Brushed by Scandal by Gail Whitiker Read Free Book Online Page B

I would ask that you speak to Mr Rand as soon as possible and get back to me at the earliest opportunity.’
    ‘I shall speak to him the moment he returns home this evening,’ the earl said, ‘and send word to you first thing in the morning.’
    ‘Thank you. You have my card.’ Barrington glanced at Annabelle, but wasn’t surprised that she refused to meet his eyes. ‘I regret, Lady Annabelle, that our introduction should have taken this form. It is not how I wished we might have started out.’
    ‘Nor I, Sir Barrington.’ She did look at him then and Barrington saw how deeply she was torn. ‘If you knew Peregrine as I do, you would understand why I say that he is incapable of such a deceit.’
    ‘Sadly, it is not possible for me to be intimately acquaintedwith everyone I am asked to investigate. Nor would it do me any good to encourage that kind of relationship. I must judge what I see without emotion clouding my vision. I trust the word of those who provide me with information and trust my own skills when it comes to assessing the value of what they’ve told me. I have no reason to doubt the source of this particular piece of information.’
    ‘Yet who is to say that your source is any more honest than Peregrine?’ she parried. ‘He is as much a stranger to you as your source is to us. Does he even
know
Mr Rand?’
    ‘By sight, and that is all that matters,’ Barrington said. ‘I deal in facts, Lady Annabelle. Not emotion. One dilutes the other to such an extent that the truth is often unrecognisable.’
    She shook her head. ‘I’m not sure I like your truths, Sir Barrington. You presume a great deal without being personally involved.’
    ‘It is
because
I am not personally involved that I am able to reach the conclusions I do.’
    ‘Then I sincerely hope that when we come to you with proof of Peregrine’s innocence, you will offer him as sincere an apology as he deserves,’ she said.
    Barrington inclined his head. ‘I will be happy to offer an apology if such is warranted. But if he is guilty, I expect the same courtesy from you. I’m good at what I do, Lady Annabelle—and I haven’t been wrong yet.’
    Her chin rose and he saw a flash of defiance in her eyes. ‘There is a first time for everything, Sir Barrington. And in this instance, I will enjoy being the one who points it out to you.’
    Barrington stared down at her, aware that while she frustrated him to the point of distraction, she also aroused in him feelings of an entirely different nature. In fact, he was finding it harder and harder to look at her and not imagine how shewould feel in his arms. How the softness of her body would fit into the hard angles of his and how sweet the taste of her lips would be.
    And that was the problem. While he admired her more than any woman he’d ever met, the fact that he wanted her in his bed was an unforeseen and unwelcome complication.
    ‘I expect time will provide the answer to that,’ he said, offering her a bow. ‘My lord,’ he said, turning to her father, ‘I look forward to your visit on the morrow.’
    ‘I will be there, Sir Barrington.’ The earl’s face was set in grim lines. ‘Of that you can be sure.’
    * * *
    In the weighted silence that followed, Anna restlessly began to pace.
    ‘You don’t like Sir Barrington,’ her father said flatly.
    ‘It is not so much the man I dislike as his attitude,’ Anna muttered, her eyes on the faded pattern of the carpet. ‘I am as deeply convinced of his error as he is of mine, yet he is intractable.’
    ‘And you are not?’ her father retorted. When she said nothing, he continued, ‘What of his claim that he has never been wrong?’
    ‘A man may make whatever claim he likes, but we have only his word that it is the truth. And regardless of what he says, I will
not
believe Peregrine guilty of this.’ Anna stopped and looked at her father. ‘You know what kind of man he is, Papa. You’ve spent time with him. Talked with him at