The Marker Read Online Free PDF Page B

a wave of her hand. “That will do just fine, thank you,” she replied.
    Surprised by her interruption, Nicholas protested, “Really, Miss Markland, you don’t need to do this. My guest rooms are perfectly comfortable.” His intentions were honorable. While she was here, he intended to see to her comfort, if she would allow it. He was beginning to think she wouldn’t.
    “I’m sure they are. For your guests . However, I’m hardly your guest. I am your servant,” she reminded him, taking a step back to regard him, those obsidian eyes glittering. He wanted to know the woman behind them. “I suggest you not forget that, or how you came to be in possession of my services. I can assure you I won’t,” she said, her tone stiff and proud. She turned her back to him and asked Mrs. Ferguson, “Kitchen?”
    “Down the hall to the left. Ye can’t miss it,” Mrs. Ferguson said, nodding down the hall.
    Lexie picked up her valise and stalked in the direction indicated by the older woman. Nicholas watched her go, watched the sway of her bustle as she walked away from him, her back straight. She possessed the regal bearing of a gentle lady accustomed to the finer things, and he thought she would have been pleased with a comfortable bed in one of his guest rooms. Instead, the gesture had insulted her.
    “Well, me, I never thought I’d live to see the day.”
    Nicholas turned his eyes to his housekeeper, a woman who had been with him for years, and whom he paid well to not tell tales, but that didn’t mean she didn’t offer her opinion of his ways or his women. She was, perhaps, the only person in his life who really knew him. “And what is that, Mrs. Ferguson?”
    “I never thought I’d meet a woman so completely resistant to your charms,” she said with a laugh. “I like that girl.”
    Nicholas scowled at his housekeeper, but said, “Make sure she gets something to eat.” Mrs. Ferguson nodded and followed Lexie down the hall, leaving him with his thoughts. Staring down the empty hallway, Nicholas thought about Mrs. Ferguson’s parting words.
    “So do I, Mrs. Ferguson,” he said to no one in particular. “So do I.”

Chapter 3
     
    In no time, Lexie adjusted to her new life. She had never been adverse to hard work and had kept her father’s house for years, and Mrs. Ferguson was a capable woman who made it easy on her. Mrs. Ferguson took her to market, and Lexie assisted her in the kitchens and with the cleaning. Nicholas was a tidy man rarely at home, so the work was not difficult. At night, after Lexie finished her chores, she was free to do as she pleased, and once she discovered the well-stocked library, she began to think she just might enjoy her time in Nicholas Wetherby’s employ.
    She kept track of his hours, to best determine when she could access to the library without having to worry about whether he would walk in on her. Mrs. Ferguson enjoyed enlightening her in this regard—she knew all of Nicholas’s comings and goings, his habits. If she thought Lexie’s interest in him went beyond simple curiosity, she never asked, and Lexie kept her own counsel in that regard. In reality, she just wanted to be left alone with her work and the books. Too much time with Nicholas Wetherby would be dangerous to her virtue, would threaten her future. And Lexie was not that girl. She would not fall for the charms of such a man. So Lexie did the only thing left to a girl in her position: she stayed out of his way, and, when that was unavoidable, she maintained a cordial formality, inviting nothing more.
    But the library beckoned her like nothing else. She loved books, loved the knowledge and the power that lay in the words she read, and as long as she knew Nicholas wouldn’t find her, she could spend hours alone in his library—and she did when he was away. Tonight she had a perfect opportunity, as Mrs. Ferguson had told her not to expect his return until morning.
    So she lay on her belly on the bearskin rug,