Wicked Angel by Julia London Read Free Book Online Page B

the bright sun. Alex angrily yanked at his neckcloth, muttering an oath or two against his tailor as he did, when an unusual sound caught his attention.
    He had to be hearing things.
    He paused, straining to listen. A gentle, lilting voice lifted on the breeze from nowhere. "
Holy, faire, and
wise is she, The heaven such grace did lend her
…" Yes, he was definitely imagining things. That was a song from
The Two Gentleman of Verona
. He almost laughed at the notion of some crofter singing a song from a Shakespearean play. With a derisive chuckle, he shook his head and started forward again, but quickly drew up short. "
Then to Silvia, let us sing, that Silvia is excelling; She
excels each mortall thing upon the dull earth dwelling. To her let us Garlands bring
…" He most definitely was not hearing things. Alex turned slowly toward the sound and quietly sucked in his breath.
    God Almighty, it was no crofter.
    Standing nearby in a field was a vision of a woman. Woman? She was an
angel
—with dark chestnut hair loosely knotted in the middle of her back, tiny curls of it swirling softly about her face. God, but she was
beautiful
. Classic, patrician lines, a small, straight nose, full lips the color of roses, the voice of a wren. Alex shook his head and squinted at her again. Had he been walking in the sun too long? Was this some kind of dream? He moved slowly toward the fence, captivated by her voice and extraordinary beauty. A movement to his right disrupted his attention, and he reluctantly shifted his gaze from the vision.
    This was no dream.
    It would not include such an enormous, mean-faced hog. Alex quickly shifted his gaze to the angel and frowned. Nor would an angel be wearing a plain brown dress and a pair of thick-soled, clumsy boots.
    The angel was just a young woman who was… hell, he didn't know
what
she was doing. Except standing in a field. And singing to a hog.
    He was suddenly embarrassed to be staring at her as if she were some priceless piece of art. At the very least, he ought to ask if she knew how far it was to Pemberheath. He braced one leg against the rough-hewn fence and called, "Good day!"
    Both the hog and the woman started, jerking wide-eyed looks of surprise to him. A moment passed; the woman warily slid her gaze to the hog, and the hog to her.
    Then the hog suddenly charged.
    With a cry, the angel whirled and headed for the fence, her long hair flying out behind her like some
    surreal banner. She ran for her life, and so did that huge swine. Alex dropped his coat and held out his arms, intending to help her. But the hog, which had to outweigh her by a factor of at least four, was moving with alarming speed and gaining on her. She must have sensed it because she glanced over her shoulder and shrieked. Reaching the fence just barely ahead of the swine, she ignored his outstretched arms and hurled herself across the structure in a cloud of brown wool and silken hair, landing squarely on top of him. His hands somehow found her waist, but the impact caused him to lose his footing, and the two tumbled to the earth, rolling down a short embankment.
    Unexpectedly flat on his back, Alex blinked up at the clear blue sky, momentarily uncertain as to what had just happened. Another clouded moment passed before he realized his hand was trapped beneath her firm derriere. Before he could do anything about it, his view of the blue sky was abruptly obscured by the angel's lovely face, a pair of vivid cobalt eyes narrowed menacingly, and the banner of hair spilling over her shoulder and pooling onto his chest.
    "Are you
mad?
" she fairly shrieked, and jumped to her feet.
    A little stunned, Alex slowly pushed himself up onto his elbows, eyeing her warily as she brushed the dirt and grass from her gown. "Am I?" he asked incredulously. "Madam, I was not the one singing to a hog!"
    "You
startled
her! She was doing quite nicely until then, did you not see that?" the vision shouted at him.
    Rather astonished, Alex