Read Online The Fairy Tale Bride by Kelly McClymer - Free Book Online

admire his infamous sneer. "You did
not have an assignation, then?"
     
     
     
     

CHAPTER FOUR
     
    Miranda held her breath. She dared not move
lest the straw rustle or drop down through the loose
floorboards.
    Simon said curtly, "The child was lost and
came here to escape the rain. I was unseated from my horse and did
the same. There is no source for gossip here."
    Miranda marveled at his sangfroid . If
she did not know that he had someone hidden in the loft, she would
never have believed it. His entire bearing, even to inflection,
spoke of aristocratic contempt. Not even Grimthorpe could guess
that this man – but a mere hour ago – had held her in his arms,
kissed her, nearly made love to her. She scarcely believed it
herself.
    Grimthorpe laughed sharply. "You? Unseated? I
should have liked to see the Duke of Kerstone unhorsed. Perhaps
this has not been a tedious waste of time after all. This will be a
worthy story to tell –"
    "Shame on you!" The outburst came from
Betsy's mother, who now stood, clutching her daughter in her arms,
her eyes burning with fury. Her words were practically incoherent
as she forced them from her tear-choked throat. "Taking advantage.
First of me, now of him."
    Grimthorpe gaped at her, as if he'd been
suddenly addressed by a wayward carp. And then his thin lips
thinned even further. "How dare you speak to me like that. I've a
good mind to see that you are prosecuted for horse theft."
    Miranda felt a shiver of fear as her eyes
darted back to the mother and child, clinging together
protectively.
    Betsy's mother was evidently beyond any such
fear.
    Her chin was held high and her finger wagged
as she spoke with intensity. "It's you who should be hanged. My
Bets told me you said there was a crown in the crossroads." Miranda
had all she could do not to gasp. Grimthorpe had been the man who
visited Betsy's mother?
    At the murmur of the crowd, Grimthorpe
stepped back. "My good woman, I assure you the child is
mistaken."
    The woman hugged her daughter tighter. "Of
course. You're a gentleman." She sobbed softly. "I should never
have let you in my door. I knew you were trouble the moment I saw
you. You are nothing but a pig."
    "You ... " Grimthorpe's face reddened.
Miranda feared for Betsy's mother as she saw he was angered so
beyond words that he stepped toward the woman with his arm
raised.
    Somehow, Simon inserted himself deftly
between them and stood there, blocking any further threat. Miranda
was not even sure how he had moved; he was simply there, between
one blink and the next.
    Grimthorpe stopped as if held in a grip of
steel. He threw Simon one furious glance, and then turned his
attention to the woman who had dared to criticize her betters. "I
paid you good money for your services, woman. I merely wanted the
brat out of the way for a time. You should have taught her the way
home. Children are known to wander."
    Especially when promised a gold coin, Miranda
added silently, her dismay at the sight of Grimthorpe rapidly
growing into panic. The man seemed to be intent on shaking Simon's
secrets out of him, no matter what kind of fool he made of
himself.
    With a whimper of rage, the woman tore at a
small leather bag around her neck. Coins clinked in her hand for a
moment before they littered the packed dirt at Grimthorpe's feet.
"Keep your coins, then. I'll have nothing more to do with you."
    Grimthorpe bent with self-conscious grace to
sweep the coins into his hand. "I'll consider this repayment for
the use of Atlas."
    His smiled burned fury into Miranda when he
said, as if amused, "After all, your brat led me into the scandal
of the century — the upright Duke of Kerstone prefers little
girls."
    Simon's fury was apparent to all in the room,
judging by the way everyone seemed to shrink from him, including
the fool Grimthorpe, who had baited him. "You go too far. These
people were distraught about a lost child. They have found her and
do not need your insinuating lies."
    The troublemaker's smile