Reckless Angel Read Online Free PDF Page A

the attic chamber. He was a big, untidy-looking young man with a shock of red hair and bright green eyes. “Y’are the most ramshackle girl, Harry,” he declared with feeling. “Where did you go? I thought ye safe in the inn.” He noticed her companion for the first time and his face flushed darkly. His hand went to his sword. “What business have you with Mistress Ashby, sir?”
    â€œOh, Will!” wailed Henrietta, dropping onto the bed again as her legs began to wobble anew. “You have betrayed me!”
    â€œBetrayed you!” Completely at a loss, Will stared blankly. “What do you do here with this man?”
    â€œDaniel Drummond,” Daniel said, extending his hand. “I am delighted to make your acquaintance, Master Will. I have heard much about you. But do pray enlighten me further. I cannot believe that Mistress Ashby truly goes by the name of Harry.”
    â€œOh, no, sir, ’tis but a nickname, short for Henrietta,” Will said cheerfully, quite reassured, although he was unsure why, by the manner of one who was so clearly a gentleman and seemed quite in charge of matters. “She is Henrietta Ashby of the Oxfordshire Ashbys. And I am Will Osbert, son of John Osbert, Esquire, of Wheatley in the same county.”
    â€œOh, you are so stupid ,” Henrietta said in disgust.
    Daniel’s lips twitched. It seemed he was about to hear an exchange rather resembling a schoolroom squabble than a lovers’ tiff. He was not disappointed.
    â€œI am not at all stupid,” Will said hotly. “I told ye to stay in the inn, but when I reached there after the battle—and a deal of trouble I had getting there, I mightadd—they said you had been gone since early morning and had left no message. If that is not stupid, I do not know what is.”
    â€œBut I saw you fall on the field,” she said.
    â€œWhat!” The young man gazed in disbelief. “What field?”
    â€œAt Preston. I followed you. I was in disguise anyway, so no one thought me out of place. I looked just like a trooper.” She became inordinately interested in her fingers, plaiting them intricately in her lap. “I thought if you were going to die, then I would rather I die with ye than be forced to return home.”
    â€œYou were at the battle?” Will, in his struggle to grasp this, was aware that he sounded like a child repeating his lesson.
    â€œI was wounded,” she announced with some pride, looking up at him. “Sore wounded, was I not, Sir Daniel?”
    â€œA pike thrust,” he agreed solemnly. “I’d advise you to keep a closer eye on your affianced bride in the future, Master Osbert.”
    â€œOh, Harry, what have you been saying? You know we cannot be wed.” Will punched a clenched fist into the open palm of his other hand. “I have told you so more times than I care to remember. Your father will not consent and so neither will mine. You will have no dowry and I shall be disinherited. What are we to live upon?”
    Daniel felt his relief evaporate. The serendipitous arrival of Master Osbert did not appear to be the salvation he had believed.
    â€œBut d’ye not love me, Will?” Henrietta spoke with painful intensity, her hands gripped tightly in her lap. “We plighted our troth. I would not have followed you else.”
    Will shuffled his feet uncomfortably. “Of course I love you, Harry, but we cannot be wed without money. You had no business running away as you did. You must understand, sir.” He turned in appeal to the silent older man. “She dressed in men’s clothes and ranaway from home without telling me she was going to. She came up with me in London and would not go home.” He ran his hands distractedly through the unruly thatch of red hair. “She never tells me what she is going to do…just like following me to the battle when I had thought her snug in the