My Lord Hercules Read Online Free PDF

it was you.”
    When she didn’t respond, Harry’s gaze
shifted from the path to his companion. Her pretty olive skin was
almost as white as parchment. Miranda’s hazel eyes, a mix of green
and amber, met his, a haunted expression flashing back at him. “You
know the Marquess of Woodsworth?”

 

    If Miranda had been coshed over the
head, she’d have felt less stunned. Not only did Lord Harrison know
the Marquess of Woodsworth, it appeared he knew the blackguard
rather well. She hadn’t even considered that possibility before
now. Lord Harrison seemed so gregarious, so clever – he’d outwitted
her the previous evening, after all – so perfect in nearly every
way. He didn’t seem at all the sort who would fraternize with the
likes of Lord Woodsworth. Had she misjudged the gentleman
completely? Heavens, she couldn’t even trust her own judgment,
apparently.
    “ Of course I know
Woodsworth.” Lord Harrison frowned down at her. “What do you know
of the wastrel?”
    Wastrel? Miranda somehow managed not
to scoff. Was it better or worse that Lord Harrison knew his friend
was a cad? And did it matter one way or the other? For all she
knew, Lord Harrison was a cad too. He did spend his time in the
same awful places Lord Woodsworth did, after all, which was more
disconcerting when one thought about it.
    Since it might only take one look from
her Herculean suitor to melt her heart, Miranda had to be careful
not to let that happen. She only had to look at what had happened
to Tessie to see the danger in falling for the wrong man. Tessie
had fallen completely in love with Woodsworth and now…now, she was
nowhere to be found.
    “ Miranda,” Lord Harrison
interrupted her thoughts. “What do you know of
Woodsworth?”
    Whether or not Lord Harrison was a cad
of the same variety as Woodsworth, he might very well be her best
chance at getting close enough to the marquess to demand he answer
for Tessie. “I only know him by name,” she replied. And reputation,
though she thought better of mentioning that bit. “I should like
very much to make his acquaintance, however.”
    Lord Harrison looked a bit taken
aback, as though she’d insulted him in some fashion. “I hardly
think that’s a good idea,” he grumbled.
    “ Why not?” She touched his
arm and when his green gaze settled on her, Miranda felt it all the
way to her toes. Heavens, it would be only too easy to fall for
him. But that would be such an enormous mistake, one she might not
survive.
    “ He’s not fit company most
of the time.”
    Miranda didn’t care if the
marquess was fit company any of the time, so long as he gave her the answers
she needed. “Will you introduce me to him, Lord
Harrison?”
    “ Absolutely not.”
    Miranda frowned at his lordship. “I
would be forever in your debt.”
    “ You’re already in my debt
for saving your pretty little backside last night.”
    Ha! He’d only made her course more
difficult. “It took me quite a bit of planning on my part to breach
the walls of that club last night. You owe me for ruining my plans.
Arrange an introduction for me to Lord Woodsworth, and we’ll call
it even.”
    A muscle twitched beside Lord
Harrison’s right eye, and his jaw hardened stubbornly. “Stay away
from Woodsworth.”
    He wasn’t her brother. He wasn’t her
father. He couldn’t tell her what to do. Miranda tipped her head up
to better see him. “Or what?”
    “ That’s it,” he growled as
he urged the bays from their path toward a copse of trees at a much
faster clip than they’d traveled thus far.
    Miranda’s breath caught in her throat.
What in the world was he doing? She gaped at him just as he pulled
back on the reins, drawing his phaeton to a halt. She looked around
wondering why in the world he’d stopped here where no one could see
them. Had he lost his mind?
    Lord Harrison hooked the reins in
front of him and then shifted on the bench so she could see more
than just his profile. “You are bound and