Ondine Read Online Free PDF Page A

gave Ondine a detailed description of the men’s faces, and told her to tell that to the Duke as well.
    â€˜One of them was also missing the top half of his index finger,’ Ondine relayed with due diligence.
    â€˜Aye, probably picking his nose when someone punched him in the face,’ Shambles whispered.
    That bit did not bear repeating. Ondine needed all her strength to bite her tongue and stop the bubblinglaugh in her throat from escaping. It didn’t take Psychic Summercamp lessons to know the Duke would not appreciate comedy at this point. Not when people wanted to kill him in the morning. With an audience and everything.
    â€˜Hmm,’ the Duke said after thinking some more. ‘Step closer.’
    The sentry allowed them to take six paces before stopping them once again. They were closer, but far from intimate.
    â€˜You came upon this plot how?’ the Duke asked.
    Ondine repeated everything Shambles told her. ‘I was serving a table nearby, and overheard some of their conversation. I came back and cleared another table so I could keep listening.’
    For a while the Duke stopped stroking his goatee and pondered the information, as was his right. He’d just been delivered a huge shock. He was entitled to paranoia. This time somebody really was out to get him. He was well within his rights to pause and think.
    After a few more moments of thought, in which Ondine shifted her weight from her left leg to her rightand back again, the Duke motioned to the sentry to let them get even closer. Another six steps. They were about three metres apart.
    â€˜How old are you, child?’
    â€˜
Say you’re eighteen, say you’re eighteen
,’ Shambles whispered furiously from behind her ear. The ferret was smart to remind her, because if she told the truth, the Duke might ask questions about underage girls serving alcohol. A fifteen-year-old serving in a pub? Not good at all.
    â€˜I’m nineteen, Your Grace,’ Ondine said, figuring if she had to lie, she might as well make it a good one. ‘And I think I’d like to stay nineteen for a long while to come.’
    A smile split the Duke’s face. ‘I understand. My dear wife has been thirty-four for many years now.’
    Ondine dared not look at her father, in case he became confused and gave the game away. To his credit, he started making excuses about getting back to the hotel, lest the patrons take advantage of reduced staff numbers. The Duke had other ideas. He wanted more information, and it was clear from his expressionthat he wouldn’t let them cross back over the threshold until he had it.
    The sound of footsteps caught their attention. It came from the top of the curved timber staircase to their right. The conversation stopped.
    An embarrassing heat crept up Ondine’s neck and face as she looked at the handsome owner of the footsteps, with his tousled dark blond hair and deep brown eyes.
    â€˜Lord Vincent.’ Josef gave a diplomatic nod of his head, while at the same time his hand reached towards Ondine’s. ‘We will not trouble your father a moment longer. Come along, Ondine, good girl.’
    â€˜On the contrary. You’re no trouble,’ the Duke said.
    But Ondine’s father had other concerns. Naturally, he’d know the name of the Duke’s son – his paternal radar knew the identity of every bachelor in the immediate three counties. Despite what her mother had said earlier in her father’s defence, Ondine found it really hard to see things through her da’s eyes. OK, a lot of men were drunks, but not all the men who came to the pub got roaring drunk, and not every man inthe world spent time in pubs. Was he ever going to see things that way, or was he stuck in the Middle Ages?
    Ondine wasn’t looking at the master of the house any more, she could only look at the son, while her pulse started beating just that naughtily bit faster in her ears. He looked