By Love Undone Read Online Free PDF Page A

heard him as she clumped down the back stairs. The servants at Langley seemed to be a rather odd bunch altogether. He looked back at Miss Willits, to find her glaring at him.
    She swiftly wiped the look from her face and curtsied politely. “Thank you, my lord.”
    Before she could flee again, he stepped forward.” My uncle said you would show me where the account ledgers are, Miss Willits,” he suggested. “Do you have a moment to do so?”
    “I thought, my lord, that you said you weren’t lost.”
    “I know exactly where I am. I simply don’t know where my uncle keeps his ledgers these days.”
    “Very well, my lord,” she answered smoothly, turning with a swirl of her pink muslin skirt. She stopped atthe head of the stairs, and pointedly faced him again. “If you please, this way, my lord.”
    Quin shook his head and followed her down the stairs. “How long have you been my uncle’s companion, Miss Willits?”
    She stopped so suddenly he nearly ran into her. Quin flung out a hand to catch his balance as she whirled on the steep stairs to face him. His fingers lightly grazed her cheek, and she flinched toward the railing. She took a quick breath and smoothed her skirt. “Four years, my lord.”
    Before he could apologize, or even open his mouth, she’d reversed direction and begun descending the stairs again. Torn between alarm and amusement, Quin continued after her. “Four years?” he repeated. “How old are you, Miss Willits?”
    As she halted and spun to face him again, he grabbed onto the railing and stepped back. “I am twenty-three, my lord.” Her polite tone didn’t nearly hide the furious glint in her eyes.
    Before she could begin spinning about again, Quin put a hand on her arm. “If you please, Miss—”
    She blanched and jerked away. “Don’t—”
    Genuine dismay touched her eyes. Swiftly he lowered his hand, curiosity and surprise blazing through him as the color left her delicate, high-boned cheeks. Maddie Willits was primmer than any mistress he’d ever seen. “Of course. My apologies. I wished only to know whether you perform this unusual stairwell dance for all of Langley’s guests.”
    She pinched her lips together before she lifted her chin in defiance again. “Only with those who order me to face them when I speak, my lord.”
    “I did not order you…well, perhaps I did, but I certainly didn’t mean you should risk breaking your neck every time I ask you a question.”
    She eyed him expectantly for a moment. “Forgive me, my lord,” she finally ventured, “but I am now at a loss as to how to proceed.”
    Quin stopped his frown before it could more than half form, plagued by the muddy feeling that he’d just lost some sort of odd contest. “Please proceed down the stairs, Miss Willits.”
    “Of course, my lord.”
    Quin followed his escort into a small, tidy office tucked into the far east corner of the manor. Miss Willits went to the desk beneath the double windows and pulled open a drawer, exposing a stack of ledgers.
    “Thank you, Miss Willits. That will do,” he said quickly, stopping her before she could disturb the order of the ledgers and paperwork and render his task even more difficult. “I can manage from here.”
    She froze, her hands tightening around the books. Abruptly she released them, dumping them back into the drawer with a loud thud. This time he was expecting it when she spun to face him, her face a polite mask and her eyes glinting. “Of course, my lord. How presumptuous of me. Pray forgive my ill behavior.”
    “No apology is necessary.” As she walked away, he sat at the desk and pulled out the first of the books.
    “Thank you, my lord.”
    “Have some tea sent in, if you please,” he said, distracted, as he flipped to the first page. His uncle’s hand scrawled haphazardly across the paper, a series of loops and slashes and serrated lines. Quin groaned inwardly. Deciphering the figures would be difficult enough without translating each