Falling for the Pirate Read Online Free PDF Page A

One he could own.
    Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out the necklace, the one she’d been reaching for but hadn’t found. He’d taken it off her while she slept.
    The locket was plain with shallow floral engraving and a cheap rusted hinge. The pictures inside were too blurry to really make out. They must have become wet when she fell in. But he could tell there was a woman on one side and a man on the other. A married couple?
    Did she have a husband out there looking for her?
    For reasons he didn’t want to examine, he decided no. She was not married. What kind of husband would let his wife go off on a foolhardy mission? These were other people. Perhaps her and a brother. Or her parents. Or perhaps she had stolen the necklace and its portraits meant nothing to her.
    He squinted at the pictures, trying to make out the features, and almost ran into the housekeeper on his way into the kitchen.
    Mrs. Wheaton had been his first hire, as either servant or employee. In the five years since, she had been efficient, loyal, and only spoken a handful of words to him.
    She was silent now, expectant.
    He shoved the locket back into his pocket. “Have the cook prepare a supper tray for the guest upstairs.” He added, “Please.”
    “Of course, sir.”
    “Something fortifying, I should think, for someone recovering. But easy on the stomach. What would that be?”
    She paused, and he got the sense she was stretching herself, reluctant to add another word to their limited exchange.
    “Broth, sir?”
    “Yes. Right.” Would she like a broth? Would she prefer a particular kind of broth?
    He was being ridiculous. He shouldn’t care what kind of broth a thief preferred. He didn’t care.
    Julian. He scoffed. It would serve her right if he continued to call her that. In fact— “Make it porridge,” he ordered. “And no sugar.”
    Porridge was both fortifying and easy on the stomach. And tasteless. Problem solved.
    “Of course, sir.”
    He thought he heard something almost sardonic in her voice that time, but when he narrowed his gaze, she stared back as placid as ever. Maybe it wasn’t such a good thing she’d worked here so long. She knew him too well.
    Nate was unsurprised to find a visitor in his study. “Sinclair,” he said in greeting.
    “Nate.” Adrian already had a cup of tea. He had managed to charm the stoic Mrs. Wheaton into sending him a tray and keeping his presence a secret. Hardly surprising. Adrian Mallory, Duke of Sinclair, could charm anyone into anything.
    “I invoked your name as a threat,” Nate said, taking a seat behind his desk. “Said I’d hand her over to you.”
    “Did you?” Adrian asked mildly, stirring his tea. Damn his patience.
    “The thief isn’t talking.”
    “The female thief.”
    Apparently, Mrs. Wheaton had told him everything.
    “What does it matter what gender she is? She broke into the Hargate offices. She was looking for something.” He had sent Adrian the note yesterday, which meant it had only been a matter of time until he appeared. Sinclair never called at the door like a regular person. But then, he wasn’t a regular person.
    Adrian studied him with unnerving acuity. “Would you like me to?”
    “To what?”
    “To have a go at the female thief? Torture, persuasion. That sort of thing.”
    “Of course not,” Nate snapped. Then paused. Wasn’t that what he had wanted? To get information from the thief, then to be rid of her? Still, not through Adrian. Nate wasn’t sure why that mattered, but it did. “I can handle a girl.”
    “I’m sure you can,” Adrian said.
    Nate sent him a cross look. “Did you come because you were worried, or do you just enjoy insulting me?”
    “A little of both, to be certain.”
    “You think Hargate sent her.”
    “I haven’t spoken to her. But you think Hargate sent her, which means the stakes are raised. I agreed to let you take over his company. I agreed that you could ruin him. But I won’t let that quest ruin you, as