Read Online Suzanne Robinson by Lady Hellfire - Free Book Online Page B

that makes his manners less than they should be. With your permission, I will see to having you moved.”
    During Fulke’s speech Alexis noticed that the young woman in front of him was shaking her head. He should apologize for mistaking her for a servant, he told himself.
    “Miss, I don’t know your name.”
    The lady turned, and Alexis found himself being examined by a pair of brown-gold eyes and with all the thoroughness of a headmaster.
    “My name is Katherine Ann Grey.”
    “Yes. Miss Grey. Lady Ophelia mentioned that you and your mother were staying with her. I’m sorry about your cousin.”
    “Indeed.”
    Why did she look at him as if he were one of those wriggling insects one found beneath dead logs? “My cousin is right. Maitland House will be uninhabitable for some time.”
    “My lord, grimy and charred as it is, this house is far more comfortable than the Carson Desert or a canvas tent in San Francisco in the winter rains. I’ll manage.”
    Her unexpected coldness made Alexis really look at the woman for the first time. She was a small thing. She barely reached his shoulder, and her hair was plastered to her head and back. Even wet, even in darkness, he could make out its polished copper tint. She clutched a sodden blanket, twisting in the fabric around her neck. He could see thin blue veins in the pale skin of her hands.
    As they studied each other like two angry cats, Alexis found himself growing curious. Where the devil was the Carson Desert? What had this young lady been doing there? And most important, what did she look like when she wasn’t drenched and covered with black soot?
    “What did you say?” he asked.
    “Well go to that place in the village.”
    “You mean the Queen of Scots Inn? It hasn’t been improved since the Restoration. And anyway, it’s no place for ladies.”
    “You’d be surprised to what places ladies go when they have to.”
    Alexis straightened his shoulders and gave the troublesome little person before him one of his lord-of-the-castle smiles. “Permit me to know what is due a lady under my protection. You and your mother and Lady Emeline will be my guests.”
    He bowed and slipped away before she could object. He heard her take a step after him, so he lengthened his stride. Walking into the house, he joined the crowd of men salvaging the Maitland possessions before the determined Miss Grey could say anything else.
    Moving the ladies took some time, and it was near dawn before he got to his own bed. His body ached from lifting buckets and his lungs hurt from breathing smoke and ash, but he slept without dreams of blood and dead men. It was an unlooked-for blessing.
    He woke to late afternoon sunlight. He was sitting up in bed with his head in his hands when Meredith came in with tea. He’d given up trying to discover how the man knew when he woke. He kept his eyes closed as Meredith set the tray beside the bed.
    “Tea, my lord Colonel.”
    “Meredith, please. I resigned my commission weeks ago.”
    “I’m sorry, my lord. Habit.”
    Meredith held the cup and saucer out so that Alexis could smell the tea he’d poured. Alexis breathed deeply and became human. Almost. He fished blindly for the cup. Meredith put it in his hand and guided it toward his mouth. Alexis downed the hot liquid.
    “Thank you. I can talk now.”
    The valet knew this was his signal to help Alexis begin the day. He held out a dressing gown of striped silk.
    “Those women,” Alexis said.
    “Lady Emeline, Mrs. Grey, and Miss Grey.”
    Alexis nodded and faced his shaving mirror. For the first time in many months he thought he might look forward to something besides duty, even if it was only the irritating task of foiling the matrimonial plots of a young lady and her mama.
    “Is she up and about?” he asked.
    “Which, my lord?” Meredith whipped the shaving cream with a silver-handled brush.
    “Miss Grey, of course.”
    “Miss Grey has been up for an hour or two, my lord. She asked the