After the Kiss Read Online Free PDF Page B

Waring leaned over the wooden gate of the box stall and absently fed carrots to his mount. Distraction was never safe, even away from legally declared wars and uniformed enemies, but this evening he couldn’t help himself. Achilles nickered as one of the stableboys passed the open doors, a mare in tow. “Sorry, old fellow,” Sullivan murmured, rubbing the black’s nose, “she’s not for you.”
    “Mr. Waring?”
    He shook himself. “Yes, Samuel?”
    The groom shuffled his feet. “Sir, I put the sacks of feed up in the loft, and the pasture troughs are full. If you—”
    “Off with you, then.” Sullivan glanced over his shoulder at the shorter man. “Well done with the mares today. McCray has your pay; you’ll find an extra five quid there. And enjoy your holiday in Bristol.”
    The groom grinned. “Thank you, sir. My boys are beside themselves to see their grandmum again. I’ll be back here bright and early next Tuesday.”
    “I know you will be. Good night.”
    “Good night, Mr. Waring.” With a half salute, Samuel headed out the back door.
    “So now you’re giving employees bonuses and time to visit their relations?” Bramwell Johns drawled from the double doors at the front of the large stable. “People will begin to think you’re…pleasant.”
    “Only until they come to know me.” Declining to admit that he had a soft spot in his heart for families who actually liked one another, Sullivan handed over a last carrot to Achilles and moved away from the stall. “I thought you were going to seduce some chit or other tonight.”
    “Yes, I already did. Then I got bored. It was lamentably easy, really. Morality these days truly gives me pause.”
    Sullivan grinned. “No, it doesn’t. In fact, I’ve a suspicion that you’re the major cause of Society’s decay.” Walking past his friend to the main entrance, he pulled the double doors closed and latched them from the inside.
    “I certainly hope so. I’ve put enough effort into it.”
    “Why are you here, Bram?”
    “I was worried about you, Sully. How was your afternoon with Phillip Chalsey and the chit you kissed?”
    “Say that a bit louder, why don’t you?” Sullivan grunted, lifting a lantern off a hook and heading for the back door. With Samuel gone for the next week, Vincent would be sleeping alone in the stable, and he stepped aside as the small man, a former Derby jockey, entered. “You’re all set, I presume?”
    “Aye, Mr. Waring. Don’t worry about a thing.”
    He couldn’t help worrying. Even with two grooms makingrounds all night they’d come close to losing stock from time to time—along with the reputation for having the region’s finest horses came the risk that someone else would want to possess them. Funny, he supposed, that a thief worried about thieves. “Even so,” he said aloud, “I’ll take a turn or two about the place tonight. So don’t shoot until you’re certain it’s not me.”
    Vincent grinned, tugging on his hat. “I’ll do my best, sir.”
    “Does this mean you’re not going to Jezebel’s with me?” Bram asked, following him across the large stable yard toward his small two-story cottage.
    “I thought you had a ball or something tonight.”
    “Almack’s,” his friend returned, in a tone that said that one word should explain everything.
    “Tell me again why you don’t have any friends of your own station?” Sullivan asked, stripping off his rough work jacket as they entered the cottage and hanging it on a peg beside the door.
    “They’re all jealous of my good looks and keen wit. You, however, know the true, inner me.”
    Sullivan shook his head. “The only inner you I’ve seen is when you got sliced on the arm. It’s red.”
    “Precisely. As are your innards. You see, we have so much in common.”
    Obviously Bramwell was bored this evening, and just as obviously Sullivan wouldn’t have a moment of peace until he gave in. “Buy my dinner, and I’ll go with you,” he said,