Read Online Alissa Baxter by The Dashing Debutante - Free Book Online Page B

instant, even as Alexandra was looking frantically around her, she was surrounded by three men on horseback, wearing the distinctive red waistcoats of the Bow Street Runners.
    One of the Runners carried a wooden tipstaff, in the form of a short mace, on top of which was a metal receptacle. He rode closer to her and in the stern voice of the Law, said, “I carry with me here a warrant for your arrest.”
    Alexandra’s gaze flew from the tipstaff the man held in his hand to the truncheons the other Runners were carrying, and she wondered wildly if by firing a shot in the air she could somehow distract them and make her escape. But before she could do anything, Robert Chanderly said quietly, “I am afraid, gentlemen, that you have made a somewhat regrettable mistake.”
    Four pairs of eyes turned to look at him. Finally the man carrying the tipstaff, whom Alexandra assumed to be the most senior of the Runners, spoke, “I do not understand your meaning, sir?”
    Mr Chanderly waved a hand in Alexandra’s general direction, “The person you see before you is not in fact one of the thieves you are looking for but my tiger, intent on playing a practical joke on me. That horse he is riding belongs to me. Of late he has developed a — er — unhealthy obsession with the idea of being a highwayman, having heard about the thieves at work in this district. I forbade him to try his hand at it when he expressed a wish to do so recently, but as you can see he has out-rightly disobeyed my orders.”
    The Runner looked sharply from the man in the curricle to the small figure crouched on top of the horse. Finally, he said to Alexandra, “Is this true?”
    Gathering her wits together, Alexandra said in a broad accent, “Aye, guv’nor. Right sorry I am to have worried you, guv’nor.”
    The Runner looked at her in disgust. Shaking his head, he said, “I can see now that you are just a boy. I hope your master punishes you severely for pulling this prank and wasting the time of the Law.”
    Mr Chanderly nodded briefly. “Rest assured, he will be dealt with appropriately.”
    The chief Runner grunted before turning his horse around. “Wasting the time of the Law,” he muttered again, before setting his horse in motion. The other two Runners followed soon after him.
    When they were out of sight, Mr Chanderly said quietly, “Get down from that horse, Miss Grantham.”
    Alexandra started, causing her mount to jump skittishly. Tightening her hands on the reins, she stammered, “I — I don’t want to.”
    “Very well, then,” Mr Chanderly said. He descended from his curricle, and after securing the ribbons to the overhanging branch of a tree, strode across the road to her.
    Looking down at his formidably angry face, Alexandra swallowed nervously, and sent up a silent prayer of thanks that she had been wise enough to stay safely on her mount, out of harm’s way, but she had prayed too soon. Without warning, Mr Chanderly suddenly reached up and, in none too gentle a fashion, plucked her from the saddle and swung her down to the ground. Alexandra’s heart quickened as his arms closed around her and she tried anxiously to push him away, but her efforts were to no avail. Holding her with one arm, Mr Chanderly removed the mask from her face and stared down into her wide blue eyes.
    “Little fool,” he said in a harsh voice, before lowering his head to catch her lips in a hard kiss, meant to punish. Tears stung Alexandra’s eyes at this sudden and unwelcome assault on her senses, and she struggled to free herself from his embrace. But even as she was straining away from him, Mr Chanderly gentled the kiss. When he began to run his hands soothingly over her back, Alexandra felt the fight drain out of her as sensations she had never felt before started to race through her, making her body come alive. Everything else was forgotten in the moment except the warm feeling of his lips moving over hers, and his arms holding her close.
    But as