Too Hot For A Rake by Pearl Wolf Read Free Book Online Page B

was so engrossed in fury, her abigail had to touch her knee to gain her attention. “Are you all right, milady?”
    “I’m fine,” she snapped. “What is it?”
    “Well, milady, I’ve asked you the same question three times and you haven’t answered me,” said Amy in a trembling voice.
    “Sorry. My thoughts were elsewhere. What is it?”
    “Do you not think our escort handsome?”
    “I hadn’t noticed. Beware handsome men, Amy, for they may be dangerous.”
    “Oh no. Really?”
    “You must protect me, Amy. Make sure the marquis doesn’t behave in an improper fashion.”
    “I will, your la’ship. Don’t you worry about a thing. Your Amy will take good care of you.”
    Helena’s smile was wan. “Thank you, dear. I’ll just close my eyes and rest a bit.”
    But the luxury of sleep eluded her. She felt lost, cut off from everything she loved. Seeking some respite from her grim thoughts, she clutched the reticule holding her new journal. Helena had always wanted to travel, but not like this. Not running away from the vicious tongues of the London gossips whose whispers could infect an already festering wound.
    For what seemed like the hundredth time, the humiliating scene of Darlington’s rejection flashed before her eyes. For what seemed like the thousandth time, she asked herself how she could have been so wrong about him. Had she forced herself upon him? She would never know the answer now. She knew only that he hadn’t loved her as she had loved him. Had Chris merely wished to wed the daughter of a duke to advance his diplomatic career? Helena sighed, searching for easier thoughts before the dismals sank her into madness.
    To ease her mind, she turned to her abigail and said, “Tell me about Land’s End, Amy.”
    “What would you like to know, milady?”
    “That’s where you were raised, isn’t it? Did you live by the sea?”
    “Near enough, milady. Me mum and me, we lived in the village of Sennen Cove. Me da, he owned Ship Inn, with rooms to let for travelers and an alehouse as well. Now me mum runs it wi’ her brother, me Uncle Tom.”
    “Your father’s dead?”
    Amy looked out the window and bit her lip.
    “Forgive me, Amy. I didn’t mean to pry.” Helena reached across and patted her abigail’s hand.
    “Oh no, milady. It’s just…well, I don’t know for sure.”
    “Oh? How is that?”
    “You see he was took up by the excise men near on ten years ago.”
    “Oh,” said Helena. “That’s terrible.”
    “Yes, milady. He was a good da and I loved him. Everyone in Sennen Cove loved him, no matter he was a free trader.”
    A free trader? Amy’s chatter did indeed distract her. “I’m so sorry,” said Helena. “You must miss him.”
    Tears welled up in Amy’s eyes. She sniffed. “I know ’twas illegal what he done, but we loved him and we had such a fine life. Now me mum has to work hard just to make ends meet.”
    “Tell me what you know of smuggling.”
    Amy was much encouraged by the interest her mistress showed. “Free tradin’, milady. Me da warn’t no smuggler. That would be bad.”
    Helena suppressed a smile, for Amy’s tongue was reverting to familiar Cornish dialect. “Go on.”
    “There’s not much of free tradin’ going on as was before. Mostly, free traders don’t hurt nobody that leaves them alone and keeps their tongue between their teeth. But then there’s the outsiders—them’s the real smugglers, not us, milady. Mostly, they come from someplace else and they do bad things. Nobody likes them, but everyone’s afraid of them.”
    “Doesn’t anyone try to stop them?”
    Amy thought for a moment. “I don’t know about that, milady. We don’t speak bad of our own and we don’t speak bad of outsiders for fear. That scurvy lot might well murder us. Most of the time, when the excise men come round to ask questions, folk don’t see nothin’ and don’t say nothin’.”
    Helena said, as much to herself as to Amy, “I’d always thought that