A Guardians Angel Read Online Free PDF Page B

continued, “No doubt, by this time, Oslington has filled your head with all kinds of pap about me.”
    “You flatter yourself, my lord,” she answered. Tilting her parasol, she watched his face tighten into stern lines as she added, “His Grace has said nothing of you in my hearing.”
    “And beyond it?”
    She heard a muffled laugh and tensed. Not only was he exhorting a child to disobey, he was teaching Master Thomas to be disrespectful of his guardian. She must put a halt to this posthaste. “Master Thomas, I have asked you to return to the Court. Please do so.”
    The lad hesitated, then glanced at Lord Harrington. Angela’s hand clenched on the parasol. No matter what the viscount thought of his neighbor, he must realize that the duke expected that his wards would obey his rules.
    “Go along, lad,” the viscount said, but his eyes refused to release Angela’s gaze. “I wish to speak to Miss Needham now. There will be other days we can spend in the meadows.”
    “There will be no more,” Angela said as Master Thomas walked past her, his head down, his whole pose filled with disgust. “His Grace wishes to put an end to Master Thomas’s association with you. The duke shall not be half pleased to discover Master Thomas has gainsaid his orders.”
    “And that is that?” Lord Harrington demanded, the heat in his voice matching the fierce fire in his eyes. “He has trained you quickly if you fall in line like one of his sepoys. I had thought you to be a woman of some strength of will.”
    “It is not my place to countermand the duke’s rules for his wards. I am sure His Grace has a reason for his rules.”
    Lord Harrington held out his arm. “I am sure, too.”
    “Then—”
    “Shall we discuss this while we walk?”
    “I should not.”
    “Are you subject to his rules as well?”
    Angela glanced at the huge house beyond the stone walls as guilt flooded over her. “I should be spending time with Miss Sutton. After all, that is why I am here.”
    He drew her hand within his arm, his smile returning. “My dear Miss Needham, if you are here to teach Miss Sutton how to deport herself in the company of Town, you would be wise to be an example for her of how to listen politely to someone who wishes to ask of your welfare. Such as now, when I want nothing but to ask you how you fare after yesterday. May I say you look no worse for the experience, although I must own to missing that smudge of dirt you had on your cheek then. It accented your guinea-gold hair.”
    Angela drew her hand back with a gasp. This man was as unmannered as a conveyancer plying his horrible trade along the road. If Lord Harrington thought he could ply her with compliments in order to convince her to be an ally in whatever battle he was waging against the duke, he was wrong.
    “Come now, Miss Needham,” he continued when she was otherwise silent, “surely you enjoy adulation as much as the rest of us.”
    She hesitated on her answer, and the viscount took her hand again and settled it on his arm. As if she had agreed enthusiastically to his offer, he led her on a lazy stroll along the road. He began to whistle, startling her. The tune was cheerful and jaunty and the perfect tempo for a walk, but she guessed it was his way of keeping her from asking the questions she must. If he thought she could be halted like this from asking those questions, he must be shown how mistaken he was.
    “Lord Harrington, I wish to speak with you of this serious matter,” Angela said.
    “And are you always serious?”
    “Are you ever?” she retorted with abrupt heat.
    Pausing beneath the shade of a large oak, he did not release her arm. His fingers brushed her hand, and she fought to silence her gasp at the unexpected pleasure wafting up her arm. When his lips tilted in a genuine smile, she knew she had not concealed her response to his touch. She was ready to remonstrate with him at his boldness, but her words melted, unspoken, when she was captured