Tiger's Eye Read Online Free PDF

removing his hand with leisurely indifference to both her humiliation and response.
    “There’s not a stitch under your dress. You were running away from the house, half-naked, and you say you were frightened. Are you Parren’s doxy? I hear he’s rough with women.”
    “No!”
    He made an impatient sound. “Suppose you tell me who you are, then, and what you were doing running from the house without further roundaboutation. And I warn you, I have very little tolerance for lies, or liars.”
    Isabella hesitated, looking up at him with enormous eyes. For the life of her, she could not lay claim to being a maidservant or some such. She had the feeling he would know she was lying the minute she opened her mouth.
    At her silence the gleam in his eyes hardened, and he looked over her head at Paddy.
    “This is a waste of time, and we’ve little enough of that if we want to be back in London by daybreak, but she can’t be let go. Take her back in the woods and keep her quiet.”
    “Aye.”
    The golden-eyed man turned away without another glance at Isabella. The other men, except for Paddy, who still held her immobile, followed him.
    “Be a good wench, now, and I won’t have to hurt you.” Paddy released his bear-hug grip to catch her arm and tug her toward the woods. Isabella went meekly until she was just inside a sheltering overhang. Then it occurred to her that, if she was ever going to break away, now, with Paddy’s grip almost gentle and his eyes on the path ahead, was the time.
    She had to escape a second time. It would take only a little cunning.…
    Pretending to stumble over a root that thrust up from the path, she fell to her knees. Paddy’s hand dropped from her arm. Even as he released his grip she was away, scrambling out of his reach, snatching up her skirts and flying down the path with a fleetness that had been hers since she was a little girl.
    “Come back here, wench! Blast and damn!” Paddy was crashing through the trees behind her. With his great size, he would be slow, she hoped.
    Her hair streamed behind her like a banner. Her heart pounded. The wan moonlight did not penetrate the trees, making the woods as dark as a cave. A branch clawed her face; she ducked and cried out. Her stride broke, but she faltered for no more than an instant. Yet in that instant she became aware of footsteps pounding close behind her. They were too light and too swift to belong to Paddy.
    Isabella was just turning her head to cast a scared look over her shoulder when a hand tangled in the flying mane of her hair, tightened, and jerked her off balance. She screamed reflexively, the sound piercing as a whistle in the still night, even as she was pulled back hard against a man’s broad chest. Immediately an iron arm encircled her throat, ruthlessly choking off the sound, cutting off her breath. The scent of leather, bay rum and tobacco filled her nostrils as she gasped for air. He held her so tightly that the buttons of his coat dug into her back. Isabella struggled, clawing at the arm that would squeeze the life from her, to no avail. Even before she looked up to see the golden eyes gleaming furiously down at her through the darkness, she knew who it was. Knew it and went suddenly limp.

VI
    “T roublesome bitch. Scream again and I’ll bloody well break your neck, understand?”
    His voice lost some of its polish in his fury. Isabella realized again that, whoever he was, he was certainly no gentleman. There was an undertone of Cockney to his speech, an accent of the streets. She straightened, again clawing at the hard arm that threatened to strangle her, and his grip on her throat eased.
    Isabella drew a deep, shuddering breath as Paddy thundered down the path. When he saw the pair of them, he slowed, his chest heaving as he drew in great gulps of air.
    “Sorry, Alec,” the big man muttered as he came up to them, sounding both shamefaced and winded. “ ’Tis a good thing you’re quicker afoot than me.”
    Alec