Far Too Tempted by Emma Wildes Read Free Book Online

decide how to handle this in the morning.
     
     
    Marcus had exaggerated nothing.
    Even in the darkness, Alex could see the elegant country house had fallen into a sad state of disrepair. The once trim lawn was thick with weeds run wild, the drive choked with overgrowth, the high arched windows staring blankly into the night. As the carriage slowed and came to a halt, he realized wryly that he would have a job ahead making Braidwood back into the beautiful estate he remembered.
    A task he relished, he told himself. After years of deprivation and war, the undertaking seemed to beckon. He would rebuild and repair and return the mansion to its former grace.
    The Rowelands had been their neighbors for his entire lifetime. He liked to think Robert’s parents would appreciate what he done so far and what he intended to do.
    Opening the door of the carriage to step out, he accepted a small bag from the driver. “Tell my brother I’ll be over tomorrow later, after the staff I hired arrives from London. I’ll need a horse brought over, if you can see to it.”
    “Yes, sir.” Paul, grizzled and elderly, nodded. “If you pardon me saying so, they’ll miss you tonight, Lord Alex. I believe they were expecting you at the Hall.”
    “Explain to them I want this first night alone here. They know me, so they’ll understand.”
    “Of course, sir.”
    Alex turned toward the house.
    “Sir?”
    Turning back around, Alex looked at the man sitting on the box of his family’s very elegant carriage. Paul cleared his throat and touched his cap. “It’s quite good to have you back. That’s all.”
    “Thank you.” Alex grinned. “I have to say it’s good to be back.”
    Paul lifted the reins and hesitated. “Tell me we’ll whip that bloody little Corsican, will we?”
    “We’re sure as the devil trying.”
    “Very good, sir.”
    The carriage rattled away.
    Alex moved again toward the house. He headed for the steps, tripping over something heavy and bulky in the darkness and breaking out in a sweat over the resulting twinge in his shoulder as he caught himself. He went up the steps carefully, ever mindful of the itching of his flesh underneath his bandages. The wound was well on its way to being healed, but he’d had a minor infection that had set him back, and his leg and hand had mended much quicker.
    He needed, he thought as he produced the wad of keys from his coat, a whiskey and a bed. He’d been nodding off ever since they’d stopped at an inn for dinner. Years of war had honed him to discomfort, but then again, he was also bone-deep tired.
    Finally finding the right key in the dark, he unlocked the front door.
    Deep gloom. He stumbled again in the front hall, cursing out loud. He was very familiar with the house—he’d been a guest there countless times—but he’d never trod along the foyer in the pitch darkness.
    Odd, to think of this place as his home.
    In amazement, he gaped at the changes around him as shapes came to view in the dim, dim light. Or more literally, a lack of shapes. He groped in his pocket, producing a tinderbox. In the brief flare, he saw enough.
    The place had been stripped.
    He knew Robert had been in dire straits, but it was still appalling to think the once gracious house had been so raped of all the treasures collected by the Roweland family for centuries. Damn you, Rob, he thought with weary condemnation, not caring so much for the loss as the desecration. Robert had always been frivolous and a bit irresponsible. His father would have done better to leave everything to Jessica. At least she had some sense.
    Only, it was an insidious thought, she didn’t need anything. She was engaged to be married, or so Marcus had written. To Nathaniel Greene, no less, whose family had both social status and fortune.
    He shouldn’t be surprised. A lovely child, she’d no doubt turned into a stunning woman. He had always expected it would happen.
    Surely there was at least a lamp left