Naughty in Nottinghamshire 02 - The Rogue Returns Read Online Free PDF

loss of his friend a grievous weight.
    Still, if ever he saw James again, he’d plant the bugger a facer.
    Roane could only assume James had been half out of his mind when he moved the gold and left behind this nonsensical riddle. That damnable affair with Janet had been ridiculous—the two of them with cock for brains, and her a woman bent on causing trouble.
    But Janet was long forgotten and James untouchable. Only Helen stood before him. Roane glared at her. She glared back, a look of mutiny on her face.
    “What is he talking about, lips divine?” she asked.
    He tugged harder on his hair. “It was nothing.”
    “It was obviously something .”
    “She was trouble.” Like you. He swallowed the words and held out his hand again. Even said, “Please.”
    She shook her head at him, infuriating woman. She had no idea what she was doing. A treasure map leading to sixteen thousand pounds was not something to bicker over. Aside from the fact the map was left for him , it could prove to be dangerous. Anyone passing by would notice the pockmark of holes in the meadow and know they’d been digging for something.
    They couldn’t stay here.
    A branch snapped and Roane froze. No other unusual sounds presented themselves. Just the rhythm and patter of the forest at dusk.
    He scrubbed a hand over his face. “May I at least look at the map? You can keep hold of it.” He felt like a ten-year-old, squabbling like this.
    Helen inched away, holding the map against her chest like a private love letter. “How do I know you will not try to snatch it from me?”
    “You have my word.”
    “And what good is the word of a scoundrel?”
    “On James’s grave, you have my word.”
    She must have seen the seriousness in his face, for she unrolled the map. “Very well, you may look over my shoulder. But I will hold it.”
    He stood behind her and peered over her shoulder. She smelled like roses, even out here in the dirt. It had been an age since he had last smelled anything so luxurious. So pampered. He forced himself to focus. Small “V” shaped squiggles marched up the paper like a snake. Or like a spine—the Pennines were a spine in the middle of Britain. Perhaps the symbols marked the bevy of caves in the hills? Other sketches seemed like nonsense, though Roane knew James had chosen them with care. The man had been too intelligent for his own good, with a wicked sense of humor.
    “What do you see?” Helen asked.
    Roane debated telling her, but she would never trust him with the map if he refused to share what he knew. “A spine. The Pennines.”
    “He’s buried the gold in the mountains?”
    “It seems that way.”
    “But where?”
    “That’s hard to tell. I suppose the riddle has something to do with it.”
    “However will we find it?” Her voice was quiet, more a thought than a real question.
    “I will find it.” And he would. There wasn’t a question. His entire future depended on his half of the gold.
    She glanced over her shoulder at him. “How?”
    “By looking, of course.”
    She scoffed. “There are hardly any details here. You will search the entire range of the Pennines?”
    “If I have to, yes.” For sixteen thousand pounds he would do that and more. “I will be safe in the forest.”
    “You’re not taking—”
    The metal click of a pistol being cocked split the air. “Stan’ an’ deliver yer money or yer life.”
     

Chapter Four

     
    W HAT? U NBELIEVABLE.
    Roane lunged forward and planted himself between Helen and the gun. No, make that guns. Two men stood at the edge of the trees, each wearing the black half mask of a highwayman. One held a pistol, the other a rifle.
    Anger flared within him, making his muscles tense. Roane’s first instinct was to fight, but he tamped it down. He needed to think straight, to first and foremost keep Helen safe.
    He narrowed his eyes on the men. They appeared simple enough. He’d try to confuse them first. Outtalk them. “The term is ‘Stand and