Excerpt of The Surprise Brides: Caleb by Callie Hutton

He was pulling his shirt off when Miss High and Mighty entered the bedroom and gasped. “What are you doing?”

She was still bundled up from the cold, her hand fisting the front of her coat as if she expected him to tear it off and toss her on the bed. In his mood, he might just do that. “Getting ready for bed. It’s what I do every night at this time.”

“Then where will I sleep?”

Of all the inane things he’d heard from her today, this was the best.

“What do you mean?”

“I mean exactly what I said. Where do I sleep?”

“Do you not see a bed in the middle of this room? Or are your eyes ruined from all that reading?”

She crossed her arms and tapped her foot. “All right. Then I guess the question is, where will you sleep?”

“Goddammit, woman, what the hell are you jawing about this time?”

She stomped her foot. “Stop this cussing. Right now.”

He took a deep breath. The situation was heading into ridiculous territory. At this rate they would be divorced before the marriage was a day old. “I’m sorry. I don’t usually use that kind of language in front of a lady. You have my apologies.”

She gave him a curt nod which encouraged him enough to take a hard swallow and continue. “We will both sleep in the bed right here in this room.”

“No.”

Oh, Lord. He tried, truly he did. But his head was about to explode. “What do you mean, dear wife?”

“I mean, dear husband, I have no intention of sleeping with you until we become better acquainted. Much better acquainted.”

With those words she opened the door wide and waved him out. “Good night, Mr. Fraser. I will see you in the morning.”