Silver Angel by Johanna Lindsey Read Free Book Online Page A

there just to do his bidding. God, how she had hated him at first. But it hadn’t taken him long to readjust his attitude, or to win her over. He had a way with females that was impossible to resist. Soon she adored him, never questioning that her best friend should be a male instead of a female. And even after nearly nineteen years, he was still her closest friend though she knew he had other friends, male friends, with whom he was just as close.
    Lord Fielding was one, that scoundrel who had led Derek into a pastime of spying. Pastime indeed, but that was all it was to Derek, who thought it a lark, a bit of excitement, never considering the danger, while the Marquis, and she, too, was terrified each time he crossed over to France, wondering if this time he would be caught and executed. Finally the Marquis had convinced Derek to stop taking risks with his life. The poor man was rightfully afraid that Derek wouldn’t live long enough to carry on the line. So he was to get married, at the Marquis’s insistence, andhis natural choice, the way he had told it when he proposed, had been her. And she had been so terribly flattered. He knew so many women, yet he had chosen her to settle down with.
    “Wool-gathering, Caro?”
    She glanced down to see that he had dismounted and was holding out his arms to her. She smiled, putting her hands to his shoulders, feeling his sure grip on her waist, the warmth of his fingers. And he didn’t let go immediately when her feet touched the ground. Unlike most men, he had the ability to communicate his affection through the senses. It was an endearing quality, because he did it unconsciously, touching a shoulder, a waist, an arm, fingers smoothing over skin. He didn’t know what these innocent contacts could do to a woman. Or maybe he did. It was part of his potent sensuality.
    She laughed away his question now, unwilling to admit he was so much in her thoughts. “I was thinking of my garden, and moving the rose bushes—”
    He pulled her closer. “Little liar.”
    Caroline grinned up at him, and it was a very long way up, for she was a small woman, and he towered more than a foot above her. “Very well, I was thinking you have very feminine eyelashes.”
    “Good God, woman, if that was to be a compliment, you failed.”
    “But they make you very handsome, Derek,” she insisted, mischief lighting her gray eyes.
    “And if all you have to spout is nonsense, I can think of a better way to spend our time.”
    “Oh, no.” She moved quickly away from him, for once he started kissing her, every other consideration disappeared. “You brought me out here for a reason,so let’s hear what couldn’t be said in front of my father.”
    “I have ravishment in mind, little one.”
    Caroline snorted. “Not bloody likely. If I were going to be ravished by you before the wedding, it would have been done months ago. Now, out with it.”
    He caught her hand and began walking her through the meadow of wildflowers. “How much of a fuss will be caused if we postpone the wedding?”
    She stopped, making him face her. “What’s happened?”
    “I have to leave England for a while.”
    “That cad! That scoundrel!” she exploded. “He’s done it again, hasn’t he?”
    “Who?” Derek asked in all innocence.
    “You know very well who! Lord Fielding! And after you promised your grandfather you wouldn’t get involved in any more of his nasty adventures.”
    “Marsh didn’t…well, actually—” He stopped, grinning. “Scoundrel, Caro? Cad? I thought you liked Marshall.”
    “I did,” she grumbled. “Before he recruited you to be a spy.”
    Gently, Derek pulled her forward to slip an arm around her waist and continue walking. “Marshall never twisted my arm, you know. Whatever I did I enjoyed doing. And this has nothing to do with that. It’s something only I can do this time. But there’s no danger involved. It’s more a diplomatic mission.”
    “Which I suppose you’ve been sworn to