The Bishop's Daughter Read Online Free PDF Page B

man who had brushed past her earlier. Kate turned to gaze up at him reproachfully. She froze, encountering a pair of twinkling green eyes, the roguish smile that had haunted her dreams.
    "Kate," Harry said, his smile fading.
    She stared at him, her heart racing, the blood thundering in her ears. Her head swam as her eyes tried to convince her stubborn mind that the man standing before her was no chimera, no figment of her overwrought imagination.
    Her lips attempted to form his name. Harry . . . Harry still alive, standing so close she had but to reach out and touch him, the answer to a prayer kept so silent, so deep within her heart, she had not even been aware of making it.
    She took a faltering step toward Lord Lytton. For the first time in her life, the self-possessed Miss Kathryn Towers sank down into a swoon.
     

     
     
     
Chapter Three
    The world in which Kate floated was cool, dark, and soothing. She wanted to linger there as long as she could, but part of her strained toward the faraway sound of a voice calling her name.
    "Kate? Kate . . . can you not hear me? Grayshaw! Hasn't anyone located those blasted smelling salts? What? Hurry up, man. Hand them over."
    The next instant, Kate's peace-filled darkness was disrupted by something strong and pungent being shoved beneath her nose. Moaning softly, she rolled her head to one side, trying to escape the vile odor.
    "Thank God. She's coming round. Kate!" The voice came sharper, more insistent this time. Strong fingers ruthlessly chafed her wrists. "Grayshaw, go see if Sam has left to fetch the doctor. And for God's sake, keep that flock of clucking women out of here."
    The voice faded as Kate’s eyes fluttered open. Her first feeling was one of bewilderment. She had the vague notion that she had been napping and expected to find herself in the tiny parlor of the cottage. She blinked, her dazed eyes instead taking in the dimensions of a lofty room with tall French windows, the chamber's rich oak paneling bestrewn with paintings of the hunt. She was stretched out upon a sofa of rich brocade, a mound of cushions beneath her head.
    Before she could begin to fathom where she might be, her view of the room was cut off when a tall, masculine figure loomed over her. It was Harry. Kate had an idea that she should have been surprised to see him, yet all she felt was an unspeakable happiness at his presence.
    "Kate? Are you all right?" he asked, laying his hand against her brow.
    Kate experienced a feeling of disappointment that his lips were not quirked in that familiar smile she so longed to see. His eyes were somber with concern, an element of fear lurking in them. His face had an unnatural pallor beneath his layering of tan. An absurd thought flitted through Kate's mind. He could have been a ghost.
    Could have been? He should have been. Harry was supposed to be dead. Remembrance slapped Kate like an icy wave, dashing way the remnants of confusion as the recent scene on the hillside came back to her. Harry's monument had just been unveiled. She had heard someone laughing and turned to rebuke him only to find . . . Harry. Alive!
    She still could not believe it. As he knelt down beside the sofa, she touched his cheek. He immediately caught her hand, encasing it in the warm strength of his own.
    "Kate, darling, you will unman me if you look at me that way," he murmured. He turned her hand and pressed a kiss against her palm. "I assure you I am not some dread specter come back to haunt you."
    "Harry?" she whispered. "You are alive? Truly?"
    "So I have always believed, my love, but I have never been so glad of it as at this moment."
    Kate choked on a joyful sob and struggled to rise, her head yet reeling.
    "Gently, Kate." Harry slipped one arm behind her shoulders to support her. With the other hand, he produced a tumbler of brandy that had been resting nearby on a tripod table.
    But such nearness to the man she had thought dead, lost forever, was having a strange effect on Kate.