Free Forget Me Not by Melissa Lynne Blue Page B

winking without a care in the world.
    He would pay for this later.
    “If you’ll excuse me.”  Lydia scraped her chair loudly across the thick planks of the kitchen floor. “I am going to bed.”  She barely caught the words I’ve had quite enough of this masquerade from slipping out.
    “Aye.”  Brian followed suit. “It has been a long day. Harvey, Mrs. Baker, my wife and I cannot thank you enough for the hospitality.”
    “No problem at all, Brian. Will you be needin’ supplies to see you to the next village?”
    Brian hesitated, and Lydia understood his reluctance to take any more from his friend. “We couldn’t think to impose on ye anymore. The meal and a warm bed is more than enough.”
    “ It wouldn’t be an imposition, son, in fact I have an offer, a trade, if you can spare a day. There is a length of fence to the north of my property needs mending, but I can’t get it done on my own. I’d be willing to trade a few days’ supplies for a day of your labor.”
    Brian locked eyes with Lydia. She shrugged in response to his silent question.
    “We could spare a day,” he nodded. “I’ll be up early to get started.”
    “Good man.”
    The door to the bedroom closed and Lydia was more than ready to unleash her fury. “How could you do that to me?  How could you tell them I was pregnant?  We aren’t even married and I would have you know, sir, that I have never done—” she squirmed uncomfortably, searching her sheltered vocabulary for the appropriate word, “— that with a man.”
    “Glad to hear it, but it’s really none of my business.”  He shrugged with nonchalance, sat on a corner of the bed, and began pulling his boots off.
    Oh!  The man was impossible!
    He stood to untuck his shirt and caught her glowering stare. “What?  It was you who told them we were married.”
    She narrowed her eyes murderously at the reminder.
    “I couldn’t very well tell them we’re on the run for witnessin’ a murder. Knowin’ the truth could put them in danger. Now if any of Keith’s men come asking questions they’ll not bat an eye at the tale of a young couple run off to the Gretna Green.”
    “Except for the fact the Baker’s know your real name. Felix’s men will hear the name Brian Donnelly and know we’ve been here.”
    “Seeing as Harvey and I served three long years together I could hardly give him a false name.”
    Stubbornly crossing her arms, Lydia refused to concede any measure in the argument. After his behavior at dinner Brian didn’t deserve condescension.
    “Look, I admit to getting’ a bit carried away at dinner, but I wanted to lay our story on thick.”
    “Rest assured, Brian Donnelly, I will make you pay for the yarn you spun tonight.”
    He beamed, rising to the challenge. “I thought ye wanted a rogue, Miss Lydia.”
    “I said I’d prefer you were a gentlemanly rogue.”
    A bark of laughter escaped him as he dragged the blue work shirt over his head, chucking it into a corner. “I’m afraid such a man does not exist, love.”
    Lydia opened her mouth to protest further, but the words fizzled on her tongue. Brian stood before her, a mildly amused expression adorning his handsome face, waiting for her to continue, but she was mesmerized by the vivid sight of his naked chest. Smooth sun bronzed skin stretched taut over straps of thick corded brawn. Muscles rolled across his shoulders wrapping down his arms and over his chest. His abdomen was flat and firm with yet more hardened muscles rippling along his ribs down to the line of his trousers. She’d seen workman in the fields with their shirts off a time or two, but never so close, and never like this.
    “I, uh—” she sought to tear her eyes away from him, at the very least look into his eyes, but words and actions remained just beyond reach. At last he stepped back, turning toward the bed. “Wait,” she cried in alarm as he reclined on the left side. “What are you doing?”
    “Goin’ to bed,