On a Long Ago Night Read Online Free PDF Page B

Arabic robes, the scimitar in his
    sash, and his command of one of the corsair galleys, she
    did not find him exotic. She did find him dangerous.
    He put his strong, broad-palmed seaman's hands on
    her shoulders.
    She didn't flinch, but her legs grew shaky, a shudder
    passed through her, and a wild, heart-quickening heat
    spread through her. She could tell that he registered her
    reaction by the way his honey gold eyes lit with
    amusement. Despite humiliation she refused to drop her
    gaze from his. "You seem to be touching me, again, pig,"
    she told him.
    "Indeed, I am," he replied. "It is most pleasant.
    However…" He took a step back and turned to a nearby
    table. When he turned back he held something in his
    hands.
    She gasped and stepped back fearfully as he
    approached. She didn't have time to turn her head when
    he lifted his hands, but she closed her eyes. "Don't—!"
    "Better?" he asked, and stepped back again.
    She blinked, recognizing the familiar weight resting
    on her cheeks and her ears. When she opened her eyes
    she could see her adversary clearly.
    "They were found when your cabin was searched,"
    he told her.
    "Oh." She blinked again as the details that had been
    a blur before came into vivid clarity. Good gracious, but
    the smirking fiend was handsome! She lifted her head to
    as haughty an angle as she could manage, but still
    couldn't stop herself from saying, "Thank you." She
    added, "Captain," for courtesy and formality's sake.
    He nodded at her acknowledging his authority at
    least in this small way. "I would be tempted to bite, too, if
    I were half-blind. Now, let us begin where we left off on
    your ship, before I was called away to finish the battle.
    Tell me your name, fox-hair. Where will we be sending
    the ransom request? For your sake I hope your father is a
    wealthy merchant."
    If he meant to frighten her, he certainly succeeded.
    His chilling words also reminded her of the danger her
    beloved was in if these Barbary animals learned who he
    truly was. That her father could indeed pay a king's
    ransom — or at least a duke's—for her return would do
    nothing to help Derrick. The corsairs had spies in the
    ports of the Mediterranean; it would be known that the
    Scourge of Algiers was betrothed to the daughter of the
    Duke of Pyneham. If she admitted her identity, they would
    know who Derrick was. He would be tortured and killed.
    She could not think of her own comfort and safety, when
    the man she loved was in such grave danger .
    So she answered the corsair's question with the
    truth, but not a truth that would save her. She did it for
    Derrick.

    "I should have let them execute him," she muttered now,
    as she held the letter out toward her father. How could
    anyone be so young and romantically foolish as she'd
    been in those days? "Will you please stop pacing and talk
    to me, Father?" she asked. "This is important."
    He pointed an accusing finger at her. "If I am
    agitated, whose fault is that?"
    "Mine," she answered promptly. She shook the
    paper at him. "Will you please read this?"
    "I didn't send for you to read any excuses you might
    have jotted down, mistress scholar. The viscount and I
    have been friends for years. I cannot believe that you
    would insult him and his son in such a cruel fashion. You,
    Honoria. You of all people, who know what it is like to
    be whispered about and falsely accused. After the debacle
    with Captain Russell—"
    "That's what I'm talking about," Honoria persisted.
    She waved the much-wrinkled paper before him again.
    "Derrick." She nearly choked from making herself speak
    the name, that was how much it still hurt. "Captain
    Russell." The formality came easier—of course.
    Formality and propriety were the only armor she had. She
    wrapped herself in her defense now and went on with
    precise clarity. "Captain Russell wrote me this letter,
    Your Grace."
    Her father finally snatched the letter from her.
    Honoria stepped back and breathed a sigh of relief as he
    quickly