Nobody's Angel Read Online Free PDF Page B

the likes of Hank Shay and his men were afraid to strike his irons? I am not the absurd one here, I fear!"
    "Nonsense."
    "Nonsense!"
    "Nonsense."
    Her cool stare seemed to drive Greer over the edge. Before Ian realized what the man was about, Greer snatched the rope out of the lady's hand and yanked it hard. Ian's head was jerked forward, the hemp bit deeply into the skin of his neck, and he had to bite back a pained oath.
    "Mr. Greer!"
    Ian's hand shot up to close over the man's fist even before the protest was out of the lady's mouth. His eyes blazed, his fingers tightened, and he knew the momentary urge to bring the bleating fool to his knees with the sheer pressure of his grip. But to humiliate the man publicly would be to create a dangerous enemy, and Ian already had enough of those. For a moment, just a moment, his eyes locked with Greer's. He slowly eased his grip before releasing the man entirely and stepped back.
    "You'll pay for that!" Greer danced with rage. He shook his fist at Ian, who watched him without expression. The man talked a good game, but he was careful to stay out of reach. Ian had known many like him, all loud bluster until put to the test, and then the first ones to hightail it to safety. His eyes narrowed with contempt.
    "I'll have you whipped till you bleed, you insolent bastard! Hell, I'll do it myself, with pleasure! You'll learn to lay hands on your betters at your peril! You won't be so high and mighty when the cat's slicing your back to ribbons!"
    The past eight weeks had rendered Ian sensitive to that particular threat. Rage rose in his throat, bitter as bile. By the skin of his teeth he managed to bite it back, but his eyes glittered ferociously at Greer, causing the man's words to falter.
    "That's quite enough, Mr. Greer! You are making a spectacle of yourself, and us as well, to no good purpose. I will thank you to leave the management of my people to me." The gentle slurring of the lady's words in no way mitigated their bite. She took the rope from Greer's hand, then stepped around him, showing him her back in no uncertain manner. Then the lady looked lip, all the way up, to meet Ian's gaze. Her eyes matched her voice, Ian saw: soft and unexpectedly lovely.
    "You need have no fear," she said. "You will be kindly treated, and you will not be whipped. You may put that concern from your mind."
    "Susannah, I think you should at least give Mr. Greer's caution some thought. This is no three-legged dog or one- eyed cat, but a man." The chit in the pink sunbonnet spoke urgently to his new owner's back. Though the comparison made no sense to Ian, Susannah—like her voice, her name was surprisingly feminine—appeared to understand it without the least trouble. She inclined her head.
    "I'm well aware of that, Sarah Jane. But I am certain that Mr."—she looked down at the papers in her hand, then back up at his face—"Mr. Connelly will do us no harm. Will you, Connelly?"

 
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    For a moment Ian stared at her without answering. The simmering hatred that had grown to be as much a part of him as his arm cooled just the tiniest bit. She was so very naive that he wanted to laugh at her—did she really think that she could trust the word of such as he?—but her eyes were so large and grave that he found himself giving her the answer she sought.
    "No," he said, and slowly shook his head. His voice sounded rusty from long disuse. The timbre of it surprised him.
    She smiled at him then, and he was interested to discover that her face was quite transformed. "There, you see." Her eyes left his to swing around triumphantly to the group behind her.
    " 'Twould be useless to tell you that I think you've done a very bad day's work for yourself, 'tis clear. You are one of God's angels here on earth, Miss Susannah, as we all know. You would not recognize evil if it stood grinning at your right hand. I honor you for that even as I fear your very goodness will cause you to come to grief. But whether