His Mountain Miss. Karen Kirst

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      Chapter Six

      Lucian missed his predictable life. His comfortable routine. Coffee and croissants in the estate gardens, mornings at the waterfront overseeing his family’s shipping offices, afternoons devoted to social responsibilities and evenings dining and dancing with the upper crust of society. Every day was pretty much the same, and he liked it that way.

      The inactivity here was killing him. Too much time on his hands. Time to think.

      Megan’s assertions had circled through his mind like ravenous vultures until the wee hours of the morning. The prospect that his grandfather hadn’t been indifferent, had actually yearned to meet him, weakened the grip of resentment in his soul. But it also brought heartache and disillusionment. For if Megan was right, that meant his mother had lied to him. He couldn’t bear to entertain such an idea, so he forced his thoughts elsewhere...to another tangled coil.

      Tom and Megan. Megan and Tom.

      He kept picturing them in his parlor, tucked together like two peas in a pod, all the while wanting to protest that he should be the one holding her—not some backwoods mountain man. Okay, that wasn’t exactly fair. Tom Leighton seemed nice enough, appeared to honestly care about her.

      These feelings have nothing to do with Megan, specifically. You’re accustomed to women throwing themselves at you, and now that you’ve encountered one who doesn’t, you don’t have a clue how to react. She’s a challenge, that’s all. One he wouldn’t pursue, for both their sakes. Not only were they from disparate worlds, they had different expectations where relationships were concerned. A man would have to be blind not to know Megan O’Malley craved what many other women in the world craved—love and romance and happy-ever-after. He’d seen it in her eyes, that starry, hopeful light not yet dimmed by betrayal or misfortune. She wanted it all...adoring husband, bouncing babies and a cozy home. He wasn’t prepared to give that to anyone, especially her.

      He still hadn’t made up his mind about her. Whether she was the genuine article or an exceptional counterfeit.

      His fingers closed over her reticule.

      He’d noticed the lacy, beribboned article lying on the entryway table this morning. Megan had left in such a hurry last evening that she’d accidentally left it behind. He’d toyed with the idea of allowing his valet to return it to her, but in the end, his curiosity about her home and family had won out. Getting directions had been a simple task. As Charles Newman’s grandson, the locals accepted him more readily than he expected they would a complete stranger.

      Now on his way to the O’Malley farm, he found himself wondering what he’d find there. He knew nothing about her family, except that she had a cousin named Josh. Had her parents grown up with his mother? Did they, like Megan, think he was heartless for staying away all these years?

      This lane was unfamiliar, the forests on either side thick and endless yet somehow welcoming.

      Amid the sea of coarse bark and lush green leaves, splashes of vivid pink caught his eye. Phlox. The delicate flower blanketed the forest floor in this particular area, a pleasing respite from the verdant landscape. Farther on, yellow lady’s slippers decorated a mossy slope. And later, white-and-pink painted trillium. The peaceful, majestic beauty reminded him of his estate outside New Orleans. Not that these mountains could compare to his beloved lowlands, but he felt the same sense of serenity here, of freedom and completeness, that he did there. Curious.

      By the time he’d reached Megan’s farm, his mind was blessedly clear.

      Taking the worn path veering from the lane, he passed a fair-sized vegetable garden and a crude, open-air shelter fashioned from four sawed-off tree trunks topped with a slanting, wood-slat roof, under which sat a wagon. The barn, while sizable, had seen better days. Boards were warped or missing altogether. Beyond sat a corncrib and smokehouse in much better condition. СКАЧАТЬ