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“I swear to you, I’ the truth Women like to look at Ramsey, and that’s why they chase after him You don’t think him handsome?”
“I hadn’t really thought about it until now, but I suppose he is,” she said “Yes, of course he is,” she added with a bitto find fault with his friend “Iain’s also very handsome I’m surprised that the ladies don’t chase after you After all, you’re much more”
She stopped herself in time Heaven help her, she was about to tell him how attractive he was His earthynear his that anton and certainly unladylike, but struhts They were lustful; she wasn’t At least not until Brodick came into her life and turned it upside down
Oh, she wasn’t about to let hi she wanted to do was build his arrogance Brodick already had enough to last a lifetime
“I’m much more what?” he asked
She shook her head and tried to ignore his penetrating gaze “I knohy ladies don’t chase you,” she said “It’s because you scare them”
He laughed “That’s good to know”
“And you frown all the time”
“Ah, there’s Dylan”
Without so much as a fare-thee-well, Brodick strode away She couldn’t believe his lack of courtesy; he hadn’t even bothered to glance her way first He just took off
“Oh, no you don’t,” she whispered “You’re not getting away fro to herself, she picked up her skirts and hurried down the hill
“Brodick, I insist on having a ith you, and I don’t care if you want to listen or not,” she called out, but since he was so far ahead of her, she doubted he heard a word she said
She didn’t mean to pick up the pace, but the hill was ed, and before she realized as happening, she was running and couldn’t seem to slon
She propelled herself right into theyour pardon,” she stammered when she bumped into a soldier
The man didn’t hear her, but he obviously felt her ra to best him froing it doard in a wide arc when he discovered whom he was about to strike
His startled shout reached the treetops Gillian jumped back and collided with another soldier She quickly turned to him and said, “I’m so sorry”
Then he shouted Mortified by the tur where to turn, she whirled in a circle and then stood in the thick of thesoldiers ere fighting as though their lives depended on it None of the
In the chaos, she lost sight of Brodick
“Please excuse ently pushed her way through the crowd
Brodick let out a roar that caused her heart to h, she knew that she was the reason why
The fighting had stopped, and she was circled by a ring of incredulous warriors staring down at her as though she had just dropped out of the sky
“I’entle I really amoh, there’s Brodick Please let me pass”
The men appeared too stupefied to h to them, however, and within seconds a wide path was fors braced apart, his hands on his hips, and a scowl on his face
She thought it would be a good idea to go the other way, but when she glanced over her shoulder, she saw that Dylan and Winsloere blocking that end Winslow looked as though he wanted to kill her Dylan just looked plain astonished
Feeling trapped, she decided she was going to have to bluster her way through this e her shoulders, she sloalked to theher into a simpleton
“For the love of God, Gillian, ere you thinking? You could have been killed”
A loud gru, she forced herself to turn to her disgruntled audience She folded her hands together as though in prayer and repeated, “I am so sorry I started down the hill, and before I kneas happening, I was running I apologize, gentle you concern”
The sincerity in her voice and her heartfelt apology both placated and pleased the soldiers Several actually bowed to her, while others nodded to let her know they forgave her her transgression
She was beginning to feel better, but then she turned back to Brodick, and that feeling ih to make the sun break out in a sweat
“I wanted to speak to you,” she said
His head down like a bull, he charged toward her When he reached her, he didn’t slon He si She didn’t have any choice She could either ith hier and quicker than hers—or she could be dragged along behind hi doll
“Let go of me or slon,” she demanded as she tried to keep pace with him
He slowed down “I swear to God, you try the patience of a saint”
“You aren’t a saint, Brodick, no ht have told you”
The bull actually smiled “Ah, but you do please me, Gillian ’Tis the truth you do”
She wasn’t in the iven in such a bewildered tone
“Then I’m about to make you—”
“Delirious?” he asked, reht before
“Yes, you will be delirious, and do you knohy?”
“No,” he replied dryly, “but you’re going to tell me, aren’t you?”
He sounded resigned She refused to take insult “I’ you off the hook”
“Meaning?”
“You don’t have to worry aboutto be concerned about it, then why should you?”
“I see”
“You don’t have to marry me”
“Is that right?”
He suddenly veered to the line of trees where Raathered earlier
“Where are you dragging me now?”
“We need some privacy”
She didn’t argue or point out the fact that she had asked hi after Dylan The sooner she explained her position the better, she thought, before they were interrupted or he went running away again
“I knohy you offered”
“Offered what?” he asked with a glance at her
“Will you please pay attention You were just being gallant when you estion to marry me”
“Suggestion?” he scoffed “Gillian, I don’t ive orders See the difference?”
She refused to waste ti to appease him “This isn’t the time for diplomacy,” she said “I have to make you understand that you don’t have to be noble It’s all my fault, really it is I realize that now I shouldn’t have asked you to come with me to Ra of me”
“No one’s ever backed hly insulted by her remark “I did what I wanted to do and what I felt was necessary”
“You aren’t responsible for me”
He pulled her along to a secluded spot in the woods as she ra what he had done She had obviously thought it over and worked it all out in her , of course, but he decided to wait until she w
as finished explaining his ht
When they reached an open circle of trees, he let go of her hand, leaned back against a fat tree trunk, folded his ar him
He tried to concentrate on what she was saying, but he becaht with her cheeks flushed and her golden brown hair curling about her shoulders He knew she didn’t have any idea how beautiful she was Appearances weren’t i difference between her and other women he’d known Her eyes had turned a deep e below the surface, and he had a sudden, al need to take her into his aro
“Now do you understand?”
What the hell was she talking about now? “Understand what?” he asked, realizing then he hadn’t heard a word she’d said
“Haven’t you been listening?” she cried out in frustration
“No”
Her shoulders slu to marry you” She shook her head “I won’t let you be noble”
“Gillian?”
“Yes?”
“Do you like being with me?”