If He's Dangerous Read Free Page B

asking for help and had not just cooked your head too much in the sun.”
    â€œIf you did not believe me, why did you come with me?” Since no one had sounded an alarm when her cousins sat up, Lorelei quickly did the same.
    â€œNothing else to do and there was always the chance you could be right. I fancy myself a hero.” Peter grinned, giving his square face a touch of true handsomeness. “House appears deserted. Do we go hunting for the prisoner now?”
    â€œWe might as well,” Lorelei replied.
    â€œYou sound disappointed.”
    â€œI rather envisioned us creeping up to the place, hiding in the shadows of a moonless night, dressed all in black. Perhaps even masked so as to hide our true identities.” She grinned when her cousins laughed, and then she stood up. “However, we have seen no sign of occupancy in the hour we have lain here watching the house. Best we set about the matter of rescuing the man now.” She brushed off her skirts and headed down the small hill.
    â€œWhat about Vale?”
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    Lorelei stopped to look back at where her maid still sprawled in the grass, obviously sound asleep. “We could just leave her here to sleep. She looks quite comfortable.”
    Peter shook his head, his dun-colored curls bouncing with the movement. “She will get upset if she wakes to find herself alone.”
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    Upset was a mild term for what Vale would be if she woke up alone with no knowledge of where her mistress had gone. Vale was very prone to loud dramatics. Lorelei walked up to her maid and gently woke the woman.
    â€œAre we returning home now, m’lady?” Vale asked as she stood up and brushed off her skirts.
    Before Lorelei could reply, Peter and Cyrus yanked her and Vale back down to the ground. Her complaint over such rough treatment lodged in her throat when Peter silently pointed to three approaching horsemen. She patted his arm in gratitude for his quick thinking and studied the men now reining in before the house.
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    One gentleman and two ruffians, she decided. No one came out to tend to their horses. No one appeared to even open the door for them. That confirmed her opinion that the house was deserted. All except for Sir Argus Wherlocke. Lorelei was even more certain now that her garden visitor was in that house and that the three men who had just arrived meant Sir Argus harm. She had to clench her hands tight on the long grass shielding her from view to stop herself from leaping up and running down the hillside in a vain attempt to stop the men from entering the house. They were all well armed and would probably just shoot her and go on about their work.
    â€œNow, just why are three men entering an abandoned house?” whispered Peter. “No one to escort them, to tend the horses, or open the door for them. They have guns and I cannot think why you need weapons to go into an empty house. And two of them look like dockside rogues.”
    â€œThat they do,” agreed Lorelei, tense with fear for the man she knew in her heart was a captive inside that house. Was she too late to help him? “I was just thinking the same.”
    â€œYou might be right about this house, but we cannot go in there now.”
    â€œNo. We will just watch for now and try to slip in there tonight.”
    â€œAre you certain that will be safe?” asked Cyrus.
    â€œAs certain as I can be,” she replied. “There is nothing here to show that these men reside here. As Peter and I have said, there is not one servant, no fire to welcome them, and they have left their mounts saddled.”
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    Cyrus nodded. “So if they are here tonight when we return we will know, for we will see their horses. Are we waiting now to see if they leave?”
    Lorelei nodded, her gaze fixed upon the house and her stomach clenching with fear. The men were here only to hurt Sir Argus and the knowledge churned her insides. Time crawled by as she waited for