Read Online Of Noble Birth by Brenda Novak - Free Book Online

when
she spoke, making Alexandra wonder if he ever lowered his
guard.
    “No.” He closed his eyes
again.
    “Please. I can’t feel my
hands. Or do you think I might actually overpower the five of you
if given my freedom?”
    “I don’t fear you in any
way.” He didn’t bother to look up.
    “Then you’re simply being
cruel.”
    Blue eyes regarded her
beneath half-open lids. “You’ve no idea of the meaning of the word,
although your father is certainly a master of the
discipline.”
    “So he’s my father now? I don’t
even know the man. But a few hours ago, he was our father, if I remember
correctly.”
    “Sometimes I’m loath to
make the connection.” Nathaniel sighed and shifted in his
seat.
    “If he’s anything like
you, that’s understandable,” Alexandra muttered. Struggling against
her bonds, she tried to relieve the swelling in her hands. “What is
it you want from me?”
    “I want nothing from you.
You are only a pawn.”
    “So you don’t hate me
personally. Only my father. Or rather, this duke of, what is it,
Greystone?”
    “You’re more astute than I
would have guessed.”
    “If you have nothing
against me, then untie me.”
    A lazy smile told her he
wasn’t even tempted. “If I unloose your claws, I’d not get any
sleep. I can hardly believe the hellcat we carried away from
Manchester would sit, docile.”
    “A brougham is coming up
from behind,” Tiny called from the driver’s seat.
    Nathaniel tensed and sat
up. “At this pace?”
    “What is it?” Trenton
asked, yawning.
    “Someone is about to
overtake us,” Nathaniel explained. “Pull off the road on the down
slope of the next hill as soon as you can find sufficient cover,”
he called back to Tiny. “We can’t outdistance anyone with these
nags.”
    “Who do you suppose it
is?” asked a man with the shadow of two or three days’ beard
growth.
    “I don’t think it’s
anything to do with us. But we can’t be too sure.” Nathaniel leaned
over and opened the door, sticking his head out to peer behind
them.
    A biting, cold wind
smelling of heather and gorse rushed into the carriage, making
Alexandra shiver. While the day had been warm, the night promised
to be chilly, and she had fled Madame Fobart’s without so much as a
cloak.
    “They’re too far back for
me to see,” Nathanial reported.
    Alexandra pictured an
approaching vehicle, its corner lanterns cutting through the night,
and wondered who it could be. Nathaniel, no doubt, feared it was
the duke, or someone who served his interests, coming after Lady
Anne. But Alexandra doubted Greystone had reason to pursue them
beyond retrieving his carriage. Why would he care about the
abduction of a mere needlewoman?
    Alexandra thought it might
be Willy. While he owned no carriage, he could have rented one.
Rushing to her rescue was definitely out of character, but trying
to retrieve something that belonged to him was not. She had half
the money for the skirts, and she made his living. He’d be loath to
lose her, for all of his abuse.
    Suddenly the carriage
ground to a halt, and the three men sitting on Alexandra’s right
nearly landed on the floor on top of her. She was thrown against
Nathaniel’s and another man’s knees. Then they were all jarred back
and forth as Tiny headed off the road, presumably toward some kind
of cover. When they finally stopped, everyone except Nathaniel
jumped out, each pulling a knife from his boot or a pistol from his
belt.
    “Conceal yourselves well,”
Nathaniel cautioned in a low voice. “We don’t want a fight unless
we’re forced to it.”
    “I’ll take a fight
whenever I can get one,” someone whispered back with a coarse
laugh.
    “Not tonight. We’ve better
things to do with our time,” Nathaniel told him.
    The door slammed shut as
the sound of horses galloping down the road grew loud. Alexandra
hated the thought of seeing Willy again, yet she prayed for some
kind of rescue. The manner in which her kidnappers had drawn