of these silent, angry colonials—Americans they called themselves now—but he intended to win their respect. However, he wanted more than respect from Delilah.
    He knew he couldn’t treat her as he would another woman. As with the mute, somber men who directed angry gazes at him across mugs of rum or