More Than a Stranger: A Sealed With a Kiss Novel Read Online Free PDF Page B

met in the early days.”
    As a person who spent half his time living a lie, he knew it was best to stick as close to the truth as possible.
    “When was it, exactly?” Richard asked, the very picture of innocence. “I can’t seem to remember.”
    Oh yes. Clearly he was starting to enjoy himself.
    Benedict opened his mouth to respond, but the distant thunder of an approaching horse gave him pause. Whoever it was, he had Benedict’s undying gratitude. He turned in time to see a lone rider on a very handsome red mount rapidly approaching. Though the man sported gray hair to Richard’s blond and a slightly stockier build, the resemblance was impossible to miss. “Richard, is that your father?”
    “Indeed it is,” he responded, waving hugely at the older man. The marquis returned the gesture, and the siblings hurried forward to greet him.
    Benedict hung back, glad for a second to try to gather his wits. Granville had no idea how indebted Benedict was to him for his timely—and inadvertent—rescue. He took a long, slow pull of air, trying to calm his overworked nerves.
    After all these years—after all those letters—it was nothing short of shocking to see Evie in the flesh. To hear her smooth, clear voice and fleetingly feel her lithe body pressed against his.
    Even toward the end, when she had invaded both his thoughts and his dreams as an ethereal, indistinct beauty, he could have never imagined how lovely she would be in person. All those emotions he had pushed into the far recesses of his mind almost a decade earlier now roared through his body, heating his blood. Her luminous, nearly crystalline blue eyes, her open yet somehow enticing smile—even her slightly tanned skin added to her allure. It was as though the forbidden fruit had been placed before him, perfect in all its untouchable glory.
    Benedict swallowed, cursing his wretched luck.
    Why the hell was she even here? Why wasn’t she in London, batting those long eyelashes at some dandy on the ballroom floor? He started forward, slowly approaching the chattering trio as Richard and his father embraced. Evie laughed beside them, the afternoon sun behind her turning her hair into a golden halo about her head.
    A golden halo? Benedict raked a hand through his hair—he had to get a hold of himself.
    Richard stepped back and beckoned. “Benedict, come meet my father.”
    The implications of the statement hit Benedict anew. Of course Evie’s presence here would mean that the whole blasted family would be there. He forced a grin as he closed the distance between them. Great, now he would be lying to the lot of them. Though he had never met them, Benedict had always respected them. Richard and Evie had spoken of them often and with great fondness, and it was almost as if Benedict already knew them. They were exactly the sort of family he had dreamed of during the loneliest times of his childhood, when his own father had ignored him in favor of his hunting dogs and his mother had so thoroughly disliked him. And though his brother had once been a decent-enough companion when they were in leading strings, that all changed when he went away to school and was surrounded by those who pandered to the future earl.
    After the introductions, the marquis beamed in welcome. “So good of you to join Richard for a visit, Mr. Benedict. I do hope you will feel at home.”
    Granville was every bit as jovial and welcoming as Benedict had always pictured him to be. He was a good, respectable man who did not deserve to be deceived in his own home.
    “Thank you, my lord. It’s so good of you to have me.”
    Though he smiled and conversed easily with others, complimenting the grounds and admiring the marquis’s new mount, unease turned Benedict’s stomach. He hated concealing the truth from them, but what could he do? He had to figure out a way to leave as soon as possible. He had no clue where else he could go, but it wouldn’t be right to stay. As soon as he came up with a