Free Man of My Dreams by Johanna Lindsey Page A

the house this early of a morning,” Megan said as she drew up alongside her friend. “Or is your mother in another one of her redecorating moods?”
    “Neither. I just have news that I couldn’t wait to share, but I’m also dying of curiosity.”
    “I suppose your curiosity has to come first?”
    “Absolutely.” Tiffany grinned. “Especially since you didn’t even come back with the carriage yesterday, but sent a footman with it. I would have come over later in the day, but my mother had already got my promise to read at her Poets Society meeting, and last night we had Tyler and his parents to dinner.”
    “How did that go?”
    “Very well, considering how nervous I was. Now tell me, did your father really buy that incredible horse?”
    Megan grinned. “He really did, and some mares, too, though they haven’t arrived yet.”
    “You must be thrilled to pieces. Tyler was, too. He couldn’t stop talking about that stallion last evening. Told his father all about him. They’ve got a wager going that it’s likely a retired racer, so I wouldn’t be surprised if they both stop over for a closer look sometime this week. Did you ride it yet?”
    “You know ladies don’t ride stallions.”
    “That wouldn’t stop you,” Tiffany replied knowingly. “Then you haven’t?”
    “Not yet.” Megan sighed.
    “What about his handsome trainer? Did you get the fellow dismissed?”
    “Do you think he’s handsome?”
    “Divinely handsome. Don’t you?”
    Megan shrugged. “He has a certain attraction, I suppose, if you can overlook his rudeness, which I can’t. But no, I had no luck getting rid of him. When Devlin Jefferys said hecomes with the horse, he meant it literally. The damned sales agreement stipulates that he can’t be fired.”
    “How unusual.”
    “It’s preposterous, is what it is,” Megan replied, some of her anger returning just thinking about it. “You wouldn’t believe the license it gives him—to be arrogant, rude, outrageous in his behavior.”
    “Did something else happen?”
    “Yes, all of the above.”
    “How strange,” Tiffany said thoughtfully. “Men don’t usually act that way around you.”
    Megan stared at her friend for a moment before agreeing. “They don’t, do they?”
    “It sounds almost like how you behaved toward Tyler.”
    Megan stared a bit longer before agreeing again. “It does, doesn’t it?”
    “Well, Mr. Jefferys is a bit more handsome than most,” Tiffany pointed out. “Do you think he has the same problem you do, of having every woman he meets fall in love with him?”
    Megan said, straight-faced, “Not every woman I meet falls in love with me.”
    Tiffany burst out laughing. “You know what I meant.”
    “Yes, but the fact remains that Mr. Jefferys isn’t the least bit lovable.”
    “Neither were you to Tyler. Just the opposite.”
    True, but Megan couldn’t see a man makinguse of the same ruse. Deliberate? All those insults deliberate? Even the kiss no more than a means to another insult?
    Reminded of the kiss, Megan said, “I really don’t want to discuss that horse breeder. It has occurred to me that I have somewhat of a problem that you might be able to help me with. I don’t know the first thing about kissing.”
    “Kissing?” Tiffany said blankly.
    “Yes, how to go about it. I think I should know before I meet my duke, don’t you?”
    “Not necessarily—now, wait a minute. You don’t expect me to teach you, do you?”
    “Don’t be a goose. But you do happen to know more about it than I. Did Tyler teach you? Did it come naturally? Did it take practice?”
    “Practice, yes. Tyler didn’t know he was teaching me, but he was. And no, I wouldn’t say it comes naturally, since I was too nervous to enjoy it the first few times, though now it does seem like I always knew how. But—Meg, we don’t do any serious kissing, you know, just brief kisses good-bye and hello, and that only when no one is looking, as you well know.”
    Megan