Elizabeth Thornton Read Online Free PDF Page A

He’s waiting in the library.”
    “His name?” asked Hugh.
    Soames sniffed. “He refused to give his name. He insisted on waiting for you.”
    Curious
, thought Hugh, and paused before opening the door to his library. His caution, he told himself, was out of place. This was Bath, the most tranquil, orderly spot on God’s earth. Nothing ever happened in Bath. It was time he learned to break these ingrained habits.
    He pushed open the door, took one step over the threshold, then either saw or heard something, and in the next instant he lashed out with his balled fist, sending the door flying back on its hinges. He rolled and came upon the balls of his feet. Before the man who was hiding behind the door could recover himself, Hugh launched himself at him and, hooking one leg behind his knee, toppled him to the floor.
    “Hugh!” his assailant cried out as Hugh fell on top of him. “Hugh! It’s me! Alex! Alex Ballard!”
    Hugh’s fist froze in midair. “Alex?” he said incredulously. “Bloody hell! I should crack your head open! You and your practical jokes!”
    When both men got to their feet, they pounded each other on the back and began to laugh. They stopped abruptly when Hugh’s manservant came tearing into the room with a raised poker in his hand.
    “It’s all right, Soames,” said Hugh sheepishly. “Mr. Ballard is a friend. As you see, he’s quite harmless. He just likes to play practical jokes on his friends, that’s all.”
    The poker was slowly lowered, but Soames still looked distrustfully at Hugh’s friend, then he glanced around the library as if to make sure that nothing had been taken. His eyes came back to Hugh. “I shall be in the pantry, sir, if you need anything.”
    When the door closed, Ballard let out a chuckle. “I presume the pantry is within shouting distance, just in case I should decide to murder you?”
    Hugh grinned. “It’s across the hall.”
    He and Alex had served together in Spain, first as soldiers, then in an elite corps that had been handpicked by Colonel Langley, Wellington’s chief of intelligence. They’d worked closely together and had become good friends. When the war ended, Hugh had taken up his old life while Alex had transferred to the foreign office in London.
    “What brings you to Bath?” asked Hugh, indicating that his friend should take one of the armchairs close to the fire. “Or is that a leading question?” He poured outtwo glasses of whiskey and handed one to Alex before taking the chair facing him.
    “My mother-in-law lives in Wells, and Mary and the children are there now. Wells is only a short drive from Bath. So here I am.”
    Mary was Alex’s wife. Hugh had met her once at a reception. There were two small boys, as he remembered. He’d learned more about Alex and his family in the short conversation he’d had with Mary Ballard than he’d learned from Alex in the four years they served together in the elite corps.
    “How are Mary and the children?” he asked.
    “Oh, they are all well. Mary is expecting again. That’s why we’ve made this trip to Wells. You know how it is with women. She wants to be with her mother.”
    Hugh sipped his whiskey. It seemed a strange time of year to travel the roads, especially for a woman who was pregnant. And this seemed a strange hour to come calling, so late in the day. It was dark outside. Alex would have a long drive ahead of him before he got home.
    The blue eyes that were studying Hugh were highly amused. Ballard said, “It’s difficult to break old habits, isn’t it, Hugh—the suspicion, the constant sifting of a man’s words and motives, putting two and two together? So, what have you come up with?”
    “You’re on an assignment,” said Hugh flatly. “This visit to your mother-in-law is a blind to explain your presence in Bath. You think I can help you.” His eyes narrowed as he thought things through. He shook his head. “I hope this doesn’t mean that Langley has sent you to try