Seductive as Flame Read Online Free PDF Page A

mild bemusement.
    On the other hand, he’d not felt such naked craving in years.
    Why the hell was he even questioning his motives?
     
    T WENTY MINUTES LATER, he rode into a pristine little hamlet. Fitz was a generous landlord who afforded his tenants not only a good living, but exemplary housing and subsidized tradesmen. The main thoroughfare sported a public house with a small stable adjacent, a blacksmith shop, a school, a mill by the river, a small dress shop, a greengrocers, a tobacco shop, and a bookstore. And as fortune would have it, Miss Mackenzie’s magnificent hunter was being brushed down outside the stable.
    Riding up to the livery stable, he swung down from the saddle and gave his reins to a young boy who ran up. Handing him a coin, he said, “Zeus could use some oats and water and a wipe down. Here’s another,” he added, dropping another coin into the boy’s hand, “if you tell me where the lady is who rode in on that horse.” He nodded at Zelda’s blue roan.
    “She went for a cup o’ tea.” The lad jerked his thumb at the pub.
    Struck with a rare sense of exhilaration, Alec shoved his hand in his pants’ pocket, pulled out a gold sovereign, tossed it to the boy, and strolled off.
    His eyes like saucers, the boy cried, “Thankee, sir!” to the earl’s back.
    Alec lifted his quirt in acknowledgment as he walked toward the picturesque Tudor-style pub of timber and wattle. A few moments later, he dipped his head as he entered the low doorway, stood upright, and scanned the sunlit room. The publican stood behind the bar, his expression curious but friendly, several patrons who were enjoying their breakfast ale openly stared, and a pretty barmaid came bustling up with an admiring glance for the very large, very handsome lord.
    “I’m looking for a lady,” Dalgliesh remarked with a polite smile as he stripped off his gloves. “I saw her horse outside.”
    “Aye, the lady what wears men’s pants.” But the servant girl’s eyes were twinkling, her voice lighthearted. “The highborn do be a bit eccentric.” She jabbed her finger at a closed door to Dalgliesh’s right. “In the parlor, she be. Who should I say is callin’?”
    “She’s a friend. You needn’t announce me.” He shoved his gloves into his coat pocket. “Bring me a brandy and coffee, if you will though.”
    “She said exactly so. Are ye out on the hunt, too?”
    “Yes.” You might say that. After another polite smile, he turned and moved toward the closed door, conscious that every eye in the room was following him.
    Uncertain of his welcome, he didn’t knock, but pressed down on the wrought iron latch, pushed open the door, bent to clear the lintel, and entered the small sunny parlor. His head almost brushed the low rafters so he took care as he bowed faintly. “May I join you?” he asked, shutting the door behind him.
    Zelda frowned. “How did you find me?”
    No fawning there, nor—as expected—any obsequiousness. “It wasn’t easy,” he said in vast understatement. How cool she was sitting there, brusque and unaccommodating—and bloody alluring, her long, shapely legs crossed at the ankle as she lounged in a chair by the window, her notable breasts visible for the first time with her coat discarded, the supple leather of a form-fitting deerskin waistcoat drawing attention to her ripe curves. “But I had good reason to be persistent,” he said with a small smile.
    “I know your reason. I should send you on your way.” He hadn’t moved, but there was nothing of the penitent in his posture. Rather a kind of patient assurance characterized his careless stance.
    “Why? We’re both of age.” A hint of amusement underscored his words.
    “You’re blunt, Dalgliesh.”
    He smiled. “I only meant we needn’t concern ourselves with propriety in this private parlor since neither of us are adolescents.”
    “Allow me to doubt your explanation,” she sardonically murmured. “Issues of propriety aside