Her Galahad by Melissa James Read Free Book Online Page B

ladder. Destroying other people's lives to improve his wouldn't even faze him."
    Looking at her, he knew she'd reached the limits of what she could stand. She'd learned enough today to send anyone into shock. "We've got a long day ahead of us. We need to talk about what we'll do from here, but it can wait. You take the bed. I'll sleep out here."
    She nodded and got to her feet, holding the blanket around her like a talisman. She looked fragile, vulnerable, so tired; but he knew her inner core of strength and staunch courage. He'd known it firsthand when the millionaire barrister's shy daughter braved the contempt of her world seven years before, following her heart to love a humble carpenter. So he expected her next words, waited for them. "I have to know what happened to Emily."
    He nodded; and filled with deep, if reluctant respect, he looked at her, really looked at her for the first time that day. He didn't see Theresa Earldon-Beller, the spoiled society woman he'd hated; he didn't see Tessa, the innocent girl he'd loved. He didn't see a helpless, abused woman needing protection. He saw the woman she was now … and before God, she was beautiful.
    Her offbeat, just-crooked slant of nose and mouth, and one dimple, would never be classic. But the vivid face that had stunned him seven years before, the slanted line of cheek, the silken waterfall of hair, the amazing amber eyes in the face of a proud Aztec priestess, still left him speechless. Even the remnants of suffering added gentleness and grace to her unconscious dignity: a charm so incorruptible that age would not weary it, an inner magic so strong mere beauty could never lay claim to it.
    He'd never be immune to her. He'd want her until the day he died. But loving her almost killed him once. Losing Tess ripped the soul from him and shredded his heart, leaving him locked in a cage—physically and emotionally. He'd never let it happen again.
    But he swore he'd set her free from Beller's obsession with her if it killed him … and he'd make Beller and Duncan Earldon pay for what they'd done. He owed Tessa that much, at least.
    "I've been looking for the baby—Emily—for a long time," he admitted. "But it was harder for me to get anywhere. I couldn't claim parentage to get the birth certificate. I tried, but they put father unknown on it."
    The torment in her eyes hurt his soul. "Thank you," she said. "Thank you for caring about our daughter."
    He couldn't answer her; he'd spent the past two and a half years hating her for not caring about Emily. What a fool he'd been to believe them! "My family left the city today. So we can look for Emily without worrying about them … but we'd better pray Earldon and Beller don't already know where she is."
    She sat down abruptly on a chair at the old, rickety dining table he'd picked up at a roadside throw. "You knew before today? You knew I'd want to look for her?"
    "No." He had to be upfront now, or he'd lose her later. She already knew he had a hidden agenda—he had nothing to lose. "I need you to help me find her. You can go where I can't. You can ask questions at the birth registry, of your dad and brother. You're far more likely to get answers out of them."
    Her gaze turned cool, challenging. "Only about Emily? Is that all the information you want?"
    Darkness filled his heart. "You know that's not all."
    "You want me to spy on them." It wasn't a question; she knew the answer. "You want me to help you get your revenge."
    "Yeah, all right, I do!" he snapped.
    She lifted a brow, not letting him off the hook. "And?"
    "I need you to see what they've done to you, to me, to our child. I want you to believe what I'm saying is the truth," he replied bluntly. "I want you to want justice like I do."
    She stared at him for a long moment. "You want me to find evidence against my own family. You want me to help you put my brother—maybe even my sixty-eight-year-old father—in prison."
    "I never said that," he shot back.
    "You just