Rebel Marquess by Amy Sandas Read Free Book Online Page A

get the signet ring back but still needed to work out some of the details. The plan would be tricky to pull off and was not without significant risk. Yet the more he thought about it, the more he discovered he was looking forward to it despite the danger inherent in its execution. His life had gotten far too complacent in recent years and Grimm’s little problem provided an unexpected turn of excitement.
    With his thoughts deeply engaged in plotting the details of the scheme to save Grimm’s hide, he did not notice Miss Terribury until he was nearly upon her.
    As soon as he noticed her, he stopped. It was his blasted luck he would encounter this woman of all people. She was obviously asleep, and since she hadn’t seen him he could walk away with no one needing to know he had come upon her at all.
    But as he stood there, something about her reclining form drew his attention.
    A dark woolen shawl was spread beneath her on the ground. She lay on her side with her head resting on an outstretched arm and her other hand lying open-palmed on a small notebook. Her legs were bent in a relaxing pose and her skirts had ridden up her calves just enough for him to see the lovely turn of her legs above the edge of her serviceable boots.
    It was a charming scene. Picturesque in a way he was surprised he even noticed. He didn’t often make note of such things with his thoughts typically turned toward more practical matters.
    An instinct for self-preservation urged him to continue on and leave her as she was. But a deeply ingrained thread of chivalry tugged at his conscience and insisted he wake her. Not that he thought she was in any specific danger while on Silverly grounds, but one never knew when a less conscionable man might happen past. Blackbourne did occasionally have trouble with poachers and the like.
    Already regretting his decision, he took the last few steps to her side and crouched down beside her. He reached out to her shoulder, intending to jostle her awake, but was distracted at the last minute by the notebook beneath her hand. He had expected to see ladylike sketches of flora or fauna. But the pages were covered in script slanted frantically across the pages as if she had been forced to write quickly in order to keep up with her thoughts.
    He tilted his head to get a better angle in a shameless attempt to decipher what she had written.
    Before he could make out any of the words, she shifted, straightening her legs and rolling to her back. She arched in a gentle stretch of her spine as she reached both arms over her head.
    He glimpsed a natural sensuality in her movements contained beneath a layer of naïve innocence, visible now only in the unguarded moment as she traversed from sleep to wakefulness. He wondered what it would be like to be lying beside her as her warm body awakened.
    What the hell was wrong with him?
    Irritated with the direction of his thoughts, he reached out and nudged her shoulder none too gently.
    When she barely stirred, he nudged her again.
    She muttered incoherently in response and her eyelashes fluttered as she struggled to open her eyes to the sunlight. When her sleepy gaze found him crouching beside her, a slow smile spread her lips, sending a shockingly sensual punch straight to his gut.
    “Sir Randolph,” she murmured softly, sounding like a woman welcoming a lover.
    “Randolph?” he repeated dumbly as his frown deepened. Who the hell was Sir Randolph?
    Hearing his voice, she started in surprise and rushed to full wakefulness. He saw the exact moment she recognized him. With awkward movements, she pushed herself to a seated position and drew her legs in beneath her skirts. An attractive blush spread across her cheeks. Reaching for her notebook, she snatched it up in both hands and closed it with a snap before setting it protectively in her lap.
    Fully awake now, she looked up at him from beneath her lashes. “Ah, Lord Rutherford. What…? What are you doing here?”
    Her obvious