No Choice but Seduction by Johanna Lindsey Read Free Book Online Page A

here,” Katey said, annoyed with her outspoken maid. “It was just something to do while we were here, and now it’s something that can be done some other time—or perhaps never. They probably don’t even know I exist. Besides, we were already planning on touring Scotland.”
    “How can you not want to meet your family?” Judith asked, amazed.
    “They disowned my mother. I never understood how they could want nothing more to do with their own child. It was a mean thing to do, and I’m not sure I want to acknowledge a relationship to people like that.”
    Judith nodded, but Grace, glancing out the window, suddenly said, “You might want to brace yourselves. There’s a reckless driver coming down the road, and if Mr. Davis hasn’t noticed, he might not move us out of the way in time to avoid a collision.”
    Judith peeked out the window and paled. “It’s her! The woman who stole me is driving that coach.”
    “Katey’s story was true then?” Grace demanded, glancing between Katey and Judith.
    “Yes, all of it,” Katey replied.
    “Well, it looks like she’s slowing down,” Grace said, still watching the approaching coach. “I’m guessing she’d like a word with us.”
    Katey’s mouth tightened. “I’d like a word with her, too, but I’ll have to forgo giving her a piece of my mind. It’s more important that we get the girl home to her family.” And then Katey told the child, “Duck down so she can’t see you if she tries to look in the window. And don’t worry. We won’t be letting her anywhere near you again.”

Chapter Five

     
    B OYD HAD NEVER SEEN Sir Anthony Malory as upset as he was yesterday in Hyde Park. When Boyd found him, the man was half out of his mind with worry. But he’d expected that because several of Anthony’s servants whom he’d passed had told him just how terrified the man was. They had found his daughter’s horse on the other side of the park and they feared she was lying in the bushes somewhere bruised, broken—or dead.
    Malory didn’t even give Boyd a chance to tell him he had news. He’d practically dragged Boyd off his mount when he rode up to him and lifted him off his feet by his lapels to shake him. Malory was nearly six inches taller than Boyd, so he was quite capable of doing that.
    “Where’s the army you were supposed to bring?” Anthony had shouted at Boyd. “I know bloody well my brother has got at least a half dozen male servants in his employ.”
    Usually Boyd wouldn’t stand for being manhandled like that and would already be throwing punches. It was a bad habit he’d developed as the youngest of five brothers who rarely got the upper hand with any of them—unless he was using his fists. But he felt for this man and knew what it was like to be frantic with worry over a family member. That Anthony’s brother James had been responsible for Boyd’s worry about Georgina had long ago been forgiven. Mostly.
    But because he understood what the man was going through, Boyd hadn’t tried to explain to Anthony, he’d simply shoved the note in his face. He managed not to fall to the ground when Anthony abruptly released him. And he watched warily as Anthony read the note.
    Suddenly Anthony stopped shouting, and an odd calmness descended on him. Well, not so odd. While most of the Andersons got loud when they were angry, the Malorys tended to react in the opposite way. It was when they were quiet that you needed to worry.
    “Money?” Anthony had said, looking up from the note. “They frighten my daughter and drive me half-mad for money? They can have all the bloody money they want, but I’ll have their hides in exchange for it.”
    That had been Anthony’s first reaction to the note. But that had been yesterday. It had taken him the rest of the day to get his wife to stop crying with assurances that Judith would be fine, now that they knew she hadn’t fallen off her horse or been seriously injured. But it was nerve-racking, waiting for the