His Lady Spy (The Star Elite Series) Read Online Free PDF

many hours sitting in branches, watching people go about their daily lives. More often than not, he had gone undetected and, as he had grown older and had joined the Star Elite, on more than one occasion, he had been forced to seek shelter in height. But there was no possibility of Portia getting up there in her skirts. Even if he ignored the fact that she was a lady, he knew that females were less adept at climbing, even if she had been willing to go with him without a fight.
    As they rounded the corner, for one brief moment they were out of sight of both Manton and the people heading toward them. Archie took his moment. Lunging forward he slammed one rough hand over Portia’s mouth and, with one thickly muscled arm held tight across her waist, lifted her clear off the ground. Wincing, he cursed fluidly when one booted heel caught his shin and she began to struggle.
    “Keep quiet, or you are going to get us both killed,” Archie snapped into her ear, as they crashed through a gap in the hedgerow to the side of them. When she ignored him and continued to fight, he rolled his eyes, making no attempt to smother a curse as her booted foot landed with far too much accuracy on his shin.
    “For God’s sakes, I’m trying to save you,” he snarled, dragging her resolutely toward the long row of stables lying at the far corner of the field. Archie glanced at the churchyard that ran adjacent to the rear of the stables but immediately dismissed the possibility of dragging Portia to the church, and getting them there alive. He could only hope that her sister remained inside the church, and the gunmen chose not to search the place of worship.
    Portia didn’t know which she was fighting more, the man behind her , or the wild panic that threatened to overwhelm her. Fear warred with the shocking realisation that she had never been this close to a man before. With her back pressed as tightly as possible to this unknown stranger’s chest, she could feel every muscle ripple and twitch as he carried her effortlessly toward the stables. Twisting her head this way and that, she struggled to catch her breath at the speed and agility he was able to move them both across the roughly ploughed field. She was about to wrench her head away and scream loudly when she caught sight of two heads running down the lane on the opposite side of the hedge. Something inside her warned her that if she didn’t do as this man told her to, they would face certain death.
    The sight of the man in the woods stumbling backward and glancing down at the gaping hole in his chest was something she would never forget. The horror of it was enough to keep her quiet. She had no idea who the man behind her was, or where he had come from, but she had no choice other than to do what he asked her to do.
    Her thought s flitted around so randomly that she struggled to make sense of the confusion. Why had the man been killed? What had he done? Who was the murderer? Was he local? Who was the man behind her? Where had he come from? She was almost certain that she had never seen either man before, but couldn’t be entirely positive. Was the man carrying her toward the stables with such determination one of them, taking her to her death? She eyed the stables as they loomed almost menacingly before her. Was that to be where she met her end? She had so much in life that she wanted to do yet, she couldn’t die this early.
    She stumbled upon a particularly deep rut in the soil, almost tripping them both over. With a soft curse Archie cast a quick look behind them an d swept her high into his arms. Within seconds they were inside the stable with the door firmly closed. Once there, Archie deposited her carefully onto her feet and drew her into the darkest corner of the narrow room.
    “Keep quiet,” Archie growled as though Portia really had any choice. The hardened warrior within him was tuned to any sign of movement coming from outside the stable door, but even he was struggling to