The Wolf Duke by K.J. Jackson

Author:K.J. Jackson [Jackson, K.J.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: AWD Publishing
Published: 2019-06-26T16:00:00+00:00

{ Chapter 14 }

The thick scent of baking bread wafted into his nostrils and Reiner halted his stride. “This is it.”

Sloane stopped, leaning forward to look past Reiner into one of the shops that lined the main road through the village. She looked up at him. “It is?”

“Yes. The baker will do it.”

“You ken that?”

“I do. I asked when I arrived in the village who the best person to marry a fool was, and this was the answer.” Reiner pointed in the open door. “He’s the man.”

She laughed. “Should I be more miffed that you planned this without me or that you consider yourself a fool?”

“You should take both of those things as the highest compliment. Both of them are testament to your undeniable charm.”

“Charm?” She chuckled. “I didn’t ken you considered attacking you with a dagger charming. I will have to keep that in mind for the future.”

Her fingers flexed forward and she glanced down at her mud-caked right hand that poked out of the sleeve of his tailcoat. He’d watched her try to slough off the mud caked onto her skin while she sat in front of him on his horse on the ride back into Buchlyvie, but she’d only managed to flake off half of the dried muck.

Her bottom lip drew under her teeth. “I’m not at all proper.”

“We are to be married by a baker.” Reiner set his hand onto her lower back and steered her toward the shop’s entrance. “I would venture to say not much of this leans on the side of propriety.”

“But I’m a disaster and not in proper clothes.” Her left hand shifted, hidden in the folds of his dark coat as she clutched it tightly closed in front of her. Her right hand dipped to tug the bottom hem of the coat lower on her thighs. “Maybe I could wash first? He’ll be able to see through my shift to my legs and think I’m a trollop—or worse.”

“Or possibly your shift will silently explain the necessity of a quick wedding.” A lascivious grin that he couldn’t quite control took over his mouth. “Besides, I have grand plans of helping to scrub your body clean and I think it only proper if we’re married first.”

An enchanting blush tinged her cheeks pink. The streaks of mud across her face made it all the more captivating.

He nudged her in through the doorway of the baker’s cottage. “Come—you’ve already managed to ignore the stares of all the passersby on the road with your head held high. Only ten more minutes and we’ll be sequestered in your room.”

With a sigh and a smile, Sloane nodded.

Just as they stepped into the empty shop, a woman—Sloane’s maid by the sound of her—called out from down the lane.

“Lady Sloane, oh my—blazes be the bull. You’re a dreadful mess. What happened?”

“Milly.” Sloane stepped away from Reiner and back into the road. “I took a turn in the peat bog outside of the village.”

“All saints—not the death moors?”

Sloane nodded.

Milly looked Sloane up and down.

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