On A Cold Christmas Eve Read Online Free PDF Page A

here, thinking it best she not be made aware of that fact just yet.  Heaven help them both if she ever remembered the way he cradled her in his arms, using the warmth of his body to ease the chill from hers.  "You can be returned to your uncle in good health, as innocent as the day you left him."
    Lucy snorted then, unable to help herself, even though it was far from ladylike.  "And that, I am certain, he will be glad of."  She didn't even bother to conceal the derision in her voice.
    "So it is as I suspected then," Adam replied softly, his hand still stroking hers, his eyes filling with the kindness she remembered from the ballrooms.  "Your uncle was complicit, at least to some degree, in my brother's mad scheme, even if he wasn't aware of the particulars.  My men tried to ascertain the truth of it, and while we suspected that to be the case, we could not be certain of it.  Your words, however, prove out our theory."
    With a sigh, Lucy sat up straighter in bed, accepting Adam's help when she couldn't quite manage on her own.  Hang what was proper.  She had just discovered that she'd almost been sold into prostitution, so she decided she could be forgiven for needing a comforting touch, even if it was from an unmarried man.  "Lord Enwright, my uncle abandoned me at the Stuck Pig, stole my reticule with my meager savings and my few remaining jewels, and left me alone to fend for myself as best I could.  I can assure you that he cares not a whit for my safety, let alone my virtue.  I honestly think he would have been pleased had some evil befallen me at the inn."  She paused and then looked him directly in the eye, something she was certain few women of his acquaintance ever did.  "Do you think that a man who can sell his own niece into sexual service really gives a fig about her welfare?"
    "When you put it that way, no."  There was no other answer Adam could give.  She was right.  They were all villains of the highest order, his brother chief among them.  "Very well then.  You shan't be returned to your uncle either.  We shall think on another plan, but that can wait until later."
    She quirked an eyebrow at him, some of her old spunk returning, though she still felt extremely weak and tired.  "It can?"  She didn't know what she had expected when she'd awoken in this bed, but the conversation she'd just had with the duke was certainly not anywhere in her wildest imaginings.
    "Most certainly," he replied with a crisp nod, his earlier softness gone without warning, which she missed immediately.  Now, he was all business, though she was pleased to note that he no longer looked at her with any suspicion.  "My family is arriving as we speak for the annual Christmas celebration, one that will last well into Twelfth Night.  My parents have long passed, but I do have an aunt who is scheduled to arrive shortly before the new year, and my sister, along with her husband and brood of children, are already ensconced in one of the guest wings.  It will all be so very proper if you are a guest here for the season as well.  In fact, I insist upon it."
    When Lucy didn't immediately respond to his offer, he softened again almost immediately, unable to help himself, the desire to protect this woman overpowering him.  It came, he knew, from that dark, secret place inside of himself that he didn't wish to think about, the one that had lain dormant since his parents had died.  "Miss Cavendish, it is because of my miserable family that you are in this situation.  As head of the St. Vincent clan, it is my responsibility to make it right and to keep you safe until such time as we can formulate a plan to deal with the consequences of what Archibald has done."
    Lucy considered her options and found them to be sorely lacking.  Truthfully, she knew she couldn't argue with that logic, not to mention that she truly didn't have another place to go.  She also doubted that Adam St. Vincent would deprive her of meals and call her a