Unlacing the Innocent Miss Read Online Free PDF

taken care of Hunter.’
    She seemed to sag slightly against the wall. ‘As he means to take care of me.’ Her gaze was distant and her words were whispered so quietly that he only just heard them.
    Wolf did not allow himself to soften. She had made her bed, and now she must lie in it, he thought. He had finished his food before she spoke again.
    ‘How did you find me?’
    ‘You left behind the newspaper. It was not difficult to discover which advertisement you had torn from it.’
    She closed her eyes at that and was silent. When she opened them again she asked, ‘Who are you Mr Wolversley? What are you? A Bow Street runner?’
    ‘Nothing so official. Just a man that Evedon is paying to deliver you back to him.’ He noticed how Kempster watched her.
    Campbell sipped from the battered mug, an amusedexpression upon his face. ‘Ocht, he’s just being modest. We’re in the retrieval business, so to speak, and we’re mighty good at retrieving. Some might call us thief-takers, Miss Meadowfield.’
    ‘Do not take me back to him…please.’ She spoke the words quietly.
    The Scotsman gave her a contrite smile. ‘I’m afraid that’s our job, lassie.’
    ‘Save your pleading for Evedon, Miss Meadowfield,’ said Wolf. ‘It is most assuredly wasted upon us.’
    Campbell glanced away, an expression of awkwardness on his face.
    Wolf took another sip of his ale. Her greed would cost her dear, he thought, but that was not his or Struan’s problem to worry over, besides her type deserved to pay the price. He glanced round at the woman.
    ‘Our journey starts at first light. You are returning to London come what may, Miss Meadowfield. I care not whether you eat, but be warned that starving yourself into a faint shall not delay our progress. I’ll tie you across my saddle if I have to.’
    Wolf said nothing more, just turned his attention to Campbell and Kempster, conversing with them in low tones, while the woman made her way hesitantly across the room to sit down upon a stool at the table and eat a little of the remaining bread, ham and cheese, all the while keeping a cautious eye on her captors.
     
    Rosalind watched uneasily while the men made up makeshift blanket beds, rolling out four grey blankets side by side over the bare wooden floorboards before the fireplace. Her eyes measured the distance between her stool and the cottage door.
    ‘Do not even think about it.’ She heard the warning that edged Wolf’s voice.
    The pale eyes glanced up from where he had removed the chairs and was laying his coat out as a bed-cover in their place, and she wondered how he had known what she was thinking.
    Rosalind did not move, just sat there, with a growing anxiety, watching their movements. She knew little about men. Her brother had long since disappeared, and with the disgrace of her father’s execution and the lack of money, there had never been any question of a Season for either her or her sister. Her experience of men was limited to the few older gentlemen she met as Lady Evedon’s companion, and Lord Evedon, of course. She bit at her lower lip.
    ‘You need not concern yourself with me. I will sleep here on this stool.’
    Wolf raised a sardonic brow and looked at her. ‘You will sleep on the floor alongside the rest of us.’
    ‘But…’ she felt the heat of a blush flood her cheeks.
    From across the room she heard Campbell chuckle, and from the corner of her eye she saw him shake his head.
    ‘You need not worry, Mr Campbell and I not in the habit of liasing with the criminals that we’re apprehending…no matter what they offer us in exchange for their freedom,’ said Wolf.
    She felt the blush deepen at his horrible insinuation.
    The flicker of the flames lit golden highlights through his hair and emphasized the mocking tilt of his mouth. It was a hard face, a face which looked as if it felt no fear but knew well how to instil it. He made Kempster’s pretty-boy looks appear weak and effeminate in comparison. And