Free Forever Ashley by Lori Copeland Page A

women coming to?
    “I thought you were asleep.”
    “That was not the question.”
    “No, I’m not accustomed to undressing in front of men.”
Returning to the mirror, Ashley studied her reflection, suddenly wishing that
she were prettier. It would take a woman of considerable beauty to attract a
man, an obvious rake, like Aaron Kenneman. Oh, she would be considered
passable, but she didn’t come close to being beautiful. A wave of homesickness
washed over her as she thought about Joel and how he had always contended that
she was pretty, though she knew she really wasn’t.
    “Come now,” Aaron chided. “A woman with your beauty...mayhap
there is someone you have favored?”
    “Well...only one man, Joel Harrison, my fiancé,” she admitted.
    He scowled. “You have been in such...disarray in front of
him?”
    She looked at the yards of fabric swathing her form and
suppressed a giggle. “He’s seen me in a lot less clothes than these. We were
engaged.”
    “And being ‘engaged’ in the—what century do you claim to be
from?”
    “The twenty-first century.”
    “Women in the twenty-first century—they allow men such
liberties?”
    “Well...some do, I guess.”
    “When will you marry?” His gaze moved over her slowly.
    “We won’t now,” she confessed, determined to ignore the heat
that was suddenly building inside her at his intimate and softly provocative
words. “I broke the engagement. Just before I...landed on your table.”
    Her wide-eyed, innocent expression was so sincere, so
straightforward that for the briefest moment Aaron was tempted to be swayed by
her performance. Was it possible she actually believed this absurd story that
she told? No, Cage had chosen well. The wench was not only clever, she was
convincing “Is this man a Tory also?”
    “Joel? Of course not!”
    "Why did you break the engagement?”
    “None of your business why.”
    “’Tis a pity,” he said softly.
    “That I broke the engagement?”
    “No, that twenty-first-century women allow men such
freedom.” His eyes moved over her very slowly again. “If I were the second man,
I would feel defrauded.”
    “Because he’s seen me in jeans and a halter top?”Ashley
finished buttoning her bodice and tucked it back into the skirt of her costume.
"Well, things are different now than they were in your day.”
    She was speaking gibberish again. After rolling out of bed,
Aaron walked to the window to look out.
    "You might as well relax,” Ashley told him. "We’re
safe for the time being.”
    Stooping down, she gathered up the discarded petticoats and
farthingale from the chair, then laid them across the dresser.
    It was a long time before Aaron finally moved from the
window. She glanced at him, her behavior softening when she realized that he
was truly exhausted.
    After emptying her wash pan into the slop jar, she poured
fresh water into the bowl. "You may wash now.” He unbuttoned the top three
buttons of his lawn shirt as he sank to the edge of the bed. It was hard as the
wench’s heart, but there would be little rest tonight anyway. After pulling off
his boots, he let them drop to the floor with a thud, then wearily stretched
out on the bed.
    Ashley watched his actions from the corner of her eye. His
lean body was stretched diagonally from corner to corner, and she had to smile.
The bulky knitted socks encasing his large feet were such a contrast to the
expensive silk hosiery Joel wore.
    She turned away, trying to ignore him, but she could still
see his image in the looking glass. His shirt gaped open to reveal his broad,
tanned chest, well muscled with a thick coating of light brown hair. He wore
his hair long and tied at the nape of his neck in a fashionable queue. Sinfully
long, dark lashes made crescent shadows against his lean cheeks. His mouth was
finely carved, and his chin was, if possible, even more stubbornly decisive
than Joel’s.
    “Where am I supposed to sleep?” She wrung out the cloth and
laid it