Beguiled Read Online Free PDF

anything to anyone.
    â€œI’m Alexandra Grayson, a nobody, I assure you. I have told you. I live in a cottage in the woods with several aunts. The Earl of Carlyle and his lady are like godparents to me. They, and others, have seen to my welfare for as long as I can remember.”
    â€œYou—you are Alexandra Grayson?” He still sounded as if he were choking.
    â€œWhat does my name mean to you?” she demanded uneasily, afraid that he had lost his sanity. His hands had tightened into fists at his sides.
    He shook his head, easing his hands open. A second later, he was smiling again, amused once more.
    â€œNothing…it means nothing to me.”
    â€œThen—”
    â€œI had thought you were someone else.”
    He was lying, she thought.
    But she had no time to ponder his reasons, for he reached out a hand to her. She stared at it, swallowing hard, uneasy. He was very tall and strong in the green darkness of the forest. She felt the vibrancy and fire of him, though he was still. She had the strangest feeling that if she moved, leaned against him…
    It would be good…sweet. Exciting.
    So alive.
    She stiffened, lowering her head, clenching her teeth. He was nothing but a common criminal!
    She looked up. He was still staring intently at her.
    â€œCome,” he said at last. “I’ll take you back to the carriage and send you on your way.”

CHAPTER TWO
    T HE CARRIAGE SENT ON ITS WAY , Mark Farrow remained in the road, staring after it.
    â€œMark,” Patrick MacIver said, removing his black silk mask, “we must move, and move quickly. That was the Earl of Carlyle’s carriage. The minute they reach the castle, the earl will be out like a bloodhound.”
    The three friends who rode with him as the highwayman’s band—Patrick MacIver, Geoff Brennan and Thomas Howell—were all staring at him. Mark nodded.
    â€œWe’ll split up,” he agreed. “Geoff, Thomas, take to the western woods. Patrick and I will travel the eastern route. Make sure you stop at the checkpoint and change horses. We’ll do the same. We’ll meet up at O’Flannery’s, as planned.”
    They nodded but didn’t move immediately. “Well,” Thomas said at last, “who was she?”
    â€œAlexandra Grayson,” Mark replied.
    Patrick let out a gasp. “That was her? ”
    â€œQuite attractive,” Thomas said.
    â€œStunning,” Geoff noted.
    â€œUm…rather self-assured,” Patrick noted. Minus his mask—sewn to cover most of his head beneath a hat, Patrick was a blazing and all-too-noticeable redhead.
    â€œInteresting,” Geoff said lightly. The son of Henry Brennan, an esteemed member of the House of Commons, Geoff was hailed among their foursome as a thinking man. Tall and lean, with a surprising amount of strength for his build, he was dark-eyed, dark-haired and often grave.
    Thomas was the opposite. Sandy-haired, hazel-eyed and possessed of a mercurial sense of humor, he was serious only when necessary. At that moment, he burst into laughter. “You, Sir Farrow, are in trouble, I imagine.”
    â€œShall we get out of here, and laugh at whatever situation I might find myself in later?” Mark suggested dryly.
    â€œO’Flannery’s,” Geoff said, and by tacit agreement, they all turned their horses and started on their assigned routes for the City of London.
    Mark and Patrick moved swiftly until they reached the clearing known as Ennisfarn, where the Farrow family had long maintained a hunting lodge. Though the only one guarding the stable there would be Old Walt, the men entered from the rear, quickly dismounted, stowed their cloaks, found their waistcoats and jackets, and unsaddled the horses. New tack was taken from the racks as they readied new mounts, all in haste and silence.
    At last, remounted and on the trail again, their outlaw gear stowed in their saddlebags, Patrick spoke