Read Online The Marquess by Patricia Rice - Free Book Online Page B

trick twice.
    When he saw her finally emerge from the same corridor he had
taken, she moved warily, as very well she ought, Gavin thought grimly while
keeping an eye on her progress. Wrapping his fingers around the rope tied to
the door through which she had to enter now, he lingered in the shadows behind
the ridiculous suit of armor guarding the main hall to the public stairs. He
thought he just might enjoy seeing if he could turn a ghost’s hair white.
    * * * *
    Holding the sandwich she had prepared hastily and not
attempted to eat, Dillian crept down the towering enormous hall. She cursed the
beast for locking the door on her. She should have stolen that key long ago,
but it had never occurred to her that it could be used against her. She’d
rather thought of the key as an escape for herself should anyone come chasing
after her.
    She hated this monstrous hall. Perhaps in daylight, when the
sun came through the stained glass dome in the foyer, it might seem a
friendlier place. At night, it rustled with shadows and tiny unseen creatures.
Or it echoed menacingly empty, as it did now.
    The silence didn’t fool her. The creatures of the
night knew when a human presence came among them. The monster waited out there
somewhere. He’d come too close to give up easily. She contemplated
finding a downstairs room and enjoying her meal until he went away, but it was
late. She feared she might fall asleep before she knew it was safe to come out.
She hadn’t developed any warning signals down here to let her know when
he approached as she had in the upper halls. She had to escape upstairs to
safety.
    She couldn’t see him anywhere. How could a man as tall
as the marquess hide himself in that great expanse of empty space? The moon
must be out. Light filtered into the foyer from the glass dome. She could see
nothing but the silhouette of the grand staircase and the few tables that still
graced the entryway. He must be waiting at the top of the stairs.
    Stealthily, she stole toward the crossroads between the
front entrance and the corridor to the side entrance. She could go outside and
sleep in the barn. The spring night seemed sufficiently warm. And if he’d
locked the side entrance, she could just slip into the library and find a place
behind the curtains in one of the window seats. He couldn’t search the
entire downstairs for her. He’d grow tired of waiting after a while.
    She’d almost made that choice when the door behind her
slammed closed. The rat! He’d sneaked up behind her somehow.
    Without another thought, Dillian took to her heels and flew
down the front hall in the direction of the main stairs and safety.
    And slammed directly into the broad chest of the towering
form stepping out from behind the suit of armor. Her sandwich smashed between
them.
    “Gotcha!”
    The voice boomed over her head as strong arms wrapped around
her back and dragged her up against a powerfully lean body. Dillian felt
crushed, suffocated—and something else she couldn’t quite name as
she realized for the first time in her life she stood in a man’s embrace,
her chest pressed against his.
    Fighting the paralyzing effects of this imprisonment, she
shouted, “Let me go, you big oaf!”
    She squirmed, dropping her sandwich to shove at the
encompassing bars of her prison, but she might as well shove at stone walls.
Her petite stature had never particularly concerned her before, but she felt
dwarfed against this monster. She found her face buried against his shirt
ruffles in distressing intimacy.
    “Let you go?” he asked with some trace of gruff
amusement. “So we could play this game another week? I think not.”
    He lifted her easily from the floor and hauled her in the
direction of his study. Dillian squirmed some more, but it only made her
appallingly aware of the differences between her body and his. Lord, but
she’d never considered how hard a man’s chest could be! Or thighs.
Or all the places in between.
    She froze as she