Read Online Why Earls Fall in Love by Manda Collins - Free Book Online

words. “Where is he, Georgina?” he asked, his tone brooking no foolishness.
    Knowing she had no choice, pointing, Georgie said, “There, over by the elm tree on the other side of the stables.”
    Silently, she watched as he shielded his own eyes from the sun and peered out across the open land at the stables which were some thousand yards from the tower.
    “I see him,” Con said, his voice sharp with anger. “I am going to go down. You stay here.”
    “Certainly not,” Georgie protested. “If this person is indeed my husband, then I have every right to confront him. If he isn’t, then I have the right to ask him why he is following me.”
    “I don’t have the time to argue with you,” Con said, giving up far more quickly than Georgie would have expected. “Just stay behind me and do not say anything to this fellow until I’ve spoken to him.”
    Georgie followed Con down the steps to the ground below. Once they reached the doorway, Con began to walk as quickly as he could, and Georgie had to run to keep up. When they reached the stables where they’d both seen the man who looked so much like Colonel Mowbray, they were both disappointed to find no one there.
    “Where did he go?” Georgie asked, gasping as she finally slowed her pace and stopped beside Con. “He was right here.”
    His walking stick clutched tightly in his hand, Con strode over every square inch of ground in the little area between the trees and the stable wall. “He is gone,” Con said on a muttered oath. “He must have realized you’d seen him.”
    “But how is that possible?” Georgie asked, feeling deflated and out of sorts now that their quarry had flown. “It isn’t as if I shouted when I saw him.”
    “No, of course not,” Con said, laying a comforting hand on her shoulder. “He must have noticed us coming down to the ground below and suspected that you might wish to confront him. Whatever the reason, he is gone now.”
    Her knees suddenly going weak, Georgie collapsed onto a stone bench on the edge of the trees. Unable to keep up her pretense of nonchalance, she covered her face in her hands. “Why is he doing this to me?” she asked, her voice trembling. “This person must wish to frighten me. But why?”
    Lowering himself to sit beside her, Con took Georgie’s hand in his and squeezed it. “My aunt told me before I arrived that something was bothering you. Could this person who is following you be connected with that other matter somehow?”
    That must be his reason for watching her so closely last evening, Georgie thought with a sinking feeling. Her disappointment was absurd. Of course that was why. “Perhaps,” she said. “Though I cannot tell you. About the other matter, I mean.”
    “I’m afraid you must tell me, Georgina,” he said, calling her by her Christian name as if he had no concern for the proprieties. “I won’t have someone frightening you like this. No matter how strong and independent you think yourself to be.”
    “It isn’t that,” she protested. Though perhaps that was part of it. What bothered her more was that if she told him about the threatening notes, then she’d have to betray Perdita and Isabella as well. And that was the last thing she wished to do. “It isn’t my tale to tell.”
    “Do you think I am the sort of man who will go about town telling everyone I meet your secrets?”
    “Of course not,” she chided. “Don’t be ridiculous.”
    “Then tell me,” he said, knitting his fingers through hers. “Let me protect you.”
    “I will consider telling you,” she said finally, unable to simply open up to him, but also unable to deny him outright.
    “I suppose I shall have to be content with that for now,” Con said, rising to his feet. “Let’s gather up the rest of our party and leave this place. The ruins are not as magical as they were when we first arrived.”
    And to Georgie’s disappointment, he was right. Allowing him to lead her away, she realized,