Read Online How a Lady Weds a Rogue by Katharine Ashe - Free Book Online Page B

her, that slight smile pulling at the corner of his mouth that she wanted to kiss.
    “You are an unusual young lady, Miss Lucas.”
    “Merely curious.”
    “She belongs to the Duke of Yarmouth, whose heir, Marquess McFee, lost her in a game of cards to a gentleman of uncertain honor from whom I have recently retrieved her. It is my task now to return her to her rightful owner.”
    The horse’s coat was warm beneath her glove. “Is that what you hope to do with me in the end, imagining I will tire of my mission?”
    “You are not a horse, obviously. But if you have an owner of whom I am ignorant, I wish you will inform me so that I might not be accused of theft.”
    “You often do not answer my questions.”
    “Don’t I?”
    She darted her gaze up. He was no longer smiling, rather intense, and the change made her belly tighten most deliciously. “How do you propose to avoid this man who is pursuing you?”
    “I haven’t an idea of it yet. But I will not allow you to come to harm because of my enemies.”
    “You have enemies? Oh, but I suppose everyone does.”
    His silver eyes glimmered. “Not everyone, it seems. You befriend each person you encounter. You are in fact an unusual young lady, Miss Lucas.”
    “And a London gentleman acting as horse courier to a duke and being followed by a man with a bad purpose while assisting a runaway lady to find her mother—what sort of man is that, Mr. Yale? A common run-of-the-mill sort?”
    He offered her his slight grin then nodded toward the door of the pub. “We’ve a quarter hour until the coach departs again.”
    “I asked Mrs. Polley to purchase a cold lunch. Will you eat today, sir?”
    “Will you cease pestering me about food, madam?”
    “Probably not.”
    “Just so.”
    Wyn watched her move toward the door where the dog sat. As she approached it, the little mongrel’s tail whipped back and forth. She paused and looked back.
    “It likes you,” she said.
    “Rather, it likes you.” As everyone did. Her smile, her sparkling eyes, and her warmth conveyed affection to every passenger aboard the coach, the coachman, even the surly posting house master at their previous stop. And aside from his desire to have his hands on her again, Wyn liked her too. He would not allow this new danger to threaten her. The man in brown that he’d seen twice now was a curiosity. If the man appeared again, he would discover his purpose.
    But today’s threat was a much greater concern. An old acquaintance, Duncan Eads, had appeared earlier on the road behind the coach. He had maintained his distance, but he was not a man to be discounted. Months back Wyn had caused him trouble, stealing a girl out from under the nose of Eads’s employer, a man named Myles who owned a quarter of London’s underworld. Drunk as an emperor at the time—a rather long episode of that—Wyn had made Eads look like a fool and angered Myles.
    Eads had no doubt been sent here to finally make him pay. Wyn was of a mind to tell him to get in line.
    “We should give it a name.” She bent to stroke the dog’s brow, pulling the fabric of her cloak tight around her behind. Wyn held his breath, entirely unable to remove his gaze from that generous curve of femininity that he’d briefly had in his hand.
    “As you wish.”
    She offered him a quick smile and went into the pub.
    He walked his horses to a grassy spot and loosened their leads to allow them to graze. The village’s high street was peculiarly active; farmers’ wagons laden with children and other adults, a cart, then a carriage of modest quality all passed by within minutes, and a number of people on foot. Eads did not appear, but Wyn suspected he would see him again when the time was least convenient. Perhaps on the road ahead. Eads might now be going around a long route while the coach was halted here, planning an ambush.
    The coachman ambled from the pub, tipped his cap to Wyn, and the other passengers followed. Miss Lucas burst out the