A Wicked Way to Win an Earl Read Free Page A

you.”
    Delia crossed her arms stubbornly over her chest. There was
no way
she was going to ask. He was mad indeed if he believed she would. If she asked, he might just tell her, and she didn’t want to know the answer.
    â€œWell, what do you call it?”
    Drat.
    He smirked. “Something far more descriptive, but I’d rather not repeat it now. Tell me. Precisely how much of my fornication did you witness?”
    â€œFar more than one generally expects to see on a public road,” Delia snapped. “In short, a shocking amount.”
    â€œI see. That would explain why you stood there for so long, gaping. The shock.”
    Delia glowered at him. “I didn’t have much choice, did I? I heard a noise and so I followed it, and there you were, right in plain sight.”
Pressing against each other, sighing, kissing, caressing . . .
    â€œYou heard a noise. What kind of noise was it?” he asked, as if he were humoring her.
    â€œAt first I thought it was a wild animal,” she said, then added in an undertone, “and I wasn’t entirely wrong.”
    His eyes narrowed. “I beg your pardon, Miss Somerset?”
    Delia bit her lip to keep from laughing. “I said, can’t we move this along? My sister is waiting for me to return witha conveyance. She’s been ill, and I would rather not leave her in the cold any longer than necessary.”
    He waved his hand imperiously, as if he were the lord of the manor and she a lowly servant. “Very well. Go on.”
    She took a deep breath and recited the facts quickly, before he could interrupt again. “The axle broke, the coachman suffered an injury, they’re stranded on the road, and night is coming on. I need to find the inn, procure a conveyance, and fetch them both at once.”
    â€œThe coachman is injured?” Now she had his full attention. “How badly injured?”
    â€œBadly enough. He fell from the box when the axle broke and twisted his ankle. It’s either sprained or broken. That’s why he couldn’t come for help. He did describe where I could find the Prickly Thistle Inn, but I must have missed a turn, for I didn’t see it.”
    â€œThe turn is difficult to spot from the road.” He thought for a moment and came to some kind of decision. “Come.” He turned and started back down the road, splashing casually through the mud puddles, clearly expecting her to follow without question, as if she were a dog or a sheep or some other kind of dense livestock.
    Delia hesitated. She was in no more danger alone with him here than she’d be a mile down the road, and she didn’t have much choice, but the idea of putting herself under this man’s sole protection seemed, well, unwise.
    When she didn’t immediately follow, he jerked around. He must have read her thoughts on her face because his arrogant gaze moved deliberately from the top of her bedraggled bonnet down over her muddy traveling dress, and came to rest at last on her ruined boots. “Believe me, Miss Somerset,
you
are perfectly safe with me.”
    Delia gasped in outrage. He was insulting her? She didn’t need him to remind her she looked a perfect fright. “Such a gallant thing to say.” She had to struggle to keep hertemper. “But perhaps you’re not accustomed to the company of ladies who are fully dressed.”
    He shrugged, then turned again and started back down the road, leaving her no choice but to stagger behind him. “Let’s just say I prefer the company of ladies who are fully
undressed
.”
    Delia supposed he meant to shock her, but she was beyond shock at this point, and hardly turned a hair at this scandalous comment. She followed behind him, scrambling to keep pace with his long-legged stride. “I see. Well, that explains why you felt compelled to undress your friend on a public road. How terrible it must be, to be so at the mercy of your