Archer's Lady: Bloodhounds, Book 3 by Moira Rogers Read Free Book Online Page B

believe I can walk just yet.”
    He smiled, slow and lazy. “My job is done, then. You’re not supposed to be able to walk.”
    That was the smile, the one that set her heart to pounding. “Even if it means you can’t be rid of me yet?”
    “Bed’s big enough for two.”
    Her nightgown was still tangled around her waist, but she settled it in place with a few moments’ squirming. A little more and she tucked herself against his side, already drowsy. “You’re very warm,” she murmured, a convenient excuse for pressing close.
    “Bloodhounds are,” he mumbled. “Or didn’t you know?”
    Sleepiness made her reckless. “I avoid bloodhounds. People say they can spot a liar. That they have a truth sense.”
    He wrinkled his nose. “That’s bullshit. Most wouldn’t know a bald-faced lie if it shot ’em in the ass. No more than anyone else, anyway.”
    That didn’t seem right. “You did.”
    “That’s me, not the hound.” He opened one eye and peered at her. “Always could smell a lie.”
    Tired as she was, danger shivered up her spine. “I’m not lying to you anymore. Not much reason to, with the world all but ending.”
    “I know that.” He wrapped his arm around her. “I know, Grace.”
    It was comfort, affection, and it felt like more than two bodies taking what they could in the dark of night before going their separate ways before dawn.
    This was why she needed to leave. She’d let him under her skin, too close and too quick, and stupid girls who opened their hearts to too-charming men deserved the pain of being discarded like the fools they were.
    She hadn’t been a fool in a very long time, and she wouldn’t become one now. Not even for a bloodhound.

Chapter Five
    Archer stared at himself in the mirror as he buttoned his shirt. He looked like hell, which was stupid. He’d slept just fine—right up until the moment Grace had slipped from the bed and crept out of the room.
    His hands clenched convulsively, and he cursed as the top button popped free and skittered across the floor. What did he care if she stayed until morning, anyway? What was he going to do, smile pretty and offer to bring her breakfast?
    That wasn’t him, even if she did want anyone to know she’d let him touch her, which he doubted.
    “Fuck it,” he growled. He didn’t need that top button any more than he needed to get mixed up with a pretty grifter posing as a schoolteacher.
    He stomped down the stairs and found Cecil at the corner table, which held its own pot of coffee and a loaf of bread so fresh from the oven it steamed as the man cut into it. He smiled and nodded to an empty chair. “Have a seat. Enjoy the quiet while the children are still abed.”
    Archer stifled a yawn and sat. “I’ll probably ride out before that happens. I want to check more of the caves outside town.”
    Both of Cecil’s eyebrows rose. “Miss Linwood gave me the impression the two of you might be taking a trip to Doc’s place. Want me to make sure she waits for you to get back? I don’t think she should be that far out without you, if you don’t mind me saying so.”
    Archer reminded himself to take a deep breath. “She shouldn’t be out at all. Where is she?”
    “Speaking with Diana.” Cecil poured a cup of coffee without taking his worried gaze from Archer. “I’d assumed she wanted to ask permission or get the keys. Doc was peculiar about security.”
    “Right.” Come to think of it, the old man might know things Grace didn’t. “You know, she seemed to think the doctor knew something about the Bloodhound Guild. That maybe he’d been involved with it, once upon a time.”
    “Did she?” Cecil pushed the mug toward Archer with a quick frown followed by a shrug. “That’s as possible as any other explanation. People don’t ask too many questions this close to the border. Not when a man with good skills comes to settle, even if he is…odd.”
    “There’s odd, and then there’s the kind of person on the run from