Read Online A Dangerous Courtship by Lindsay Randall - Free Book Online Page B

talking about, you swine."
    "Sure'n y' do. We wants 'at diamon'."
    "D-diamond?" Julian felt his insides convulse at mention of a diamond.
    "Aye. We wants t' bauble. And now, if y' please, 'and it ov'r or be leadin' us t' it's hidin' place. I won't be askin' so nice like ag'n."
    No doubt you won't, Julian thought, inwardly cursing the scurvy lout , because I won't give you the chance to do so.
    As they had their exchange, Julian made a pretense of coming in and out of consciousness—which wasn't, in actuality, a difficult thing to do.
    He let his head loll forward, then jerked it back up. "D-don't know wh-what you're talking about," he muttered, all the while keeping a keen tally on the brute's hold of him. The oaf's grip lessened a bit as Julian pretended to lean against the stone for support.
    It proved enough of a window of opportunity.
    Julian took that moment to react. Suddenly coming to life, eyes blazing, he brought up his right hand—Veronica's bundle still held fast in his grip—and laid a sharp, lightning-fast blow to the man's ugly mug. He followed it with a mighty left hit to the man's temple, one meant to extinguish his lights. The great giant fell back, knocked out cold.
    Julian wasted no time. He sprang forward, bending slightly, and charged toward Nate with a snarled curse. He crashed into the man's wiry body with a thundering energy, toppling him to the ground and pinning him there. Julian wanted blood.
    "Tell me," he demanded, the fingers of his large left hand splayed open against the man's throat and squeezing hard, "who sent you here?"
    Nate, his bravery suddenly knocked out of him as his accomplice lay still on the ground nearby, shriveled into a fearful mass of quaking limbs. "I-I know not," he gasped. "It—it be God's truth, I swears! S-some lawy'r type hir'd Scruggs an' me, though we nev'r met 'im face-t'-face. We was hir'd t' come t' Yorksh'r and follow 'at snivelin' lad. We was t'ld t' beat the tar outta whoever laid claim t' 'at bundle ye ain't be lettin' go of. 'At's all I know, cove. Don't know 'at lawy'r fella, or ev'n 'is name. Scruggs an' me, we get hir'd on through sever'l messengers. We never knows the blokes what hire us, 'at be the truth. I swear on me mum's grave, 'at's all I know."
    Julian believed him.
    Good heavens, into what kind of coil had Veronica enmeshed herself? He imagined the ugly scenario that would have taken place had she actually been present to discover the packet within Fountains.
    On the heels of that came yet another thought... one that twisted Julian's gut even more.
    What if a solicitor of one Lady Veronica had been the very person to orchestrate all of this, and on her order?
    Could this be a plot to uncover him? Might the lovely Veronica actually know of what had transpired on the night he'd ascended to his title as Earl of Eve?
    He hoped not. Prayed not.
    Julian wanted to slam a fist into Nate's face, but quickly tamped down such an urge. Instead he said, "Know this, you swine. I've the sheer tenacity to dog you and your friend over there until your dying days if you ever dare come near me again. Leave this place... and send a message to whoever hired you that you failed miserably at your deed."
    Nate swallowed thickly in the face of Julian's fury. "Aye. Right, cove. Got it, 'at I do. Ev'ry w'rd."
    Julian got to his feet. "I hope you do."
    * * *
    Twenty minutes later, after having dropped down again into the earthen caves he'd discovered beneath Fountains, gathering up his sparse belongings, and then retrieving his giant stallion from a private spot near the River Skell, Julian was ready to head for the Red Lion Inn and one Lady Veronica, who dwelled there.
    But first...
    Julian looked down at the bundle he still held tight in his right fist.
    Nate had muttered something about a diamond.
    Good heavens, but could he have been talking about the very same one Julian had given to his father on that fateful night long ago?
    Julian untied the twine, pulled back the