Enticing the Earl Read Online Free PDF

his horse forward when all he wanted to do was run from the place. As he climbed down from his horse, his hands fisted and a bead of sweat rolled down his back.
    “Come on,” North said as he trudged into the house.
    Simon entered the small cottage and looked around. There was a small table with a few dishes on it. Next to the fireplace were two worn chairs that looked as if they had been in that spot for a hundred years. A layer of dust covered the chairs like a blanket.
    “I don’t see anything personal here,” North commented as he rummaged through a drawer.
    Simon walked into the bedroom and stared at the bed. He closed his eyes and images of her making love with that monster flooded his mind. Waves of jealousy overcame him until he had to turn away from the room.
    “Did you find anything in the bedroom?” North asked.
    “No.”
    North nodded. “I will investigate the bedroom. Why don’t you wait outside?”
    “Very well.”
    Simon strode out of the house and then inhaled deeply. This shouldn’t distress him as it did. Mia obviously did not know how he felt about her. He walked around the structure and found nothing that indicated anyone lived here. Hearing footsteps, he turned around and headed toward the front of the house. “Did you find anything?”
    North shook his head. “Honestly, I don’t believe Davies lived here.”
    “I don’t either. Miss Featherstone must have believed he did but the obvious answer is Davies used this place strictly for their liaisons.”
    “Do you think he’s married?”
    “It’s possible. That would explain why he met her here and why no one in town knows of him.” They walked back to their horses. Simon untied the reins from the tree. “But he couldn’t be from too far or they wouldn’t be able to meet often.”
    “How often did they meet?”
    “I don’t know.” Nor did he want to know. But he would ask her later. It pained him enough to think of her with another man. But he could understand it if they loved each other. He assumed she must have thought herself infatuated with him. If she discovered Davies was married, she might be devastated.
    The last thing he wanted to do was to hurt her. But she deserved to learn the truth about the man she was in love with. If it put Davies in an even worse light in her eyes, all the better.

Chapter 5
    M ia spent the entire next day reading in bed and becoming dreadfully bored. Hart had been busy all day with the estate, not allowing him much time to visit. Her mother could only stay a few minutes because one of Middleton’s tenants needed her. But today would be different.
    She was determined to stop feeling sorry for herself and get out of the earl’s house. After three days in bed, she had to get back to her work of healing others. With her sister off chasing Middleton’s brother in London, her mother was trying to manage the tenants on both estates. Her mother couldn’t do that alone.
    As she walked toward the linen press, her rib ached but she attempted to ignore the pain. The binding on her rib was so tight so she shouldn’t do any damage.
    The door to her room opened and her mother strode in. “What exactly do you think you’re doing?”
    “Leaving.” Mia opened the linen press doors. “I have been here for three days and I am ready to get back home.”
    “Get back in that bed this minute. You are going nowhere.”
    “Mother, you have the earl’s tenants and Viscount Middleton’s tenants to take care of. It’s too much.” Mia pulled out the cornflower muslin dress her mother had left yesterday.
    “I did it for years before Tia took over.”
    “But you were—”
    “Do not say, I was younger then,” her mother interrupted indigently. “I am only forty-five. I think I still have a few good years left in me.”
    “Of course you do.” She walked back toward the bed and placed the dress on it. “Please help me dress.”
    “No. Back in bed now or I will get Hart up here to convince you.”
    Mia