Read Online Clandestine by Julia Ross - Free Book Online Page A

banshee if any stranger had approached us. However, you were safely in the company of Ali Baba, a member of his family, and he’s known all of us since we were boys.”
    â€œSo nothing as simple as a costume would have fooled him for a moment?”
    â€œA parrot’s a natural companion for any wicked set of rogues.” He filled two wineglasses and held one out to her. She thanked him and took it. “Though I’d trust no one better, my cousins can try anyone’s patience. It’s fortunate that Miracle and Anne have tamed them as much as they have.”
    â€œCan duke’s sons be tamed by their wives?”
    He laughed. “That depends on what you believe needs taming.” He gestured to the table. “But now perhaps I may make amends for all the outrages you have suffered by suggesting that you try some of these delicacies before you faint away from either hunger, a well-directed derision, or righteous indignation.”
    The wine was deliciously cool. Savory aromas saturated her nostrils. Yet any desire for food had disappeared. Sarah’s heart was still beating too fast, as if he led her ever deeper into a mysterious forest where at any turn she might be suddenly lost. He had neatly avoided her real question about the parrot, and she felt almost as if she was being—with great subtlety—tested in some way.
    â€œMy indignation began hours ago,” she said lightly. “When you first sent that footman to fetch me here.”
    â€œI trust Paul didn’t offer you any real insult? If he did, I’ll have his hide.”
    â€œYour man certainly demonstrated a most improper level of familiarity, Mr. Devoran. He insisted on wrapping his arm about my waist as if we were a courting couple.”
    His mouth twitched again, but he frowned with mock gravity. “The duchess’s footman—and he was obeying Miracle’s orders, not mine. It’s well known that Paul is stepping out with Rose, the maid who’s now waiting so patiently in your room at Brockton’s. Miracle no doubt gave strict instructions: If you were to pass as Paul’s sweetheart on your journey back here, you and he had better behave accordingly. None of the Blackdown staff would ever disobey Miracle, principally because they worship the very ground that she walks on.”
    â€œThe ground that springs into blossom as she passes? Like Olwen White Track?”
    â€œJack mentioned that?” His eyes darkened as he glanced back at her. “You’re familiar with the ancient tales, Mrs. Callaway?”
    â€œThis one, certainly! The hero Culhwch fell in love with Olwen’s beauty, but her father refused them permission to marry, unless the hero could perform a series of seemingly impossible tasks involving a great many magical creatures—”
    â€œThe untamable hound!” He grinned and saluted her with his glass.
    Chin high, she returned the gesture. “The boar of fierce bristles—”
    â€œKings turned into beasts!”
    â€œA giant with a sword—”
    â€œAnd a hag of terrible aspect!”
    â€œAt which point, Culhwch had to enlist the whole of King Arthur’s army!”
    Deep creases marked his cheeks as he laughed aloud. Sarah stared at him, breathless, as if caught again in that magical net where wonders might soon be laid in her lap.
    Yet he turned away with studied casualness. “And thus we learn that not even a hero can win his lady too easily.”
    â€œObviously not!” She gulped down her mad emotions and took a deep breath. “Or not in the face of such dreadful opposition—”
    â€œBecause the heart of such stories is always that true love is almost impossible to win.” He began to fill a plate with food for her. “Or at the very least that it can only be found by fighting through a thicket of obstacles.”
    â€œI don’t know. Surely love isn’t a battle? Anyway, Olwen was