Page 47 of The Highlander's Christmas Bride

She grumbled but handed over his coat and got on the bed. The tick mattress crackled as she curled into a ball, wrapping the small, threadbare blanket around her upper body. Unfortunately, the blasted thing barely went past her hips, leaving her legs exposed to the cold.

Logan snuffed out the candles and lamp before layering more peat on the fire. Then he took his greatcoat and draped it over her.

She looked over her shoulder. “Mr. Kendrick, you’ll freeze without your coat.”

He sat down on the edge of the mattress and started pulling off his boots. “I won’t, because we’re going to share it.”

She shot up as if she’d been blasted out of a cannon, almost knocking him off the bed. “What?”

Logan winced. “Lass, you really need to stop the screeching.”

This time, she didn’t bother to apologize. “Wecannotshare a bed.”

“It’s that or freeze to death. And if you freeze to death, your family will murder me.”

“They would not.”

“They would. And that would meanmyfamily would have to murder someone in your family, and then we’d have a clan feud on our hands.” He grinned at her. “Although we’d both be dead, so I suppose it wouldn’t really matter to us.”

Her lips reluctantly twitched. “Now you’re just being silly.”

“I am, but not about you freezing to death.”

“I told you, I’m perfectly f—”

“This is not up for discussion.”

She glared at him, mutinous and still shivering.

“I know you’re embarrassed,” he said gently, “and I’m truly sorry for that. But even with the fire, this cottage is going to get very cold. The only way to keep warm is for us to share the coat.”

He could practically hear the anxious debate going on in her head. He hated pushing her, but it had to be done.

“Och, well,” he said, “I can sleep in a chair, but you’ll have to take my coat.”

Her eyes went round. “But you’ll freeze without it.”

“Better me than you.”

She threw him a sour look. “Very well, you win.”

As he’d suspected, her concern for him rather than herself did the trick.

“I don’t mind,” he replied, trying to sound soulful. “If it makes you more comfortable.”

“You may cease playing the martyr, Mr. Kendrick. It’s a role for which you are very ill-suited.”

He grinned and finished pulling off his boots as she scooted to the other side of the mattress. Logan crawled onto the bed and tried to arrange the greatcoat over their bodies. She was almost falling off the other side in her effort to keep some distance between them, which meant the coat couldn’t fully cover them both.

“Comfortable, are we?” he asked.

“V . . . very.”

“Unfortunately, this doesn’t work with you way over there, Miss Haddon.”

Without waiting for her reply, he pulled her against him, fitting her into the curve of his body. She let out a startled squeak but didn’t resist as he shifted the greatcoat to cover them.

Still, she held herself rigid, muscles locked in frozen protest. The lass had a lovely body, but right now she felt as cuddly as a hitching post wrapped in a layer of wool.

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