Wagered to the Duke (BookStrand Publishing Romance) by Karen Lingefelt Read Free Book Online Page A

mean from inside the carriage.” A brief moment of silence followed as they both listened intently, and then Nathan heard it again.
    A high-pitched scream.
    “Oh, you mean that ?” Bilby glanced around at the rapidly darkening sky. “I thought it was a bird. Some of those game birds can make the most god-awful noises that carry for miles across these moors and make you want to—”
    “Stop the carriage.”
    Bilby obeyed. “It’s that wild popinjay ravishin’ the ladies, I’ll wager.”
    Nathan jumped down from the box. “No, I suspect it’s just the wild popinjay.”
    He didn’t even have time to open the carriage door, for it banged open and out flew Freddy Hathaway. Nathan wouldn’t have been at all surprised if the oaf had been bodily expelled by his harridan of a sister. She seemed quite capable of anything, and in this instance he wouldn’t have blamed her.
    Hathaway nearly stumbled to the ground before regaining his balance. “Madwoman! She’s a madwoman, I tell you! I’ll walk the rest of the way to wherever we’re going.”
    “Maybe you’d like to sit on the driver’s box for a while,” Nathan suggested.
    “Not in his state,” Bilby protested. “He’ll spook the horses. I’d just as soon hitch him to the back of the carriage and let him try to keep up. The exercise will do him good.”
    “How far to the next village?”
    “Not far, Your—Mr. Fraser. I can barely see a church spire from here.”
    Nathan jerked his thumb toward the carriage. “Get inside, Hathaway. I’ll ride with you and do what I can to protect you.”
    Hathaway whimpered like a frightened puppy but climbed back into the carriage. Nathan followed, taking the seat next to him and across from Miss Hathaway and her maid, both of whom looked as innocent as two cherubs in a church fresco.
    Being so tall, Nathan could fit easily into this carriage as long as he was the only occupant. But ensconced in the seat facing Miss Hathaway, he could not stretch out his legs so much as an inch. To make matters even more awkward, his knees neatly bracketed hers, while he felt her feet shuffling around as if trying to free them from the trap he’d inadvertently created with his own. He glanced at Freddy and the maid, neither of whom seemed to be experiencing the same problem. The maid’s cloak was wide open, revealing two large globes of pink flesh. If the carriage hit a bad enough rut in the road, Freddy might be jolted out of his seat and catapulted headfirst into her cleavage. Nathan looked back at Miss Hathaway, who looked as if she was trying to fathom a way to free her legs from his without offering a view up her skirt.
    “Now let us have no more nonsense, children,” he said, his voice stern. “Soon we’ll be stopping for the night. I take it no one here has enough blunt to pay for a bed?”
    “Do you mean to tell me the duke didn’t give you an expense account?” she inquired. “Does he expect you to travel in his service but out of your own pocket? Mr. Fraser, there’s a word to describe a situation such as yours. It’s called slavery.”
    Nathan found himself struggling to keep a straight face. “That’s not the word I would use to describe my situation at the moment, Miss Hathaway. And let me assure you the duke would never expect any of his retainers to travel out of their own pockets. Why, he’s generous and benevolent to a fault, taking pity on the most pitiful.” He thought the better of glancing at Freddy as he said that. “But I might remind you, His Grace was not expecting me to bring anyone back to London. Nonetheless, I shall bespeak a room for you and your maid. As for your brother…” Nathan paused to see whether either of them would deny the sibling relationship.
    “Just put me on the mail to Leeds,” Freddy muttered. “That’s all I ask. I can find my own way home after that.”
    “What about your sister here?”
    “No one’s putting me on any mail coach,” she said, folding her arms