Read Online My Lord Deceived by Rebecca King - Free Book Online Page A

gaze looked the man straight in the eye. “Is he still
scouring Bentney on Sea?”
    The man flicked
a glance at the clock on the wall. “He should be done about now
sir, unless they have found something amiss.”
    “Like smuggled
goods, perhaps?” Jonathan watched the man’s gaze turn sharp and
allowed silence to stretch between them for several moments. “I
take it that is what Harrison is after?”
    “I am not at
liberty to say, sir,” the man stammered. He was clearly at a loss
to defy orders but didn’t want to annoy the powerful man before him
either.
    “He is very
persistent,” Jonathan drawled. “I wonder when he is going to get
the message.”
    “Message,
sir?”
    “That there is
no smuggling in Bentney on Sea.”
    “Oh, sir but we
have very reliable information that smugglers run in the village
somewhere. It is only a matter of time before we catch them.”
    “With a man
like Harrison at the helm, I am sure you are right,” Jonathan
replied conversationally. He watched an almost derisive look appear
on the man’s face for a moment. It was so brief that if Jonathan
hadn’t been looking he would have missed it. “I hope Harrison
doesn’t make such a pain of himself this time,” he added with an
almost dramatic sigh.
    “Pain sir?”
    “Oh yes. He was
moved from his old post because he became too officious. I am
afraid that he is going to have to move on again soon if he does it
again.”
    “He is a -” The
man seemed to realise what he was about to say and snapped his
mouth closed.
    “Pain in the
arse, you can say it,” Jonathan drawled with a conspiratorial
smirk. “I take it Harrison is behind the one-off incident just down
the coast?”
    The man frowned
and Jonathan mentally sighed. He couldn’t help but wonder if all of
Harrison’s men were this dense. “Ransley and Hawkshurst,” he
snapped and watched the man’s brows lift. “Mr Hamilton-Smythe is my
associate,” he boasted.
    “Harrison did
get information about their activities, yes sir,” the man replied
casting a nervous look at the connecting door that led to the rear
of the building.
    “From
where?”
    “Well, I am not
sure, sir, but it was very accurate information,” the man sighed.
He hesitated, as though he wanted to confide in Jonathan but didn’t
know whether to trust him or not.
    Jonathan merely
stood perfectly still, and waited. His patience was rewarded when
the man spoke.
    “Nobody likes
him around here much, sir,” the man whispered as he cast a furtive
look around him in search of witnesses. “There is something odd
about him.”
    “I know there
is,” Jonathan replied equally quietly. He was glad that the man had
chosen to confide in him, but made a mental note to ensure that the
gossipy excise man was moved on as soon as Harrison left his post.
Excise men as unprofessionally co-operative as the one before him
should not be working on government business. “Keep an eye on the
man for me and, if you uncover anything untoward, it is in your
best interests to make sure either myself, or Mr Hamilton-Smythe,
learn about it in the first instance. Do you understand?” The man
nodded emphatically and an almost malicious glee entered his
eyes.
    “Don’t tell
Harrison I have been,” Jonathan ordered. He rapped his knuckles
gently on the highly polished desk briefly and took his leave with
a warning look before he left the building. He closed the front
door. The man’s simpering ‘yes sir, anything you say sir,’ still
rang in his ears, and he sighed. The man really would have to
go.
    Right now,
Jonathan knew that had to find out what Harrison had uncovered, if
anything, in Bentney on Sea. As far as he was concerned, searching
a small fishing village like Bentney shouldn’t take several hours.
As he rode toward home, he mentally sent a prayer up that nothing
even remotely related to smuggling could be found in his home
village. If it was, then he had a hell of a lot of explaining to do
to Hugo and his