Snowed
much raw sinew he’d held back the day before when they had skied together. He’d obviously slackened his pace considerably to allow her to keep up.
    This morning he hadn’t bothered with a jacket for the short expedition, and she knew his heavy gray sweater was no match for the biting cold. Not to worry, she grimly told herself. He had his hatred for her to keep him warm.
    I have too much experience with lying females who are after something and think there’s one tried-and-true way to get it.
    Even if he relented and allowed her to explain her presence in his home, even if she were to convince him that she was his half sister, he would still assume she was after something

a share of the estate, a cash settlement, something

to ensure her silence and protect the memory of their father. He was as cynical as they came.
    One thing Leah knew for certain: If she were ever offered anything by a Bradburn, she’d throw it right back in his face.
    She wasted no time draining her coffee mug and washing her breakfast dishes, knowing she mustn’t be there when he came through from the mudroom. The side door slammed as she was drying her hands and she quickly left the kitchen, with no more ambitious goal in mind than to find a corner in some out-of-the-way spot and curl up with a book.
    “Come on, Stieglitz.” The cat jumped up and followed her.
    Rationally she knew her host’s animosity was probably for the best. The sexual attraction between them horrified her. Leah had embarrassingly little experience with sin, but she didn’t need anyone to tell her that incest was a whopper in anyone’s book.
     
     

 
     
     

Chapter Five
     
     
    Leah’s eyes kept drifting to the window of the sewing room on the mansion’s third floor, where she’d retreated with some magazines to pass the afternoon. The tiny room was the most remote spot she could find, and she couldn’t help wondering if Annie had spent much time there–trying to avoid the master of the house.
    She’d managed to keep out of James’s way all day, skulking around like a thief to avoid being seen. Such constant vigilance had frayed her nerves, and all she wanted to do now was relax, throw together a light supper, and turn in early. And

God willing

go home tomorrow.
    But she couldn’t ignore a sense of unease. Ten minutes earlier she’d seen James, again jacketless, trudging down the path he’d shoveled the day before, toting a canvas log holder. He’d disappeared behind the carriage barn. She knew from their skiing excursion that behind the barn were two cords of wood, neatly stacked under a snow-covered tarp.
    She wondered how long it could possibly take to collect a few logs. When ten minutes became twenty and the early evening sky began to darken, her unease turned to anxiety. It wasn’t possible that something had happened to him...was it? She tried to concentrate on the latest issue of
Newsweek,
but it was a losing battle. Finally she rose from the rocking chair and went to stand by the window, waiting for her half brother to appear.
    She stared at the carriage barn for several minutes, chewing her lip. It must be close to a half hour now since he’d left the house. If it had been anyone else, she would have gone out to check twenty minutes earlier. But he’d made it excruciatingly clear that he didn’t even want to know she was around.
    She smirked. The fool is probably restacking firewood or something. She forced herself to turn her back on the window and park her bottom in the rocker once more. She opened the magazine to the article she’d been reading.
    “...investment flows and other forces will draw the two economies closer...”
    In sixteen-degree weather.
    “...consumes more than it produces, triggering a flood of imports...”
    At dusk.
    “...excess capital to be invested overseas...”
    With no jacket.
    With a disgusted sigh, she tossed the magazine to the floor. The hell with His Highness’s royal edict. Something was

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