Read Online Taken by the Earl (Regency Unlaced 3) by Carole Mortimer - Free Book Online

his horse, then it was up to Fliss to meet each of those gentlemen individually. To do her best to ascertain whether or not he was the man she had overheard bargaining sexual favors in exchange for killing the earl.
    Starting with Lord Adam Sterling.

    Sin was exhausted as he sat in the straw beside a now standing Dante, the darkness outside the stable telling him of the lateness of the hour. But at least his stallion was back on his feet, if looking very sorry for himself, his chestnut coat lackluster.
    Sin and Tom, the head groom here, had purged the stallion first thing and then suffered hours of caring for the sick beast and forcing more water down his throat to replace what he had lost.
    His groom was given similar treatment by the doctor who had been called to attend him, and was also recovering. Sin intended talking to him as soon as the man was well enough to give an account of what had happened. This illness seemed to have been caused by something ingested by both groom and horse. Quite what that could have been, Sin had no idea. Yet.    
      It had been growing dark outside, lamps alight in the stable, when he finally felt the danger for Dante had passed and he could dismiss the head groom.
    Sin rose wearily his feet to stroke and pet the equine’s neck. “I will find who did this to you,” he assured softly in the stillness of the night. “And when I do, they will pay, and pay dearly. I promise you that.”
    “You would find it strange, I am sure, if he were to answer you.”
    Sin turned, only the dark shadow of the woman visible on the other side of Dante’s stall. But Sin knew Fliss’s voice well enough to be sure it was her. “What are you doing out of your bedchamber?”
    She gave an impatient snort as she stepped farther into the soft glow of the lamplight. “I have brought you food. Cook says you have not eaten anything all day.” She held up the wicker basket and blanket she carried before placing them down beside her.
    He raised his brows. “You have been down to the kitchen to get me food?”
    “Is that something else you forbid me to do?”
    His jaw tightened as he heard the sarcasm lacing her tone. “If it involved you leaving your bedchamber, then yes. If a member of my ship’s crew had disobeyed me in this way, they would have felt the lash.”
    “You have a ship?”
    “As it happens, I do. But I was referring to my years as captain aboard one of His Majesty’s frigates.”
    “You fought in His Majesty’s navy?”
    “I did.”
    Sin’s closed expression also told her he would not discuss the subject any further tonight. If ever. That he had already told her too much.    
    “Your horse is better?” Fliss stretched her arm over the top of the wooden stall to gently stroke the neck of the chestnut stallion.
    “Much,” Sin confirmed as he stepped out into the main stable and crossed to where there was a bucket of water in which to wash.
    It warmed Fliss’s heart to see the beautiful horse was at least standing. She seemed to recall her father had once said that if a sick horse lay down, it rarely got up again.
    Stroking and talking to the animal allowed her to avoid looking at Sin.
    She had not thought… It had not occurred to her earlier when he said he wished to change into more suitable clothes…
    The earl was only half-dressed.
    He wore no jacket or waistcoat and necktie. His sleeves were turned back to just beneath his elbows, and his fine linen shirt was unfastened at the throat, revealing a light dusting of dark hair on his muscular chest.
    The darkness of his hair was also tousled and fell rakishly across his forehead.
    It reminded Fliss that the two of them were completely alone here in the dimly lit stable. Only the snorting and stomping of horses broke the silence. The air was filled with the smell of the freshly cut straw that lined the floors of the stalls, and the heat of the two dozen or so horses stabled here.
    There was something earthy, almost primitive,