Read Online A Lady Betrayed by Nicole Byrd - Free Book Online Page B

a tale.”
    â€œThen hire private guards,” she suggested. “If you have the funds…”
    He could not simply give in to this bloodthirsty relative, Maddie told herself. It was too unfair to allow such an evil man, with murder in his heart, to succeed.
    She saw his lips tighten, but it was a moment before he answered. “I have tried that, too,” he said, his voice low. “A servant of mine, a very good fellow who went through the whole war with me with only a few scars to show for it, the most loyal man you could ask for. He had taken to sleeping beside my bed, and when Francis bribed an innkeeper for the key to my room, John was there to intercept my cousin’s knife. He saved my life, but he paid the price with his own.”
    Maddie gasped.
    â€œUnhappily, Francis got away in the confusion as I tried to stop the bleeding from John’s wound. Furthermore, he bribed his servant to say that he was elsewhere at the time, and we could not make the murder charge stick.”
    A crow called from across the garden, and a cloud slid across the sun. She shivered as the hitherto sunny day felt suddenly colder. Adrian looked up at her, and his handsome face seemed bleaker, his expression more austere. “I will allow no other man to die for me,” he told her, his voice quiet. “I ordered enough men to their deaths during the war, Madeline. I cannot do it any longer. The next time I face my cousin, no innocent people must suffer. It has to be only him and me who face each other. That is why I can stay here long enough to have the banns read, to marry properly and legally, but then I must leave to keep you from harm. I dare not risk your safety.”
    Thinking of his lonely days and nights with an enemy always a few steps behind him, she swallowed. He took both of her hands in his. “Will you marry me, Madeline? For your sake, at least, if not mine.”
    His words hung in the golden air for a moment.
    Her answer sounded husky. “Yes, I will.”
    Maddie reached to grip his forearms, as if she could hold him in place, keep him from confronting such an intractable enemy. “But there must be some way for you to stay. Your cousin is mad,” she muttered. “Surely he is.”
    â€œPerhaps,” Adrian agreed. “I think it quite likely. I have tried to simply stay out of his way, but he has a nose for my presence like some demented bloodhound, always sniffing out where I am.”
    He grinned at her, and despite herself, she laughed, although a moment later, thinking of someone lying in wait for Adrian, she had to blink against betraying tears. A man wanted to kill him, and he made silly jests. How could he?
    But then, perhaps he was right; what else could he do? Moan and feel sorry for himself? Adrian would never do that, she knew it instinctively. He was too proud, too fierce to wallow in self-pity.
    She wanted to hug him to her, cradle his head against her breast in sympathy. The thought of his face against her breast made her whole body tingle, and she blushed as her thoughts turned in a quite different direction.
    He gazed at her, and his knowing expression made her glance away. He wanted an heir, she remembered suddenly. He wanted a baby. That meant a real marriage, in every respect. She blushed again, and remembered how it had felt to lean against him, pressing her whole body into his. She’d never expected to have that kind of pleasure, the unknown joys of the marriage bed.
    Now she wished she had quizzed her married sisters in more detail. Why did they all have to be out of the country or in faraway London when she needed advice? She knew nothing at all about what role a wife should play when the wedding guests had made their good-byes and the servants had snuffed out the candles. What if she couldn’t please him?
    He was watching her with an uncanny glint in his eye. He couldn’t discern what she was thinking—could he?
    His deep brown