by Maisey Yates
‘I will not keep you long, Miss Henderson. Would you like to take a seat?’
As no was not an option Anna did so, very aware of the critical, unfriendly eyes that followed her every move.
‘Miss Henderson travelled up last night on the sleeper train. She must be tired,’ the fatherly local councillor remarked before retaking his seat.
‘You are seeing us at our best. The winter is a long one.’
The inference being presumably that she’d burst into tears at the sight of a snowflake. This from someone who looked as if he’d seen a hell of a lot more sun than she had. And an incomer to boot!
‘Have you lived here long, Mr Urquart?’
Anna was aware of amused glances passing between the other members of the panel. What had she said that was so funny?
‘All my life.’
It was the woman on the panel who explained the joke. ‘The Urquarts of Killaran have historically been generous benefactors to the community and Cesare makes time in his crowded schedule to act as a school governor.’
Anna watched under the shield of her lashes as he sketched a quick smile; he was hard not to watch. His voice too was memorable, deep and velvety with a hint of gravel but no sign of a Highland lilt despite all this Urquart of Killaran stuff. Did that make him a laird or something? It would explain his warm reception, though such a thing as a laird, especially one who looked more like her private image of a pirate, seemed wildly anachronistic to Anna.
What would he look like in a kilt? She managed to swallow the inappropriate giggle produced by the equally inappropriate thought and lowered her lashes.
Always assuming her instincts were right and she had the job, did that mean she’d be working closely with him?
The thought made her heart beat even faster. With luck he kept his involvement to cheque book.
She struggled not to flinch as his attention swivelled back to her. The recognition she had thought she’d glimpsed initially was gone, replaced by a flat look that she could not read. Even so, she felt her anxiety levels climb—as it turned out with good reason!
‘So tell me how long have you been teaching?’
‘Five, no four...’
His intense gaze brought a rush of colour to her cheeks, one of the curses of her red-haired complexion. She managed to retain a semblance of what she hoped came across as headmistress-style gravity as she tipped her head. ‘Five and a half years.’
Cesare Urquart, his elbows on the table, leaned forward across the table towards her. The undercurrent swirling behind his smooth smile made Anna feel a lot like Little Red Riding Hood. The man made your average wolf seem benevolent.
‘Let me give you a hypothetical situation, Miss Henderson.’
Anna smiled back and nodded. Bring it on.
All about the author…Maisey Yates
MAISEY YATES knew she wanted to be a writer even before she knew what it was she wanted to write.
At her first job she was fortunate enough to meet her very own tall, dark and handsome hero, who happened to be her boss, and promptly married him and started a family. It wasn’t until she was pregnant with her second child that she found her very first Harlequin Presents® book in a local thrift store—by the time she’d reached the happily ever after, she had fallen in love. She devoured as many as she could get her hands on after that, and she knew that these were the books she wanted to write!
She started submitting, and nearly two years later, while pregnant with her third child, she received The Call from her editor—at the age of twenty-three she had sold her first manuscript to the Harlequin Presents® line, and she was very glad that the good news didn’t send her into labor!
She still can’t quite believe she’s blessed enough to see her name on not just any book, but on her favorite books.
Maisey lives with her supportive, handsome, wonderful, diaper-changing husband and three small children, across the street from her parents and the home she grew up in, in the wilds of southern Oregon. She enjoys the contrast of living in a place where you might wake up to find a bear on your back porch, then walk into your home office to write stories that take place in exotic, urban locales.
Other titles by Maisey Yates available in ebook:
AT HIS MAJESTY’S REQUEST (The Call of Duty)
HEIR TO A DESERT LEGACY (Secret Heirs of Powerful Men)
HEIR TO A DARK INHERITANCE (Secret Heirs of Powerful Men)
THE COUPLE WHO FOOLED THE WORLD
eISBN-13: 978-1-4603-4446-0
Bound to Me
Copyright © 2013 by Maisey Yates
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This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events or locales is entirely coincidental. This edition published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.
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