Free Eloisa's Adventure by Rebecca King

disbelief. He knew she had just lied to him.
Had she been worried about being alone in the house after what he
had said about the place? Had she been trying to see him, to
reassure herself that he hadn’t gone too far away from her, and
frightened herself somehow?
    That thought worried him. The last thing he wanted, or
needed, right now was a clinging female to contend with. Not even a
beautiful one like Eloisa. There were more than enough problems in
his life at the moment. He didn’t need to
complicate He matters by being far too interested in a woman who was intent
on following him everywhere. She deserved his hospitality and
respectful consideration until the moment she left his house, and
could resume her own life. All he had to do was keep his hands off
her.
    With
that thought firmly locked in his mind, he put a pot of water on to
boil. When he turned toward her to suggest that he show her which
room was hers, his words vanished in an instant. It was then that
he realised she was considerably more than his guest.
    Their
eyes met across the table, and held for several moments longer than
necessary. Eloisa felt a flurry of something warm and strangely
exciting settle deep in the pit of her stomach. She struggled not
to squirm beneath his intent stare, and wondered what on earth he
was looking at.
    She knew
she must look a fright but really, what was he staring at? It was a
struggle not to poke self-consciously at her hair while she waited
for him to speak. When she couldn’t stand the silence a moment
longer, she tipped her chin up defiantly.
    “Would
you like a hand with anything?” she asked in a desperate attempt to
get him to look at something else.
    Simeon
was so captivated by the way her dress shimmered around her
whenever she moved that he missed what she said. He tried to wrack
his brains to remember what it was, but had no idea.
    “Pardon?”
    “I asked
if you would like a hand with anything,” she prompted.
    “For
now, we need to remain in here. Damn,” he muttered, when he
realised he had left his saddle bag on the stable door. “I need to
go out to the barn. I won’t be a moment.”
    “What
for?” Eloisa said without thinking. It was rather rude of her to be
so bold as to ask the man his business, but the last thing she
wanted was to be left alone in this house again.
    Simeon’s
brows lifted. A part of him was annoyed that she had the audacity
to ask, but another part of him fully understood her reluctance to
be left by herself. After all, she was in a strange house in the
middle of nowhere. He had been the one to give her a warning that
it wasn’t safe. He only had himself to blame now she wanted to
cling to him.
    “As far
as I am aware this house isn’t likely to be stocked with anything
we could eat, so I brought a meagre supply of food with me. It’s in
my saddlebag.” He didn’t add that he had been too distracted
thinking about her earlier, to remember the blasted
thing.
    “Which
is in the stable,” she finished for him, and almost groaned when he
nodded.
    Eloisa
turned to glare balefully at the cloak. It was soaked. The last
thing she wanted was to put it on again because she was cold enough
already. If she went outside in the pouring rain without it though,
her dress would become even wetter than it already was. What choice
did she have?
    “Why
don’t we look in the cupboards? There must be something,” she said
with an air of desperation.
    “Fine,”
he sighed but suspected that they weren’t going to find anything.
“You search that side, I will search this.”
    “How do
we see?”
    Simeon
sighed again and nodded toward the box on the mantle. “There are
some beeswax candles in there. The spills are in the
pot.”
    Eloisa
stared at his back and wondered if he was being obtuse for a
reason. It irked her to think that he considered her a useless
female. She knew what spills were because she used them every day
of her life at home. After throwing a dirty look at his back,