Jade Lee Read Online Free PDF Page A

Yorkshire village, was the worst sin a woman could commit.
    They roundly hated each other and had since the festival so long ago. And yet, three times a week—sometimes more—they would end up at this bend in the creek together and they would converse. Sometimes it was in cold, polite tones. Other times the anger had been a palpable force between them. The words changed, the nights were different, but the meaning was always the same. He thought very little of her, and she hated him for it. It was a deep and abiding hatred because he knew her deepest secret: that she was wild and flawed and not a lady .
    So tonight, on the very night she had resolved to act respectably for the mysterious Mr. Montgomery, he was here to remind her that she was doomed. “Respectable” was something a wild child like her could never be.
    She came quietly to the creek. Most nights she would have run here, flopped down against her tree, and stripped out of her stockings. She loved walking barefoot through the creek, the cool rush of water as delightful as the squish of the mud between her toes. But not tonight. Not when she still had a headache and the heavy weight of all those thoughts about husbands and compromise.
    So she stepped slowly into the area, her eyes finding his shadow immediately. He looked broader somehow tonight. As if his shoulders had thickened over the winter. Or perhaps it was how his head was bowed, and his body slumped against his tree. He was tired, she realized. And no wonder. Building a canal was no easy task.
    He didn’t speak. Not before she did. Never before she did, and some nights his silence had mocked her as he waited to see how long it would take for her to break. She always did, hating the silence between them even more than the disdain. If he was going to be nasty to her, she might as well get it over with, right? And he would be. She would poke him until it happened. Because that’s what they did on these midnight rendezvous.
    She didn’t wait long. She already knew he could out-silence her, so she settled gingerly on her rock and spoke. “You look tired. Is it just the canal or is something else happening?”
    He straightened, turning to look at her. “It’s…” He cut off his words, his whole attitude becoming more alert. “Your head pains you.”
    She blinked, startled. “You can’t possibly know that.”
    He dropped his head back against his tree. “Of course, Miss Josephine.” Spoken with his usual sneer plus a touch of exhaustion.
    She grimaced. Even when she resolved to be a lady, he brought out the worst in her. “It’s nothing,” she said. “Thank you for your concern.” She spoke stiffly because he hadn’t voiced concern at all.
    If this were a typical night, he would bow mockingly to her and withdraw. But apparently this wasn’t typical because he stayed exactly where he was. And five minutes later, he broke the silence first. And that all by itself told her that this was not a typical night.
    “Your father wants the canal done by September. He’s offered me a generous reward if I finish it by then.”
    “September!” she cried. That seemed so soon. When she’d gone to collect the twins all she’d seen was a thicket of trees where there needed to be a track for horses to pull the barges. “Is it possible? Can you get it done by then?”
    “Your father thinks so.”
    Not an answer. “Have I mentioned how irritating it is when you refuse to answer a direct question?”
    He turned to face her and the moonlight spilled across his face. She immediately regretted her harsh words. She could see the lines of weariness in him, as if a great weight hung on every inch of his body. It wasn’t just that his shoulders seemed bowed again, but that his eyes were weary. His normally bright blue eyes seemed dark, and even his dark blond hair seemed flat. His mouth was set in its usual frown—at least when he was around her—but instead of being pinched tight, it seemed to just… be.