The Wayward One (The De Montforte Brothers Book 5) Read Online Free PDF Page B

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    From outside came the sounds of applause, excited voices, congratulations to the clever inventor. Ruaidri picked up one of the dainty white wrists, examined first one arm and then the other for broken bones. She appeared to be intact even if she were unconscious, and Captain Ruaidri O’ Devir of the American Continental brig Tigershark suddenly realized that Fate had just delivered the perfect opportunity to obtain what John Adams had sent him three thousand miles to get.
    The explosive.
    He was nothing if not innovative. Without another thought, he slid his hands beneath the blonde beauty, lifted her in his arms, and before the first guests began to return from the back garden, ran out the front door and to the street beyond.
    The night wasted no time in swallowing him.

Chapter 3

    “By Jove, that was quite spectacular, Lord Andrew!”
    “Amazing! Simply amazing! I’ve never seen the like, have you, Captain Danvers?”
    “Never, not in a quarter century of being at sea.” Excited faces all around, laughter, blue-and-white-clad officers clapping him on the shoulder, pumping his hand, toasting him with their glasses until Andrew felt like his head was swimming.
    This was what he’d been waiting for. Recognition. A purpose in life. Something that would leave his mark upon history….
    The small crowd all but carried him back into the house, and he frowned when his sister didn’t immediately come to greet him. He had expected her to be at the door. Rushing out to the garden to support him. She must be indisposed, doing whatever females did to tidy their hair or fix their clothing or—
    “I do believe your invention is a hit,” Captain Lord said, smiling. “If you’ll pardon the pun.”
    They went back into the converted ballroom where brandy, gin and rum began to flow in an amount to float any one of these officers’ warships.
    Andrew pulled out his watch.
    Still no Nerissa.
    The excited questions and congratulations from the guests began to fade, and alarm began to prickle at the base of his spine.
    “Excuse me, gentlemen,” he said, and went in search of his host’s wife. He found Deirdre Lord in a corner of the ballroom holding the blond-haired little boy whose eyes were wide with wonder as he stared at the sea of officers in their handsome blue-and-white uniforms.
    “M’ poor Colin—the explosion woke up the wee mite and now I can’t get him t’ go back to sleep,” she said, holding the child to her heart and kissing his bright hair. “There, there, nothin’ t’ fear, m’ little love.”
    Little Colin Lord looked anything but fearful.
    “Mrs. Lord, I think I need your assistance.”
    Her face immediately registered concern. “Ye look worried. Are ye well?”
    “My sister,” he murmured, trying to quell his sense of alarm. “Have you seen her?”
    “Not since she went back inside.”
    “I can’t find her. I don’t know where she could be, and it wouldn’t be like her to leave me all alone.”
    The beautiful Irishwoman nodded and handed the baby to her husband, who was just approaching. “Let me see if she’s upstairs—maybe the excitement of the evening got t’ her and she’s lyin’ down.”
    Nerissa was a de Montforte, Andrew thought. She was not likely to be affected by anything of the sort. If anything, she was in a snit at being sent back inside and off sulking somewhere. Or so he told himself, even though that wouldn’t be like her, either. He took a deep and steadying breath as he watched Mrs. Lord head for the stairs. The hour was late. Maybe Nerissa was just lying down.
    After that explosion?
    The little prickle of fear at the base of his spine, unreasonable as it was, began to creep upward. He heard himself answering a question from a lieutenant with ruddy cheeks and a missing front tooth, making the polite response, fielding the inevitable questions, and then Mrs. Lord was hurrying back downstairs, frowning.
    She hurried over to Andrew. “She’s not upstairs. I