More Than a Stranger: A Sealed With a Kiss Novel by Erin Knightley Read Free Book Online

school, but my astounding powers of deductive reasoning now lead me to believe that wasn’t the case.”
    “Not exactly. I was young, and an idiot, and I didn’t want my old life following me to my exciting new one. Evie is a bit, well, persistent, shall we say, and when she wouldn’t take the hint that I didn’t wish to continue writing, I sent a rather strongly worded letter that ended the correspondence.” Benedict tried not to cringe when the wording of that last letter flitted through his mind. God, all these years later and he still felt like the worst sort of cad. It was definitely for the best that Hastings remained in the past when it came to Evie.
    Richard looked genuinely surprised. “How odd. She never said a word about it.”
    “Which should tell you something about how she felt about the letter. I know how close the two of you are. Has she ever kept anything from you before?”
    “Not that I’m aware of, though I must admit now I’m not so sure.” Richard sat forward, rubbing his palms over his knees. “Still, that was nearly a decade ago—do you really think it’s necessary to lie about your name?”
    “Not a lie so much as a rearranging, really. My middle name is James, after all. But really, would you want to be me when she realized that the blackguard who called her an ‘annoying little pest of a girl with all the grace and decorum of a horsefly’ is here in the flesh?”
    Richard smothered a horrified laugh beneath his hand. “No, I most definitely would not. That was not well done of you at all, my friend. As a matter of fact,” he said, rubbing a hand over his chin, “it might be worth it to tell her the truth just to see what she will do to you.”
    “You did go along with it when I introduced myself,” Benedict reminded him. His tone was lighthearted despite the disquiet slipping through his belly. With so much turmoil in his life right now and all that was at stake with his future, he could ill afford to be distracted by further drama.
    “True enough. Interestingly, despite bringing up the fact she has never heard mention of a James Benedict, Evie seemed to take our sudden appearance relatively in stride. Rather worrisome, really. She is bound to pin me down sooner or later.”
    “Perhaps she’ll let it drop.”
    Richard snorted. “Certainly. And I can expect to sprout wings and take flight sometime in the next hour or so. Care to join me?”
    An unexpected grin lifted the corner of Benedict’s mouth. It was a gift really, that Richard could make him laugh, even now. “All right, I suppose we should get our story straight. I can be an old friend passing through on the way to take a new fellowship position in the north.”
    “An academic? That is rich.”
    “Well, if I were a peer, they would know my family name, and I’d rather not impersonate a parson or military man. Simple, respectable, and unremarkable.”
    “I suppose that could work,” Richard said doubtfully.
    “Just keep to the story, and I will strive to be as uninteresting as I can manage.”
    “Yes, but what are you going to do differently?”
    Benedict ignored him completely. “And I will do everything I can to stay out of her way while I am here.”
    An odd sound filtered through the door, and the men exchanged glances. Dread dropped in Benedict’s stomach like a lead weight. He’d been a spy too long not to know a suspicious sound when he heard one. Richard held a finger to his lips and rose from the chair. Benedict shook his head and pointed to his stocking feet. Quick as a wraith, he was out of his chair and across the room.
    In one swift movement, he twisted the knob and yanked the door open. A blond-headed female stumbled into the room and right into his chest for the second time that day. Oh God, had Evie heard—
    “Beatrice!” Richard exclaimed, his brow knitted in consternation. “What do you think you are doing, you little eavesdropper?”
    Beatrice? Benedict breathed a long sigh as relief