Read Online One Penny Surprise (Saved By Desire 1) by Rebecca King - Free Book Online

regret.
    “So?”
    It took him a moment to realise she had spoken. “What?”
    “So, do you want me to go and find someone to fetch a magistrate? I don’t mind admitting that I don’t want to stay here with the body any longer than I absolutely have to.”
    Determined that she wouldn’t escape until he knew more about her, Luke looked her square in the eye. “No, I don’t want you to go for a magistrate. Someone will be along shortly. This is a park after all. As soon as someone appears we can send them.”
    “Oh, but –” She took a wary step backward when he stepped toward her.
    He opened his mouth to ask for her address when movement in the trees beside them captured his attention. Instinctively he grabbed hold of her elbows and pushed her around until she stood behind him.
    “What is it?” She whispered.
    She clutched on to the back of his jacket with fingers that shook now with fear. She was too far behind him to see what had caught his attention. He didn’t move. He didn’t speak. He didn’t even appear to be breathing all that much. His sudden watchful stillness was alarming.
    She cast a wary glance down at the corpse now far too close for comfort behind her she side-stepped carefully away only to jump in alarm when Luke’s hand came to rest on her hip. It blazed a trail through the material of her dress to the flesh beneath. She felt hot. She felt cold. She felt branded by the single touch. It was the first time a man, other than her father, had ever touched her and she wasn’t quite sure what to do about it. A part of her wanted to move away, but worry kept her still.
    Luke didn’t bother to answer. His gaze was trained on the man hidden in the trees. The watcher hadn’t moved yet, but Luke was sure that he hadn’t been there when he had last looked just a few minutes ago. Aware that they were standing out in the open, and were intensely vulnerable in contrast to the hidden predator, Luke kept his gaze locked on his target and quickly made a decision.
    “Stay here, Poppy,” he ordered quietly. “Whatever you do, don’t move away from this body.”
    “Why? What is it?” she whispered. She tried to peer around him but his shoulders were too wide.
    Luke didn’t bother to explain. With his gaze locked on the man dressed entirely in black now trying to hide in the shadows, he began to walk toward the trees. Before he took more than a few steps though, the watcher suddenly left the shadow of the huge oak tree he had been resting against and disappeared deeper into the woods. Luke didn’t even stop to look back as he gave chase for the second time that morning and left Poppy all alone with a dead man on her hands.
    “Well, really,” she snapped as she watched the mysterious Luke Brindley vanish for the second time that day.

CHAPTER FOUR
     
    Poppy watched as Luke disappeared into the trees as silently as a ghost. The stealth and speed behind his departure unnerved her in a way that nothing else ever had. She listened carefully for a moment but couldn’t hear any snapping twigs or crackle of dried leaves. How did someone so large manage to move about so quietly? He moved with panther like grace so confidently that it seemed almost like second nature.
    Whoever he was, he was no common or garden gentleman at leisure; that much Poppy did know. Luke Brindley was someone who was considerably more dangerous than a mere tradesperson; not only in persona but to her as a woman. Something deep within her knew it and was warning her to get out now while the going was good.
    “You are no help,” she groused looking down at the body at her feet. Thankfully he didn’t reply, but that only increased her sense of being all alone in the world. It was then that she realised that she was all alone. Mr Brindley had vanished. He could be the killer. He had emptied the man’s pockets; the contents of which were now scattered all over the man’s chest. Had he been looking for something, some incriminating piece