Free His Heart's Revenge (The Marshall Brothers Series, Book 2) by Jo Goodman Page A

turn my ankle shortly after we left. I insisted that she go on, and I hobbled until I was out of her sight."
    "Not particularly original."
    "It worked. She will be gone for hours and we are quite alone. There is not the slightest chance that we will be interrupted."
    "Since we will not be doing anything, it's a point without merit." He raised his brows slightly and pointed to the barn door with his index finger. "Take your leave," he said again.
    Far from being cowed, Mary Catherine stood her ground. "Is it because of Megan?" she asked. "Are you still in love with her? Is that why you won't do it with me?"
    Logan reached behind him and plucked a piece of hay from the bale. He placed one end of it in his mouth and twisted it between his thumb and forefinger. His expression was thoughtful, cool and removed. "Your sister has no part in this. For the record, I was never in love with her. I hardly knew her, and though I deeply regret the pain she suffered and her passing, I remember her with fondness rather than love. As for the reason I won't do it with you? That is simple. You do not even know what it is or what it is called."
    "I do."
    Logan blanched as he realized where she might have come by the experience. He sat up straighter and tore the straw from his mouth. "Did Allen ever—"
    Mary Catherine's eyes widened. "No. Never. He never did that to me." She would never admit that she had Logan to thank for that, because she didn't thank him. She would have been willing to suffer anything if it would have kept her mother and sister with her.
    Logan crossed his legs in front of him and went back to toying with his stick of straw. "Katy, I would be lying if I said I wasn't flattered by your offer, but I am not tempted." He hesitated, wondering if lightning would strike him for lying on the second count. "You are like a sister to me." Another lie. "I am hardly the person you want to give you this experience."
    "You are exactly the person I want. You will be leaving on the morrow, and it is unlikely that I will ever see you again. I know you, which is better, I suppose, than not knowing you. I do not want my first experience to be like Megan's. I was lucky to have escaped being raped when it happened to her, but I might not be so fortunate when the next renegade comes. And there will be another one." Her eyes did not waver from his, although it was true that she was looking through him rather than at him. "You are not unhandsome either. You are thinner than you used to be, but you are not rail-thin. I do not think I should like holding a man who was too thin. As for thinking of me as your sister, well, it is too bad. I do not think of you as a brother. You will simply have to overcome your reticence."
    Though Logan did not show it, Mary Catherine's newfound poise and straightforward reasoning unnerved him. "This is a ridiculous conversation, Katy. I shouldn't be listening to you, and you shouldn't be saying these things."
    "It's called—" Her voice was solemn as she intoned the basest, crudest word for making love. "And I want to do it with you."
    Logan thought he had heard most everything, but Mary Catherine's pronouncement confounded him completely. "And I want to wash your mouth out with soap. Preferably lye soap."
    "Why? That's the word, isn't it?"
    "It's a word. Hardly the word." He shook his head slowly from side to side. A thought occurred to him. "Have you been drinking?"
    In answer, Mary Catherine approached Logan until she stood directly in front of him. There was a rustle of her skirt and petticoats as she knelt. With artless confidence she laid a hand on either of Logan's shoulders, leaned forward, and kissed him full on the mouth. It was an inexperienced kiss. She kept her mouth closed but enthusiastically pressed her lips to his. After a moment she drew back and smiled a smile much older than her years. "Well?" she asked. "Have I been drinking?"
    "Don't play with me, Mary Catherine," he said tautly.
    Her lightly