A Difficult Disguise by Kasey Michaels Read Free Book Online Page A

perhaps begin his touring a little closer to home, checking up on matters concerning the estate itself. Fletcher had looked askance at his friend, knowing the jolly little devil would have to be “rewarded” for his disloyalty.
    But in the end Fletcher had won out, and his aunt, who had, after calmly handing her nephew the Bible, reminding him it was his duty to lead them all in their evening prayers, finally retired to her chamber, to decide where best to place the three elephant-foot tables Fletcher had warned her were going to take up residence with her the following day.
    Fletcher had just finished a huge breakfast and was heading for the front door, still chuckling over the lengthy list of chores he had left behind for Beck—with the repainting of the saloon topping the list—when Lethbridge crossed his path, a large black umbrella in his hand.
    “It will be dampening down before long,” the butler pronounced heavily, employing the local, optimistic expression for what was sure to be a downpour bordering on a deluge, “and your aunt expressly wished for you to take this with you.”
    Looking at the huge contraption and mentally picturing himself on horseback with the thing opened above his head, Fletcher thanked the butler but demurred. “But only think, Lethbridge, I’d have no one to refold the dammed thing,” he pointed out kindly. “I’d be forced to leave it in a ditch. Please convey my thanks, and my regrets, to my aunt.”
    The butler held the umbrella out once more, just like a tollgate-keeper refusing to raise his gate, showing a marked reluctance to allow his master to pass. “She was most adamant, sir,” he pursued severely.
    Fletcher shook his head in wry amusement. “Ah, Lethbridge, you’ve got it bad, don’t you? Very well. If you promise not to compromise my dear aunt while I am gone, I shall take the umbrella.” He’d take it as far as the stable, Fletcher told himself silently, although he saw no reason to impart this last piece of information to the lovestruck butler.
    Lethbridge overlooked the insult to concentrate on the positive: he had achieved his objective, which would ease dear Miss Belleville’s worried heart. “Very good, sir. I knew you would see the rightness of the thing.” The butler quickly handed over the large umbrella and stepped smartly forward to open the front door. “We shall look forward to seeing you within the week, sir. Have a most pleasant journey, sir. And have I told you, sir, how happy the entire staff is to have you safely home with us once more?”
    “Don’t grovel, Lethbridge,” Fletcher warned genially. “It doesn’t become you, and makes me damned uneasy into the bargain. Oh, and Lethbridge,” he added, turning back just as he had been about to walk onto the porch, “why don’t you take some time for yourself when I get back? Don’t you have a cousin in Bath worth visiting? Beck tells me you haven’t been away from Lakeview since I left for the Peninsula. You deserve a change of scene, a look at some of the rest of the world. I’m sure we can muddle through without you for at least a fortnight.”
    “And why should I do that, sir?”
    “You are looking sheep’s eyes at my aunt and you can ask that question?” Fletcher shook his head. “Perhaps it’s already too late. Ah, well, just don’t make me have to get out my late father’s blunderbuss, will you, Lethbridge?”
    The butler, coloring to the roots of his receding hairline, closed the front door without another word, leaving a chuckling Fletcher outside on the portico as the weather, which had been gray since dawn, turned suddenly wet.
    Fletcher’s smile faded as he realized that he was quite alone. There was no Pagan, his favorite mount, his saddle packed and ready for adventure, waiting for him. There was no second horse, similarly laden, to serve as mount for his cheeky young groom. But—and this was most damning of all—there was no Billy Smith to be seen anywhere.
    His