The Highwayman (Rakes and Rogues of the Restoration Book 3) Read Online Free PDF

concern for the girl was steadily growing, but after refusing his host’s offer he’d be lucky to get himself home safely, never mind the girl. Damn Perry anyway!
    “What I would like to see is some gold, some brandy, and a meal.”
    “You disappoint me, Jack.”
    “My friends call me Jack. You are not my friend.”
    “If you won’t have her, I assure you, someone else will.”
    “Aye…well…if that’s your plan, I’d advise you clean her up, feed her, and leave off beating her.” He leaned closer and whispered. “It won’t work very well if she’s dead.”
    “You’re a brazen bastard,” Sir Robert said with a chuckle as he tossed him a purse. “Phelps!”
    “Yes, my lord!” One of the footmen hurried over.
    “Find a woman to tend to the lady. And take this man to the kitchen for some brandy and a meal before you see him on his way.”
    Jack followed the footman out without once having met his erstwhile charge’s eyes directly. Arabella . It was a lovely name. One that rolled sweetly across the tongue. He had done for her what he could short of dragging her with him at gunpoint. With two cocked and loaded pistols pointed at his back that would not have ended well.
    As he finished off a meat pie, he wondered how she’d gotten herself into such a mess. You’re the one who delivered her when she begged you not to , a nagging voice reminded him. He drowned it with a brandy, set his hat upon his head, and went to collect Bess. He’d agreed to deliver a package and he’d done so. It was barely past midnight. There was nothing left to stop him from making some entertainment of his own.

 
     
     
CHAPTER FIVE
     
     
    Arabella Hamilton paced back and forth like a caged animal, testing the confines of her room, noting again and again the same rough stone walls, the same bare cot bolted to the floor, and the same ledge and aperture, ten feet above her, impossibly out of reach even with the aid of an overturned bucket. A part of her knew there was no escape, that she might circle this tower a thousand times and nothing would change.
    She’d thought that by leaving for her mother’s home in Ireland, her troubles with Robert would end. Setting out alone she’d felt such anticipation as she ignored years of rules and strictures about what well-behaved women should and should not do. She’d inherited her father’s inquisitive nature, but until recently, she’d shared his curiosity about the world outside her home from the safety of his library. His increasing reclusiveness after her mother’s death had left her little choice. Beyond her country estate, local farms and markets, and their London townhouse, her adventures had unfolded in the pages of books.
    Following his death, her cousin’s arrival at her secluded country home in Wiltshire seemed overly intrusive, almost aggressive, and his initial attempts to court her made her wary. She held him in no great esteem and sensed something unsavory behind his frigid blue eyes. Fortunately, as a single woman, never married and over the age of twenty-one, she had the legal right to her own property. What she did or did not do with herself and her father’s inheritance was no concern of Robert’s, but her rejection of his suit had quickly led to stalking and threats.
    The kidnapping of heiresses was not unheard of amongst morally and financially bankrupt gentlemen. She was concerned enough to appoint a reliable steward and move to the London townhouse, thinking it safer to be surrounded by relative strangers than to rely on the aid and protection of elderly servants and neighbors who lived miles away. But Robert had followed close behind.
    When people began referring to her as his betrothed, regardless of her protests to the contrary, she’d thought it prudent to escape him.Still,she would never have taken her fate in her hands so precipitously if Robert hadn’t forced her, and if she hadn’t had a place in mind to go.
    As a child, her father, then Earl of