Ruined by Moonlight Read Online Free PDF Page B

cravat, shirt, boots—all were missing and he had no recollection of removing them. “It gives me a feeling of helplessness I acknowledge affronts me as a male.”
    “Females experience helplessness quite often,” she said with a hint of asperity. “Perhaps it is retribution for your sins.”
    “Perhaps.” For the first time since he awakened, disoriented and locked in a place he had never seen before, he smiled. She had been perfectly right earlier; he had made no attempt to be anything but marginally civil so far, and she was not only younger, but no doubt did feel quite vulnerable. Quietly, he went on. “But while I have my faults, a disparaging attitude toward women is not one of them.”
    His reassurance might have been a good idea, for she visibly swallowed. “I’ve no doubt you have great admiration for my sex, Lord Andrews, but that is nice to hear.”
    What he might have said next was interrupted by the sound of the bar lifting on the door, the scrape making him straighten out of his negligent pose, every muscle going tense. He was not feeling very charitable toward whoever had orchestrated their imprisonment.
    However, the young boy who entered was certainly not the villain. No more than ten years of age or so, he carried a tray full of covered dishes. Behind him came an elderly man with a carefully balanced salver with two different decanters and crystal glasses.
    Immediately Ran demanded, “Why are we here?”
    He didn’t get so much as a glance in response, and the boy hurriedly set down the tray on the small table. Ran waited a moment while neither of them said anything and then moved purposefully toward the open door.
    “Not so fast. I’d stop if I were you, milord.”
    The pistol leveled in a very businesslike way at his chest did give him pause in the doorway. A swift glance revealed more stone walls and a circular staircase, the ceiling low, going downward outside the room. Ran prudently took measure of the man standing there blocking his exit. The guard had graying whiskers a bit unruly around a pugnacious jaw and his jacket showed some wear at the hem, but the gun was polished to a high sheen. The thickness of the guard’s shoulders and his implacable expression weren’t all that promising, and as efficiently as the kidnapping had gone so far, Ran should have known it was foolish to expect an easy escape.
    “What is it you want?” he asked evenly, still eyeing the gun.
    “Just for you to stay put without a fight, guv. There’s food, drink, and a lovely lady. Sounds like a fine evenin’ to me.”
    “Who hired you? I can pay more.”
    The man just chuckled. “I never tire of you rich toffs trying to best each other…but no, thank you. I’m decent satisfied as it is and not inclined to take me chances.”
    That was some information but certainly not enough. So their abductor was wealthy…though Ran had already come to that conclusion just from the quality of the bedding and the beauty of the stained-glass windows in their intimate little prison.
    “I am Viscount Andrews and the young lady is the daughter of an earl,” he said through his teeth, taking astep forward, gauging the distance. “What the purpose of this abduction is escapes me, but—”
    “Don’t try it,” the man said with emphasis, brandishing the pistol. “You’re expendable, milord. I’ve orders to shoot ye if there’s trouble. Stand back and don’t move.”
    He
was expendable? That was interesting. Up until this moment he’d thought he was the target of the abduction, but perhaps not. “Whose orders?”
    “Never you mind. Just stay where ye are.” The barrel pointed directly at his chest.
    Still, he tried one more time. “Why are we here?”
    “Enough with yer questions.”
    As incredible as it seemed, there was enough evident sincerity in that terse statement that he believed it. Ran stood there woodenly while the older man and the boy scurried past him. And then the door shut, the bar scraped back