Tananguard 02 - To Love a Lord by Diedre Clark Read Free Book Online

worst one yet,” Sophia confessed and the tears began to fall again.
    “Why do you allow it?”
    She shook h er head and wept softly. He didn’t know what to do, so he simply held her while she cried, not saying anything.
    It wasn’t long before she pulled away from him abruptly. “Oh no! I’m going to be sick!” she exclaimed, diving for the flowerbed where she promptly began heaving.
    Connor cringed, feeling tempted to simply walk away. He groaned as he walked over to her and held back the strands of hair that weren’t tied back in her bun.
    It seemed an eternity he listen ed to her vomit into her flowers. The sound was making him sick. Finally, the only sounds coming from her were quiet whimpers.
    “Are you alright?” he asked her, smoothing her hair back off her forehead.
    “Now I remember why I don’t drink,” she moaned. Slowly, she crawled backward away from her…flowers. She slumped onto the ground into the fetal position and simply lay there.
    “ Miss Murrieta?” Connor waited for a response and didn’t receive one. “Sophia?” he then asked. Again no response. He touched her back.
    “Leave me alone,” she grumbled.
    He sighed. “I cannot. It wouldn’t be gentlemanly to leave you out here. I’m going to take you inside and see to your comforts.”
    “ Just go. Don’t want…seeing…like this.”
    Connor shook his head and picked her slight body up. She groaned in response, but slumped into him and allowed him to carry her inside. There was a small entryway through the front door that led to an open living room. He spotted a sofa in there and carried Sophia to it. He laid her down and received a quiet snore in return. She was asleep!
    “Fantastic,” Connor said sarcastically. He looked around the living room and listened for anyone else in the house. He didn’t hear anything, but he decided not to chance it. “Hello?” he called out. “Anyone here? I have Sophia, and she is not in the best condition.” He listened for a response and concluded Sophia was home alone. He sighed, looking down at her. Her face was still dirty, and she still wore her gardening gloves. He crouched down next to the sofa and gently removed one glove at a time. He stared at her hands, examining the burn marks. He felt fortunate she had told him the story. He smoothed a thumb over the top of uneven skin. The scars were worse on her right hand than her left, even moving up the arm a bit as if it had gotten the brunt of the burn.
    Sophia moaned and rolled over, pulling her hands from Connor’ s grasp and facing the sofa. Connor sighed as the comfort of her hands left his. Then he frowned.
    This really was a precarious situation, he realized as disappointment settled in with the removal of her hand s. He would never compromise her, but being alone in her home with her in the condition she was in was compromise enough. He should leave before any of her neighbors suspected foul play, or before her brother returned. He stood, intending to leave when he spotted a knitted blanket draped over a red, cushioned chair to his left. He grabbed it and placed it over Sophia. Instead of leaving as he planned, he sat down in the chair and watched the woman sleep.
    It wasn’t long before he grew bored of this and began pacing the room, examining the different objects decorating it. The fireplace centered the room with the sofa facing it and the red chair adjacent to the sofa. On the mantel above the fireplace was an intricately designed clock. He could tell by looking at it that it was an expensive piece. How did she come by it? He would have to ask her when she woke. He studied the rest of the room. There was a small, round table and four chairs off to the right of the sofa and beyond them was a door leading to another room. To the left of the fireplace was an entryway leading to a hall, and in the back corner of the room was a pianoforte. He wandered over to it and ran his fingers lightly over the keys. He considered playing,