A Loving Scoundrel by Johanna Lindsey Read Free Book Online

breathing. The man was fully dressed, obviously already up and nearby even before the bust had crashed to the floor. Maybe Malory had made some noise on his way in and roused the man to investigate.
    He was within his rights to just shoot them and figure out what they were doing there later. That’s what she would have done if she caught a pair of men sneaking around her house in the middle of the night.
    Malory’s back was to the door. He’d leapt forward to try to prevent her fall, but had stopped when she’d managed it on her own. He was still looking at her, but in good light now, since the man had a lamp in his other hand. She wasn’t even sure if it had dawned on Malory yet that someone was there holding that lamp.
    “Don’t turn around,” she whispered as quietly as she could. “If ye get recognized, yer in bigger trouble than if ’e shoots ye.”
    Gathering her wits about her, she moved around him to block him from view somewhat and told the man holding the pistol, “There’s no need for guns, mate. We were just looking for a place to wait out the night. Our coach broke down in the woods nearby. M’lord ’ere thought ’e recognized yer ’ouse. ’E’s foxed to the gills, so if ’e were wrong, I wouldn’t be surprised none. And we did knock. Bleedin’ lord wouldn’t give up though when we didn’t get an answer, insisted on coming inside and sleeping in the parlor. ’E said that ’Eddings wouldn’t mind. Were ’e wrong? This ain’t ’Eddings place?”
    The man’s tense expression altered immediately. His pistol lowered as well, though not completely. So Danny laid it on a bit thicker.
    “ ’E tried to blame that wheel fallin’ off on me, ’e did, when I warned ’im just last month that ’e needed new wheels on that old coach o’ ’is. Course ’e’d rather spend all ’is blunt on fancy women and gamblin’, so ’e didn’t pay me any mind as usual.”
    The man coughed. “Should you be mentioning this in front of him?”
    She managed a laugh. “ ’E’s so foxed, ’e won’t remember. Don’t know ’ow ’e’s still standin’, I don’t.”
    “Who is he?”
    Danny hadn’t been expecting to come up with any names, but considering how she ended up being there herself, one came easily to mind. “Lord Carryway o’ London town.”
    “Why didn’t you just let him sleep it off in your coach then?” the man asked next.
    “Would ’ave, but I saw some movement in those woods we were passing through near ’ere. Could ’ave just been some animal, but could ’ave been some bleedin’ highwaymen, too, I was thinking. Didn’t want ’im adding getting robbed to the tally against me. I’d prefer to be keepin’ me job, even though it means puttin’ up with a lord who’s foxed more often than ’e’s not.”
    There was a long pause where Danny was sure the fellow was going to call her bluff and laugh in her face. She was calculating which way she should run, or if she should just dive at his legs and try to take him by surprise.
    “Bring him along then,” the man said. “We have several empty guest rooms upstairs. There’s a comfortable couch in one you can use yourself.”
    Danny hadn’t really expected the man to believe her. He must be no more than a servant himself, probably the butler, and so he couldn’t bring himself to kick a member of the nobility back out into the woods. He could have thought to lock them up until the morning, when what she’d told him could be verified. But he must not be a suspicious sort, to have believed her outright.
    A good opportunity to bolt through the window presented itself as soon as the man turned his back on them to lead the way upstairs. But he hadn’t put his pistol away yet. And with that weapon still in his hand, Danny preferred to play out the charade and not risk a bullet or two flying her way. Besides, there were two of them to get out that window, and no way they could both manage it before one of them got shot for