Ravished Read Online Free PDF

Aunt Effie fanned herself with her hand. "Good heavens. I do believe I feel a bit faintish myself. A viscount here in this cottage. Just imagine."
    "I would not be so taken with the notion, if I was ye, Mrs. Ashecombe." Mrs. Stone gave Effie a dark, woman-to-woman look. "He put his hands on Miss Harriet. I saw him. Thank the good Lord I walked into the study just in time."
    "Just in time for what?" Felicity's interest was obviously piqued.
    "Never ye mind, Miss Felicity. Ye be too young to know about that sort o' thing. Just ye be thankful I weren't too late this time."
    "Too late for what?" Felicity demanded.
    Harriet sighed.
    Aunt Effie frowned at her. "What did happen, Harriet, dear? We were not out of tea, or anything terrible like that, were we?"
    "No, we were not out of tea, although I did not think to offer him any," Harriet admitted.
    "You did not offer him tea? A viscount came to call and you did not think to offer him refreshment?" Aunt Effie's expression was one of genuine shock now. "Harriet, whatever am I going to do with you? Have you no social graces at all?"
    "I want to know what happened," Felicity interrupted swiftly. "What is all this about the man putting his hands on you, Harriet?"
    " Nothing happened and nothing at all was going to happen," Harriet snapped. "The man did not put his hands on me." Belatedly she recalled her chin perched on the edge of the viscount's huge fist and the grim look of warning in his tawny eyes. "Well, he may have put a hand on me, but only briefly. Nothing to speak of, I assure you."
    " Harriet . " Felicity was clearly enthralled now. "Do tell us everything."
    But it was Mrs. Stone who responded. "Bold as the devil, he was." Her work-worn hands twisted in the folds of her apron as her eyes glowed with righteous indignation. "Thinks he can get away with anything. The Beast has no shame at all." She sniffed.
    Harriet scowled at the housekeeper. "Mrs. Stone, please do not start crying."
    "I'm sorry, Miss Harriet." Mrs. Stone made another little snuffling noise and wiped her eyes with the hem of her apron. " 'Tis just that seein' him again after all these years brought back so many dreadful memories."
    "What memories?" Felicity asked with avid curiosity.
    "Memories of my beautiful little Miss Deirdre." Mrs. Stone dabbed at her eyes.
    "Who was Deirdre?" Aunt Effie demanded. "Your daughter?"
    Mrs. Stone gulped back tears. "No, she weren't my kin. She was much too fine to be related to the likes of me. She was the Reverend Rushton's one and only child. I looked after her."
    "Rushton." Aunt Effie reflected briefly. "Oh, yes. The previous rector of this parish. The one my dear brother replaced."
    Mrs. Stone nodded. Her narrow mouth trembled. "Miss Deirdre was all the reverend had after her sweet mama died. Miss Deirdre brought joy and sunshine into this house, she did. Until the Beast destroyed her."
    "Beast?" Felicity's expression was similar to the one she wore when she read one of her favorite novels of gothic horror. "You mean Viscount St. Justin? He destroyed Deirdre Rushton? How?"
    "That lecherous monster," Mrs. Stone muttered, dabbing at her eyes again.
    "Gracious." Aunt Effie looked stunned. "The viscount ruined the girl? Really, Mrs. Stone. One can hardly credit such a notion. The man is a gentleman, after all. Heir to an earldom. And she was a rector's daughter."
    "He weren't no gentleman," Mrs. Stone stated.
    Harriet lost patience. She turned on her exasperating housekeeper. "Mrs. Stone, I believe we have had quite enough of your dramatics for one day. You may return to the kitchens."
    Mrs. Stone's watery eyes filled with anguish. " 'Tis true, Miss Harriet. That man killed my little Miss Deirdre just as surely as if he'd pulled the trigger on that pistol himself."
    " Pistol ?" Harriet stared at her.
    There was a moment of shocked silence in the hall. Effie was speechless. Even Felicity seemed unable to phrase another question.
    Harriet's mouth went dry. "Mrs. Stone," she