Defending the Duchess Read Free Page A

after someone had broken into the files in her office.
    A random coincidence?
    Julia heard a low, pain-filled moan and realized it came from her own lips. She’d come to Lydia to support her sister. But what if she’d brought more trouble to the kingdom of Lydia?
    Linus paused at a bench. He lowered her onto the seat as he spoke into his earpiece.“I’m returning Miss Miller to the palace.”
    After another brief exchange, he assured her, “Guards are scouring the bluffs.”
    “They haven’t found the guy who attacked me?”
    “They’re looking for him.” He shook his head apologetically. “It’s dark. Those cliffs have a lot of places where a person can hide. Seaview Drive connects to a number of spur roads into the mountains, besides leadingto the border. He could be hiding anywhere.”
    Julia nodded and tried not to let her terror show. Her attacker hadn’t been caught after all. He’d gotten away and could return again. Julia shivered, not because of the temperature, but at the thought of her attacker on the loose, somewhere in the vicinity, possibly even watching them from a distance right now. Unable to bear any weight on herbruised ankle, she leaned on Linus and looked past him to the darkness beyond. The sun had set and the first stars twinkled down on them.
    The beach looked serene, even in darkness.
    But the deceptive darkness hid someone who wanted to hurt her.

TWO
    L inus stood panting next to the bench and studied the duchess. A dozen different thoughts warred for attention inside his head, not least among them his concern for Julia’s immediate safety. Where had her attacker gone? Had he been acting alone? Between the darkness and the craggy bluffs, the man could be anywhere.
    Why had the duchess been attacked? If the man had meanther immediate harm, he could have knocked her off and run away before Linus could have caught up to him. No, it seemed the man wanted to kidnap her or at least drag her out of sight before enacting his plans.
    Linus felt his stomach roil with revulsion. He didn’t want to imagine what the assailant’s plans had been. From what he had observed of her, Julia Miller was a delightful, caring youngwoman. She hadn’t done anything to provoke the attack. Even now, with her face streaked with sand and sweat and her hair ruffled from its ponytail, she looked sweet. Innocent. Pretty.
    He put those thoughts out of mind. He shouldn’t think about how the duchess looked, and he could grill her on possible theories later. Right now, he needed to focus on her well-being. That meant calming herfears and determining whether the injury on her leg warranted a trip to the hospital. And he needed to figure out how to get her off the beach. After chasing her all the way from the palace, fighting off her attacker and then carrying her back through the shifting sand, he was beat. He wasn’t sure he could carry her all the way to the hospital, or even to the palace. But he was reluctant to pull anymen off the search for her assailant just to fetch them a car.
    On top of all that, Linus couldn’t shake the question of why the duchess had deliberately run off without him in the first place. Sure, she’d probably underestimated the risk and just wanted a moment to herself. But she could have explained as much to him and he’d have worked something out so that she could have some space andstill be safe.
    Didn’t she trust him?
    Or was she running from him?
    The thought clamped around his lungs with cold fingers and he stopped panting. During their interactions over the past two days, he’d felt an odd frisson, of attraction or aversion, he couldn’t be sure which. But there was something there. He’d told himself not to worry about it, but if it was enough to send the duchessrunning from the palace without him, then he couldn’t ignore it any longer. It would have to be addressed.
    Lowering himself onto the other end of the bench, he faced Julia.
    In the light of the rising moon, he saw