Read Online Lord Cavendish Returns by Rebecca King - Free Book Online Page A

them seemed willing, or able, to
break the silence that had settled over them. It was only when Mr
Cower ambled past and called a cheery greeting that Arrabella was
drawn out of her daze. Determined to keep her mind off his stunning
good looks, she took a deep breath while she tried to remember
where they were.
    “ You said that you were on a quest and needed my help,”
Arrabella reported carefully and hoped against hope that she hadn’t
got it all wrong.
    “ Yes, I did, didn’t I?” Something inside Harper seemed to
click and he suddenly realised that he was making a complete arse
of himself. “Sorry, I was miles away.” He held out his hand and
offered her his most winning smile. “My name is Harper
Lawton.”
    Arrabella stared at the huge hand he held out to her. She
didn’t want to touch it but it would be horribly impolite of her if
she didn’t. When her palm met the warmth of his she knew she should
have ignored his pro-offered gesture of greeting. As soon as their
palms touched a sudden jolt of awareness flew through her that was
so strong that it made her audibly gasp. Her eyes flew to his and
she read the understanding there. He had felt it too, she was sure
of it. Her suspicions were proven correct when the smile slowly
left his face and he studied her with a rather bemused expression
of - something; she couldn’t quite make out what it was, but it was
darned unnerving.
    “ Lawton?” She gasped, and tried to recall where she had heard
that name before. “You are Doctor Lawton’s brother?”
    “ Yes, I am, and Robert Lawton, the blacksmith, and Joseph
Lawton, the farmer.”
    Arrabella nodded although could see no family resemblance
whatsoever. The Lawton brothers were not as tall and distinguished
as the man who was before her, nor did they have the powerful
shoulders or the rakish charm. This gentleman must have ladies
swooning at his feet wherever he went.
    Determined not to be one of them, Arrabella broke eye contact
again and ruthlessly pushed aside the slight bereft feeling she
felt as she did so.
    “ How can I help you?”
    “ Pardon?”
    Arrabella frowned at him and wondered if they would be there
all morning. Not that she minded of course, it was just that she
had to give her mother her medication in an hour and still had to
change the flowers at the altar.
    “ You said you needed my help in your quest,” Arrabella
prompted. “How can I help you?”
    The way
he stared at her made her want to run a hand over her face to see
if she had some cream left on it from the scone she had eaten
earlier. Rather than appear so self-conscious though, she merely
stood before him and waited patiently for him to tell her why he
was there.
    Harper
gave himself a mental shake and studied the house behind her. It
was the vicarage and it too had remained relatively untouched
throughout the time he had been away. The only major difference was
the presence of the woman before him. He knew with absolute
certainty that if she had been the village when he had been here as
a young man, he would never have left to fight any war. The hounds
from Hell would not have parted him from her door.
    The
sudden squawk from a crow as it flew out of the trees snapped him
out of his daze. He ran a hand down his face and wondered just what
the hell the country air had done to him. One sight of a pretty
young woman and he turned into a blundering dunderhead.
    “ I need to look at the parish records.”
    Arrabella frowned at him. “Any particular parish record or
all of them?”
    Relieved
to finally start to get some sense of normality back, Harper
latched on to her determination to keep the conversation going and
took a breath. “I work for the War Office.” He had no idea why he
had just told her that but it had slipped out anyway. “I need to
check the parish records to see if someone was born here. If they
were, I need to know who their parents were.”
    His
voice was rich and had a faint huskiness to it that made him