Read Online Silent Revenge by Laura Landon - Free Book Online Page A

him more than she needed his protection.
    He dropped his hands from her and she stumbled, then grabbed for the edge of the wing chair and righted herself. She stood immobile for a moment, one hand clutching her stomach, the other fisted against her mouth. Her chest heaved, whether from fright or from his kisses he didn’t know. He did not want to know. All he knew was that he wanted her out of his sight.
    “Get out, woman.”
    She wasn’t facing him. He realized she hadn’t heard him.
    He didn’t want to touch her again, but he had to. Either touch her or wait for her to turn her frightened gaze to him, and he wasn’t sure he had the strength to resist her.
    He grasped her by the shoulders and turned her toward him. A muffled cry escaped from the back of her throat, and his heart lurched within his chest.
    He didn’t want to admit her reaction affected him. He didn’t want to admit her kisses held any significance. He didn’t want to admit there was a spot in his heart that wasn’t hardened enough to keep her from entering.
    “Get out, woman. Get out before I do something we will both regret.”
    She sucked in a harsh breath and twisted out of his arms. “I have already done something I regret, my lord.” She wiped the back of her hand across her mouth.
    With her chin raised, she rushed from the room.
    Simon stood at the curtained window and watched her carry herself with the greatest aplomb through the darkness to a waiting carriage. He watched until she was safely inside.
    “I didn’t think it was possible for the little missy to leave more frightened than when she arrived,” Sanjay said, from the doorway. “I was wrong.”
    “Frightened? Ha.” Simon walked to the fireplace and leaned one arm against the mantle.
    “I think when next I come back to serve you it will be as a small kitten. It will be my purpose to teach you gentleness and kindness. You are in great need of it.”
    Simon slammed his fist against the fireplace, then stumbled to his chair. “I don’t need your opinion tonight, Sanjay. All I need is—”
    “What you want is right here, master,” Sanjay answered, setting a fresh bottle of whiskey and a clean glass on the table beside the chair. “I assume you will want to drink until you can no longer remember how badly you treated the missy.”
    Simon filled the glass and took a deep swallow. “I don’t need you to be my conscience, Sanjay. Go to bed and leave me alone.”
    “Very well, master. I will go to bed, but I think you will not be alone. You will have many of your demons to keep you company tonight.”
    Simon heard the soft click of the door and knew he was finally alone.
    He sank onto the soft leather of the wingback chair and dropped his head to the cushion behind him. He closed his eyes and tried to erase the sight of Jessica Stanton’s long, curling tresses trailing behind her as she left the room, but it did no good. The repulsion and fear he’d seen in her eyes was one of the demons that refused to go away.
    She’d been lying, of course. She couldn’t be Baron Tanhill’s stepsister.
    Simon poured some whiskey into a glass and brought it to his mouth. His arm halted midway to his lips, and his fingers clenched the glass tightly. She couldn’t be Tanhill’s sister , he repeated a second time, then a third.
    His heart raced at the possibility that she could. If she was, she had just offered him his most bitter enemy’s head on a silver platter. Something he’d only dreamed of having.
    Marriage to her would, according to her own admission, make Simon one of the wealthiest men in England and reduce Tanhill to an insignificant pauper. Not only could Simon use the money to pay his creditors and save his inheritance, but he could protect her from whatever mad scheme Tanhill had devised to take her money away.
    If she was Tanhill’s stepsister, he could save her. And this time he would not fail. He would not let Tanhill take another life he’d given his oath to protect.