The Husband Hunt Read Free Page A

or later," she said worriedly. "You know James will trace me here, if he hasn't already. I could swear we were being followed in Carlisle."
    "Perhaps."
    "I do not wish to deceive my new relations."
    "Just leave everything to me, lass. I got you here sale and sound, did I not?"
    "That remains to be seen," she said, staring past him.
    Her attention had been diverted by the black-haired man in evening dress who strode with authority across the lawn. There was arrogance in the set of his broad shoulders, and even though she could not yet see his face, she imagined it to be a study in the unyielding Sassenach nature, a lord who lived to conquer and crush anyone who dared to cross his path. As she had done.
    "What the devil has happened here?" he demanded.
    She shivered in reaction to the imperious depth of his voice, which he had scarcely raised for effect. It was restrained and wonderful, low-pitched and full of power, like thunder breaking above the moor. Even Thomas seemed to stand in awe.
    The gardener said, "It was all a misunderstanding, my lord. No harm done."
    "Misunderstanding?" The owner of the impressive voice glanced at Catriona, his tone registering frank suspicion. "I thought you had caught the housebreakers. Did I or did I not hear a shot?"
    He had reached her now. He was tall enough that she had to step back to examine his face, and even then she could not decide exactly what lay beneath the composition of shadows and chiseled angles. Perhaps she was better off not knowing. His eyes were iron-gray, cool as mist; the only hint of softness in his features was his wide, sensual mouth, and even that was overpowered by the harsh symmetry of his bone structure.
    "Well," he said, circling the silent group with his hands clasped behind his back. "Have we all been struck dumb by lightning? Is anyone going to answer me?"
    No one spoke.
    Catriona studied Thomas from the corner of her eye, but he, too, seemed to have turned to stone. "It was I," she said at last, her voice insubstantial in the silence. "I shot into the air to summon my servant."
    "You—and
who
are
you?"
He turned on his heel to regard her.
    Their eyes locked, and for a moment she felt tempted to throw herself at his mercy and tell him the truth. But there wasn't a trace of understanding that she could discern in his unyielding gray eyes, and she was spared the humiliation of such a melodramatic gesture by Thomas, who had finally gathered his wits.
    "Look at her carefully, my lord. Do ye no see a resemblance?"
    The man stared at her until color mounted in her cheeks.
    Her hair was tawny red, abundantly thick and curly, a perfect foil for those soft golden-green eyes and finely drawn features. She smelled faintly of—it was a nice smell, actually—herbs and flowers and earthy things. Her clothes certainly weren't impressive—a blue woolen dress beneath some sort of purple-gray plaid that women probably wore in the north. He might have labeled her an attractive female had she not gazed back at him with that challenging stare that brought out a rather beastly impulse in him to rattle her composure.
    "What is the ragamuffin supposed to resemble?" he asked with a dismissive shrug. "And why are there armed intruders in my garden?"
    Catriona glanced at the gardener, expecting him to explain exactly what had happened, but he merely hung his head in silence, clearly intimidated by his master's wrath.
    "I think that this is a matter for her ladyship's ears alone," Thomas said cryptically.
    The man blinked in amazement. "Are you referring to
my
sister?"
    "Aye, my lord. Lady Deering, that's who we've come to see."
    "Whom," Catriona whispered, nudging him in the side.
    Thomas looked blank. "What?"
    "Whom
we've come to see."
    "Mercy," he said with a shrug of impatience. "Does it matter?"
    The viscount snorted. "I'm not taking either of you anywhere near her ladyship. Besides, you've come too late. The gypsies were here last summer with their lurid claims that they could