Lady Vixen Read Online Free PDF Page A

someone else joined the first person in the stable. Nicole heard a soft
mutter, a gasp of laughter, and then silence. Curious, she peered round the edge
of the stall and stood transfixed at the sight of Edward, his breeches undone,
sprawled in a pile of soft hay with Ellen, the kitchen maid. Edward's hands
disappeared under Ellen's skirts and Nicole blinked, unable to believe what she
was seeing.
    "Oh,
Master Edward, whatever would Miss Nicole think if she could see you now?"
teased Ellen, her thighs spreading before Nicole's horrified gaze as Edward lay
on top of her. Nicole was not so young that she didn't know what they were
doing, and sick with disgust she turned away from the sight.
    Edward
gave an audible grunt, muttering thickly, "Little Nicole will do as she's
damn well told."
    Nicole
tasted bile rising in her throat, and for a second she was terrified that she
would be sick. But she fought back the wave of sickness, and with her eyes
closed, her mind blank, she waited for them to finish their sordid little act.
After what seemed an eternity, she thought she heard them rising to their feet
and then Edward said, "Tonight, you'll come to my room?"
    Ellen's
murmur was lost to Nicole and for that she was thankful. She had heard enough,
she didn't want to hear any more. She stayed there, frozen for several minutes
after they had departed, and then driven like some vixen before the hounds, she
stumbled and ran in the direction of the woods that grew beyond the stables.
Blindly she found her way to the deserted summer pavilion that had become her
favorite retreat.
    The
pavilion wasn't on Ashford land, but belonged to their nearest neighbor, Baron
Saxon. It had always held a beckoning attraction for Nicole, and lately she
found solace in creeping like an intruder into the attic of the building to
daydream her woes away. The pavilion was associated with happier times, times
when she had been very young and there had been a great deal of visiting
between the Ashfords and the Saxons that brought her to it.
    The
pavilion had fallen into disrepair over the years, the once soft green couches
and lounges with their faded scarlet cushions were dull, the finish cracked and
peeling. The building itself was no longer a bright cheerful yellow, but a sad,
depressing muddy color that gave little clue to its past charm.
    Years
before, she and Giles had discovered the small attic, which in the past had
been used for winter storage. The twins had instantly made it their secret
place—a place where no one bothered them, a place where together they would lie
on the floor, arms folded under their heads, and stare through the hole in the
roof at the blue sky, sharing small secrets and dreaming out loud. But that was
in the past, Nicole thought sadly, as she slowly climbed up into the attic.
    The
events of today had only clarified the misery she felt when she viewed the
future. No longer could she tell herself that things would right themselves.
Obviously they would not. The Markhams firmly believed that her fortune and her
life were theirs to dispose of as they wished. But she was not going to let it
happen, she vowed grimly, the spirit and determination that had always been
hers wakening and stirring from its long sleep.
    What
was she to do? she wondered dismally. She would not fall in with the Markham's
plans! Edward, she decided dispassionately, was revolting. Fastidiously her
straight little nose wrinkled with distaste as she remembered the faint sounds
that had drifted from the shifting bodies under the hay—Edward was not going to
do that to her!
    Resolved
upon that point, she felt somewhat better. But knowing that unless the fates
were kind or she took fate into her own slender hands she was doomed to wed
Edward, she seriously considered escape. Somehow she would remove herself from
their greedy clutches.
    With
half-hearted enthusiasm she began to dwell upon the methods she could use to
accomplish this, and because thirteen is very young