Free Seducing the Spy by Sandra Madden

supporting the Irish effort against them.”
    “Aye.” She giggled.
    She giggled!
    “Clever.” Diabolical.
    Cameron forced a smile.
    Secret, unbridled delight sparkled in Meggie’s eyes as they met his. Her mischievous grin held Cameron mesmerized like a callow boy struck by the first freckle-faced beauty to look his way. Frowning at his lapse, Cameron warned himself against the temptation he found in her eyes, her smile... her enchanting freckles. The Duchess of Dochas posed more danger to him than Barra and his men.
    “We profit well by selling the horses for far more than the cost to raise them,” she added with a wink.
    A wink!
    “Makes me proud to be an Irishman, it does.” Although Cameron had told the lie many times, in this instance he almost choked on the words.
    “When ye feel able to ride, say the word, and ye will have the best mount,” Meggie promised.
    “I would like that.”
    She grabbed hold of the fence, her upturned face just inches from his. He thought no more about the outrageous horse deception. All Cameron could think was that if he tipped his head just a few inches, his lips would be on Meggie’s. His gaze locked on her lips.
    “Will ye be joining us for Lughnasa on the morrow?” Meggie asked.
    Cameron knew that the Irish, steeped in folklore and superstition as they were, celebrated the start of August and the advent of harvest with the Festival of the Celtic god Lugh.
    “Ye will not be required to dance.” She cast a blinding smile straight at his heart.
    A smile that could divert a man from his purpose. Cameron tore his gaze away to study the fence post. “Will Barra and his rogues be attending your celebration?”
    “Aye, but Barra has not had more than a drop to drink since his foolishness.” She lowered her voice in a conspiratorial manner. “He does not trust himself.”
    “Understandable.” Cameron gave a curt nod of his head in acknowledgment. He would prefer Barra gone.
    But he saw no way to decline Meggie’s invitation to celebrate Lughnasa without arousing her ire or suspicion ... or both.
    “What say ye?” she pressed.
    Her hopeful expression caused a twinge in his chest, a gut-wrenching roll of his stomach. Meggie had been sorely wounded by betrayal before. Cameron had not the heart to betray her, too. But he must. His duty was to spy.
    “I would not miss Dochas’s celebration,” he said.
    “And will ye compose and recite a poem especially for the day? Ye must, ye know. It will be expected, and I shall accompany ye on my harp.”
    “Ye play the harp?”
    “Aye. Like an angel from heaven.” With a smile as wide as Galway Bay, Meggie Fitzgerald winked at him once again.
    The wench was shameless.
    “You wish me to recite an ode to Lugh?”
    “Do you know such?”
    “Nay.” None of the poems Cameron had memorized addressed the great god or any aspect of the festival.
    She pursed her lips, a gesture he had noted previously, as a prelude to thought on her part. “Then, ye’d best be creating a special poem,” she said after a moment’s reflection. “Especially for Dochas.”
    Under normal circumstances, it took Cameron days to compose a simple message. He found expressing his thoughts difficult, whether on paper or in conversation. If the lieutenant originally selected for this mission had not been killed by lightning, Cameron would not have had the opportunity to be here now. Quite simply there was no one else with his degree of education willing to risk his life as a spy.
    How was he to create a poem overnight? But if he did not, the quick-minded Meggie Fitzgerald would know him as a fraud.
    He met her eyes, bluebell eyes alight with anticipation.
    The devil take me here and now!
    Cameron cleared his throat. “I have a confession to make.”
    Her eyes grew wide. “Aye?”
    “The thoughts that spring to mind have not been the same as before ye ... before I was wounded. I cannot seem to summon the muse as I used to do.”
    Meggie’s finely arched