It took her a moment to understand what he had said.
“S-Sent me?” she stammered.
The man retreated to his desk, leaning back against it. He gave a grim smile, folding thick arms across his broad chest.
“Aye. Answer the question. And daenae lie to me. The thing about lairds, ye see, is that they are very good at workin’ out when they are lied to. I’m better at it than most.”
Perhaps it’s all a dream, she thought briefly.A nasty little dream. I’m at home, in Papa’s comfortable London house, and in a moment I’m going to wake up and laugh at this ridiculous dream.
“You… You are a laird? A Scottish laird?” she ventured.
He snorted. “Daenae pretend that ye didnae ken already. Answer the question, woman.”
“Nobody sent me.”
“Liar.”
Melody pursed her lips. “For a man who claims to be so good at sniffing out liars, you certainly can’t tell when somebody is telling you the truth. Tell me, do you just accuse everybody around you of lying? Isthatwhy nobody can lie to you? If so, I must tell you that you are manipulating the statistics quite badly. In England, we’d call that cheating.”
He sighed. “We’re doin’ it the hard way, eh? I assume the Scottish lasses are all finished, then.”
“What are you talking about?”
He ignored her, pushing off from the desk, and began to pace up and down.
“Perhaps she thought an English lass would intrigue me,” he muttered to himself. “At least she’s stopped sendin’ those pint-sized women.”
Was he mad? That seemed entirely possible. Melody slid her hand toward the doorknob again, but her fingertips had barely brushed the cool brass before he spun around, jabbing a finger in her direction.
“Me grandmother sent ye, did she nae? Answer me! Ye are here to seduce me.”
Melody stared at him in appalled silence.
“Why is yourgrandmothersending women to seduce you?” she managed at last.
He gave a brittle laugh. “Well, ye didnae cave like the others. The last lass burst into tears as soon as I raised me voice at her. At leastyeare made of sterner stuff. If this were nae all a ploy, maybe Iwouldbe tempted.”
Tempted bywhat?Melody thought, faintly panicked. That was a very small thought, however, and it was quickly overshadowed by a rising tide of righteous fury.
The man was implying that she was sent to… to lure him to bed! How appalling! The mere thought of it made Melody’s cheeks heat up like the very fires of Hell that apparently this man cooked his meat upon.
She knew, of course, of the mechanics of theactbetween men and women, but to discuss it so blatantly! No man would utter the wordseducein mixed company, and here this fellow said it as easily as if it were any word in the world. The redness in her cheeks would not subside, and nor would the sudden tightness in her chest.
“Howdareyou!” she gasped, taking a step forward. “I amnothere to seduce you! I am appalled that you would even think… No! You ought not to speak to a lady that way.”
He glanced at her, something like surprise written on his face.
“What?” he managed at last.
“I amnotsent by anyone, and I amcertainlynot here to seduce you,” she insisted, wishing her face were a little less red. “It is not gentlemanlike to talk in such a way in front of a lady.”
That curious green-gold gaze lingered on her, turning thoughtful.
“I am nae a gentleman,” the man stated briefly. He strode across the room toward her. For a moment, she was convinced that he was going to do something truly shocking, like kiss her.
Kiss me? No, he would never. Why did I even think of that?
He reached forward, plunging his hand into her apron pocket. Melody managed a small, outraged squeak at the intrusion.
