The Elusive Heiress Read Online Free PDF Page A

pose, she glared at him. ‘You, sir, are a bully,’ she declared hotly.
    To her fury he had burst out laughing.
    ‘And you, ma’am, are an adventuress,’ he riposted with a smile that dripped mockery.
    ‘How dare you—’
    ‘No. Don’t bother to deny it.’ He silenced her protests with an easy gesture of one well-kept hand. ‘Accept your conge , gracefully, m’dear. Otherwise…’ He gave a significant shrug.
    Kate understood him perfectly. ‘Don’t worry. I will go quietly,’ she snapped back with vicious irony. ‘But you needn’t imagine this is the end of the matter. I intend to take my claim to the lawyers.’
    His brows drew together in a quick frown at her reply.
    Stupidly, Kate found herself noticing how much darker they were than his hair. Like the long thick lashes that framed his vivid eyes, their colour was a deep brown.
    ‘That, ma’am, must be your choice.’
    The cold anger in his voice immediately put paid to Kate’s wool-gathering and she tensed.
    ‘But be sure you understand the consequences. Next time I might not find your impudence so amusing.’
    The arrival of the footman to escort her to the waiting carriage had been timely. Another moment in Randal Crawford’s company and Kate might have exploded!
    Fiend seize the fellow! What was it about him that could set her all on edge? He was very handsome to be sure with those strong, well-cut features and that tall, lithe body, but she was hardly a green girl whose head could be easily turned. Once perhaps…but that was a long time ago.
    A little shiver ran through her slender frame. Her nerves must be in a worse state than she thought. Recalling the past was an idiotic waste of time. Her folly was best forgotten. Dead and buried like Francis.
    ‘Are you all right, lass?’ Mary asked anxiously. ‘You look as if you had seen a ghost.’
    Kate swallowed down the bitter mixture of regret and sorrow that threatened to choke her whenever she thought of her late husband and turning back to her companion managed a slight smile.
    ‘I’m sorry. I’m behaving like a fool!’ A faint sigh escaped her. ‘I should have guessed Gerald Sullivan would try something. No wonder Redesmere was suspicious!’
    ‘Now don’t go falling into the dismals!’ Mary reached out to give the small white hands that lay clenched in her young friend’s lap a comforting squeeze. ‘You weren’t to know that blackguard would write to his lordship.’
    ‘ He called me an adventuress,’ Kate seethed. Then, drawing a calming breath she asked in a much more hesitant tone, ‘Do you think he could have guessed what I really am? Perhaps I betrayed myself in some way.’
    Mary shook her greying head. ‘Never,’ she said firmly. ‘Why should he suspect? You are a lady. You were gently born and bred and nothing can change that fact, even if you’ve come down in the world since.’
    Her heavy features softened into a smile. ‘Bless you, lass, you mustn’t blame yourself for failing to convince him! It was just bad luck that Sullivan’s letter arrived before we did.’
    Reassured, Kate settled herself more comfortably on the somewhat lumpy seat and began to contemplate their next move.
    Money, as usual, was the problem. It was in scarce supply and providing a suitable wardrobe for her new role had been expensive. Nonetheless, they would have to stay at a better kind of inn tonight, one which catered for the gentry. A well-bred young lady like Kitty Nixon couldn’t stay anywhere else!
    At least they could dispense with this carriage once they returned to Chester. As soon as the stage had set them down outside the White Lion this morning they had sought a means of conveyance to Crawford Hall. The inn was one of the busiest and most popular in the city and the landlord had treated their request with scarcely-veiled impatience once he realised that they did not possess a long purse.
    His brusque attitude made it plain that he found their desire for economy as peculiar