Read Online If He's Dangerous by Hannah Howell - Free Book Online

is the best cure for the sort of injuries you have suffered.”
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    â€œWhy do you not just keep her away from me?” asked Argus.
    Max paused in the doorway to look back at Argus. “You ask that concerning the young lady who crept about in the night dressed as a lad and dragged you out of your prison?”
    â€œPoint taken.”
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    With a brief nod, Max left, and Argus stopped fighting to keep his eyes open.
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    Lorelei wondered if a heart could beat itself to death. Hers was pounding so hard she was surprised it had not echoed through the halls as she had crept through the house. Max was busy and her cousins were off fishing so she knew Argus was alone. No one else had been informed of his presence. She carried her sketchbook just in case she was caught and had to explain where she was going, but she hoped she was not forced to make excuses, for she knew she was a poor liar.
    She had slept the night away and guilt was a heavy stone in her stomach. Lorelei knew it was foolish to feel so guilty, that Sir Argus was neither mortally wounded nor completely infirm and in desperate need of constant watching. He could tend to his basic needs without help once he had rested from the journey. Max had also assured her that he had left food, drink, and clean nightclothes for Sir Argus close at hand. There was no reason for her to suffer any guilt or worry, and yet she was gripped hard by a need to see him. She did not like to think of him all alone or in any pain.
    The gatehouse was so quiet as she entered that she found it a little eerie. She was unaccustomed to being anywhere that was totally devoid of people, especially servants. She grimaced, afraid she had just allowed her imagination to run wild, filling her head with visions of Sir Argus calling out for help. Setting the pack that held her sketching materials down on the table in the hall, she pulled a book from the pack and started up the stairs. Lorelei hoped Sir Argus believed that she had simply thought to keep him company, perhaps read to him for a while. It would be unbearably humiliating if he guessed that she had been afraid for his health and safety. Sir Argus was a big, strong, worldly man. She was often described as delicate and knew she had led a very sheltered life. The man would probably laugh at the idea that she thought to protect him.
    She reached for the handle of the door and then paused. Although she could not hear anything, she knew he could be awake, asleep, or even indecent. Lorelei rapped softly on the door, heard a muttered command to enter, and quickly did so.
    The sight of Sir Argus stopped Lorelei after she had taken only two steps into the room. He was sitting up in the bed, his nightshirt open to his waist. She briefly noted that the bedcovers were pulled up to that trim waist, for it was his chest that captured her full interest. He did have a very fine chest, she thought. Broad, taut with muscle, and with only a small patch of hair. The bandage wrapped around him hid too much of him in her opinion. She had the strangest, strongest urge to hurl herself into his arms and rub her cheek against that smooth swarthy skin. She would enjoy it, but, considering his injuries, she doubted he would.
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    â€œThought you were Max,” Argus said and hastened to close his nightshirt. “You should not be here.” He hoped he did not sound as prim to her as he did to his own ears.
    Lorelei had to bite back a sigh of disappointment as his handsome chest disappeared beneath the crisp white linen of the nightshirt. “I have come to read to you, if you wish me to. You have been left alone for quite a while and I thought you might like a little company.”
    Argus glanced at the book she held. “A tale of an old battle between the Cavaliers and the Roundheads? Strange choice for a young lady.”
    â€œI have brothers, sir. They all enjoy this so I thought you might.” She frowned. “Although, if you