Snowy Night with a Stranger by Jane Feather & Sabrina Jeffries & Julia London

Author:Jane Feather & Sabrina Jeffries & Julia London [Feather, Jane & Jeffries, Sabrina & London, Julia]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2008-01-01T05:00:00+00:00

Chapter Six

Dear Cousin,

My, my, you certainly have my interest piqued. Perhaps I should guess at your identity, and you can tell me how far I am off the mark. Might you be a Hessian with a fondness for lemon tarts? An aging spy for the Home Office? A woman, even? No, I know you’re not a woman. A woman couldn’t possibly be as arrogant as you.

Your “relation,”

Charlotte

Martin stared at Ellie. Had she really said what he thought?

Yes, that’s why she was watching him so closely. She’d heard the rumors, and now she meant to find out if they were true.

A groan escaped him. He’d spent the last few days in agony, basking in her warmly innocent smiles, entertaining mad ideas of what it might be like to have her as his wife, looking after his children. He’d spent three nights imagining her in his bed, cradling his body between her honeyed thighs, caressing him as only a woman could. He couldn’t stand to see her expression when it dawned on her that he really was responsible for Rupert’s death.

He headed for the door. “Since you’ve apparently learned the real reason they call me the Black Baron, there’s nothing more to say, is there?”

She caught his arm as he tried to pass her. “I should like to hear your account, since all I learned from my aunt were rumors.”

He froze, not looking at her, afraid to see what lay in her eyes. “I’m surprised she didn’t order you to take her away from here. I’m surprised you didn’t demand it yourself.”

“Don’t be absurd. We know better than to heed some silly gossip. As Shakespeare said, ‘Rumor is a pipe/Blown by surmises, jealousies, conjectures.’”

A choked laugh escaped him at her blithely quoting Shakespeare while he stood here expecting her to bolt. “You have no idea how true that is.”

“I’m sure I don’t. That’s why you should explain it to me.”

His gaze shot to her. Did he dare? Her face was open, waiting. He saw no reproach in the eyes half veiled by her spectacles, but that meant little. Once he told her, she would despise him. God knew he despised himself.

Pulling away, he headed for the worktable. “You should go. I must hide a few chemicals in case your cousins try again. I packed up the worst ones a few days ago, but yesterday I had to take out some vials—”

“Martin,” she said sharply, halting his frenzied flow of words. “You might feel better if you talk to someone. Tell me what really happened. I promise not to judge you.”

Devil take her for saying that. To have someone listen and not judge…. No, not just someone—her. His men didn’t judge him, and neither did the local townspeople. It was only her sort who found him guilty.

That thought spurred him to face her. “It’s not a great secret,” he bit out. “The miners witnessed it. Huggett knows it. If people really cared to know, they could find out. Yet you’re the first in society ever to ask me directly.

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