Along Came a Rogue Read Online Free PDF Page A

but I’ll be just right inside in the kitchen.” She pointed a long finger at Grey. “If you lay a hand on my lady, be advised, sir, that I keep a drawer full of knives in there, and I know how to use them!”
    Grey’s lips twitched, wanting desperately to laugh at both the bulldog expression on Yardley’s face and the astonishment on Emily’s that her maid would dare threaten a man twice her size. “I have no doubt of that, ma’am,” he answered with forced solemnity.
    With another humph , she spun on her heels and stomped toward the house, with Hedley following behind, his hand clamped over his laughing mouth.
    Not knowing what to expect after the way they’d last parted, Grey slid his eyes to Emily. She stared back in wonder, one hand pressed against her stomach and her face pale, as if she were seeing a ghost. In a way, he supposed, she was.
    “It’s good to see you again, Emily,” he said quietly. Although she wasn’t just Emily or Miss Matteson anymore. She was Mrs. Crenshaw now, a fact that made her seem far older than her twenty-one years. She was no longer the sweet and innocent young woman he remembered who sat for hours in the garden with her sketchbook and pencils, drawing her world. Or the starry-eyed girl who asked him one afternoon if he would teach her how to kiss.
    “Captain Grey,” she forced out, as if it took all her strength to acknowledge him.
    He grimaced. Oh, she wasn’t happy to see him. This was not going to be fun. “You remember me, then?” They’d gotten along well five years ago until he’d lost his mind and kissed her, and he hoped they could again. Otherwise, it was going to be a damnably long ride back to London.
    “Of course I remember you.” Regret flashed in her eyes.
    Her reaction pricked at him. Well, he deserved it, he supposed, for his part in the debacle. “It’s major now, actually.”
    She blinked, puzzled. “Pardon?”
    “I’ve been promoted.” He didn’t know why it mattered, but he felt the undeniable urge to tell her. As if she were still a starry-eyed sixteen-year-old he could impress.
    “Oh.” She looked away, clearly not impressed. “Congratulations.”
    Well, that stung. So the brat was still peeved at him, even after all these years. A very long ride back to London…
    But something else was wrong here. Her pallid face and trembling hands, which she couldn’t keep still, how her eyes darted to look everywhere but into his—with a concerned frown, he reached gently for her shoulder. “Are you all right?”
    She jerked her hand away from her stomach as if burned. Drawing back, she shifted out of his reach. “I’m fine.”
    He stared at her curiously. More than lingering regret and embarrassment over that kiss burned in her sapphire eyes. Something dark lurked there as well, stirring the short hairs on the back of his neck. It was the same look he’d seen on the faces of captured soldiers during the war. He saw fear .
    Concern tightened his chest. “If something’s wrong—”
    “Nothing’s wrong. But I—I think it would be best if you left,” she said frankly, her lips tightening as her face grew pale.
    “Don’t you even want to know why I’m here?” he asked gently, perplexed at the swirling mix of emotions pouring from her. Good Lord, she practically dripped with them.
    For a moment, she said nothing, only staring back grimly, her eyes glistening. Then she lowered her face away as she twisted her skirt in her fingers. “I already know.”
    His brow furrowed. Surely Chatham hadn’t sent another messenger to arrive before he did. “Do you?”
    She nodded jerkily, then swallowed. Hard. “If you’re here, then…” Choking out so softly that he could barely hear her, she whispered, “Thomas is dead.”
    A tear of grief slid down her cheek, and she squeezed her eyes shut.
    The air rushed painfully from his lungs at the sight of her looking so wretched, so utterly devastated. Despite the rift between them, Thomas loved his