Excerpt of Brothers of Baird's Cove: Renegade by Caroline Lee

“Why are you here, Mr. Baird?” Becks took a step back.
Anything to put more distance between them, afraid of
losing her reason again.

“You called me Mac before.” He was apparently fascinated
by the portrait on the landing, judging from how
carefully he studied it. “I liked it.”

“It doesn’t seem proper.”

“Are you always proper, Becks?”

She swallowed, her throat suddenly dry at the sound of
her name on those lips. “I confess…” She looked down at
her hands, now clasped in front of her. “I’m not.”

“Really?” She heard the lightness in his tone, and
glanced back up to see him smiling at her. Oh God, that
smile. She had to look away. “I had no idea.”

“Teasing isn’t very gentlemanly, Mr. Baird.”

“Mac.”

“Fine. Mac.”

“And I wasn’t teasing you. I was remembering the last
time I got to catch you.”

He would have to bring that up again, wouldn’t he?
“Again, not very gentlemanly.”

“Catching you?”

“Bringing it up.”

“Well, you’ll find that I’m as improper as you are.” She
sucked in her breath at that, wondering what he meant.
But he clarified, to her relief and secret
disappointment. “I haven’t been accused of being a
gentleman in long time.”

“Really?” Becks didn’t bother hiding her surprise. He was
dressed like a gentleman, and had been taking tea with
her mother like a gentleman. In fact, if she hadn’t seen
him barefoot and muddy on the bank of her river, she
would have guessed he was a Charleston planter… albeit
one without a barber.

“Really.” He smiled again, and she liked the way his face
creased. His smiles were sudden and over quickly, but the
lines around his mouth and at the corners of his eyes
told her they were frequent.

Lord have mercy, what had they been talking about? Oh
yes… “Well, do you think you could at least try?”

“To be improper?”

“To be a gentleman.”

He gave a little mocking bow. “For such a proper young
lady, I’m sure I could make an attempt to remember how.”