Taken by the Earl (Regency Unlaced 3) by Carole Mortimer Read Free Book Online Page B

two days ago, and again when Sin had taken him out for a ride yesterday morning. It seemed suspect that his groom was also suddenly taken ill.
    Sin had persuaded Fliss to remain at Eckles Manor more with seduction in his mind rather than seeking out nameless, faceless assassins. But if there was a genuine threat to his life, he could not allow Fliss to put herself in danger by attempting to pursue the assassin alone. “You will wait until I am free to join you.” His tone brooked no argument.
    She blinked, a rebellious glitter appearing in those dark gray eyes, informing Sin that for all her demur demeanor, this was not a lady accustomed to being ordered about by any man. Least of all him.
    Her reply confirmed it. “Then let us hope you have finished your business out here by the time I come downstairs after returning my bonnet and parasol to my room.”
    Sin frowned at her stubbornness. “Your husband should have taken a riding crop to your backside when he had the chance,” he muttered so that only she could hear.
    Fliss gave him an unconcerned smile. “Stephen was far too much of a gentleman to ever raise a hand—or riding crop—to a lady.”
    Implying that he was not, Sin acknowledged with inner frustration.
    Sin had made discreet enquiries before joining Fliss for a walk in the garden and now knew exactly who her husband had been. Sin had never met Major Stephen Randall, but he knew of the gentleman. Not only was Major Randall a man not much older than Sin—making a nonsense of his earlier assumption her husband had been aged and incapable of satisfying her physically—but the other man had excelled himself in Wellington’s army before being struck down at Waterloo. A war hero and a gentleman.
    Sin did not consider himself to be either.
    Oh, he had served, as had so many other Scottish men, but in the navy as a captain, rather than the army. Unfortunately, he had been washed overboard in the heat of battle before being taken prisoner aboard a French vessel.
    He spent the next year as a prisoner of the French, then finally managed a successful escape and made his way back to England. Admittedly, he had brought back vital information toward the war effort, and had afterward served as an agent for the Crown until Napoleon was safely incarcerated on St. Helena. But he was not the public hero Major Stephen Randall had been.
    Sin bared his teeth in a humorless grin. “Unluckily for you, I have no such qualms.”
    Fliss eyed him uncertainly, unsure whether or not he was in earnest with his threat. The unwavering green gaze staring back into her own confirmed that he was.
    She stood as tall as her much shorter height would allow. “You are every inch the barbarian you are reputed to be, sir.”
    “I am,” he confirmed without apology.
    Fliss lingered only a few seconds more before turning sharply on her slippered heel and returning to the house at a brisk pace.  
    “Ah, Mrs. Randall, I had been wondering where you had got to.” Her hostess stood in the doorway of the breakfast room, where it seemed, from the noise of chatter inside the room, a number of the other guests had gathered. “Do come and join us.”
    Despite what she had said, Fliss had fully intended to sit in her bedchamber and wait for Sin’s return. Not because he had ordered her to, but because the people who accepted Lady Eckles’s hospitality were not the type she would normally associate with.
    But it would seem a little churlish on her part to refuse Maria Eckles’s invitation, considering Fliss was the one who had inveigled herself here in the first place.
    “I breakfasted in my room earlier, but a cup of tea would be most welcome.” She gave the other woman a polite smile as, instead of going to her bedchamber, Fliss now handed the butler her bonnet and parasol before crossing the entrance hall to join the older woman.
    “I cannot tell you what a delightful surprise it was when you expressed an interest in attending our little house