“I’m leaving the two of you alone,” Sin’s muffled voice answered from above.
Braden tilted his head up to stare at the wooden beams above their heads. “Like it would matter since we know you can hear everything we say?”
“Aye, well, I’m a pervert, not a voyeur.”
Braden laughed. However, Maggie wasn’t overly amused by Sin’s blase words.
She hung her wet plaid and shirt up on the stall door where the cows were.
Braden moved to stand behind her, so close that she could feel him. She turned to find him holding another plaid. His eyes dark and beguiling, he used it to dry her hair.
Maggie couldn’t move as she felt his strong hands rub the cloth against her head in a sensual rhythm that stole her breath. Chills spread through her as she remembered the sight of his naked back.
At that moment, she wanted to kiss him. More so than ever before.
Until he spoke. “Now, tell me why you were outside.”
Her eyes flew open as his hands ceased drying her hair.
Unwilling to let him know she had suspected him of such knavery, she averted her gaze to the floor. “Nothing.”
“Nothing?” he repeated in disbelief. “What, you just felt like taking a stroll during a torrential downpour?” He dipped his head until he caught her gaze. “You went to spy on me, didn’t you?”
How did he know?
Och, but the man picked a fine time to start being intuitive!
“What makes you think that?” she asked evasively.
“Instinct.” A strange emotion darkened his eyes. One she couldn’t fathom, but it looked surprisingly like guilt. “Did you think to find me with Tara?”
Her cheeks grew warm. She felt so foolish that she had ever doubted him. But she could see she wasn’t going to get away without telling him exactly why she had gone outside in the rain.
Sighing, she nodded. “Well, you did intimate earlier today that you were interested in her.”
“How? By talking to her?”
“Nay, by flirting with her.”
He looked aghast. “Flirting?”
“Aye,” she said defensively. After all, she had made the assumption based on his actions. “The way you look at a woman like she’s the only thing in the world to you, like you see no other.”
“Really?” he asked, his voice caught between pride and disbelief.
“Aye.”
“You think this is something I always do?”
Maggie stiffened. “I know it is. Why do you think women are so mad for you?”
“My dashing good looks, of course.”
Oh, the man was arrogant, and she couldn’t believe she was catering to that ego of his. She should stop and yet, for some reason, she couldn’t. “Your brothers all have that, and yet they have never been as pursued as you.”
“I always assumed it was because I was charming while they are all sour.”
“What you call charming is flirting. And it is irresistible.”
