To Seduce an Angel by Kate Moore Page A

Dav’s library as Matthew Gibbs, his estate manager, rose to leave. Gibbs, a lanky, redheaded ex-army engineer, a friend of Will’s, looked at his watch. The man was capable of prodigious efficiency. He was investigating Dav’s tenants and neighbors, determining which of them had dangerous loyalty to the duke. One of them at least reported to the duke, and as a result the local bishop was taking Dav to court over an unpaid tithe. Today Gibbs had brought Dav a heavy volume on tithes.
    â€œGrinder’s run off, Dav.” The boy was breathless.
    â€œDrove her away on the fifth day, did you?” Maybe he had gone too far in leaving her in charge of them. He knew the challenge of keeping them in line. He had only stayed away because of that dress she’d worn to dinner.
    â€œShe stole a pony and rode straight off.”
    Dav gave Jay a sharp look. The boys didn’t peach on one another. That was the oldest code of the streets, but here was Jay bursting with a tale to discredit her. “Did she strap her trunk on the pony’s back?”
    â€œNo.”
    Gibbs gathered up the papers he’d brought for Dav to sign regarding the tithe problem.
    â€œLikely she’s not run off for good. Where did you last see her?”
    Jay studied an open book he could not read. “She rode north across the fields.”
    â€œShe’ll come back.” It was the wise thing to say even as he wanted to rush off in pursuit.
    â€œYou should sack ’er. Can’t let ’er steal from you.”
    Jay’s story didn’t add up. The one thing Dav’s newest employee seemed to want was time. He hadn’t forgotten that she was the one to insist on a fortnight and on her freedom to walk to the village every other day.
    â€œHow did you happen to see her steal the pony?”
    â€œWe were in the wood.” The admission caused Jay to take an immediate interest in the carpet. Gibbs frowned. He didn’t like any of Dav’s people going into the woods without a pistol.
    Dav let Jay squirm, waiting for a true picture of events to emerge. “You walked out on her.”
    Jay’s head came up. “We stuck to it for three blinkin’ hours. She worked us somethin’ terrible.”
    Gibbs laughed. “Sounds the way any lad feels about school.”
    There was the problem. With nothing to salvage, or scavenge, or steal, with no one to fight or elude, the boys grew quarrelsome and restless. They could not see how sitting still to read a book could help them make new lives. But they had kept Dav alive for two years. He could not simply step into his new position and riches and abandon them. They needed new lives of their own. They had neither his friends nor his enemies. They only had him. There was only one thing to do—find the grinder and bring her back. If he had to confine them all to the schoolroom, he’d do it.
    â€œCome on then, Jay.” He rose. “Let’s find her.”
    â€œAnd sack ’er.”
    â€œTake a pistol if you leave the grounds,” Gibbs advised.
    Jay’s eyes widened. “Are you going to shoot her?”
    â€œNo.” Dav looked at Gibbs. “I’ll be careful.”
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    HE found her where a ditch marked the edge of a field, hugging the shaggy beast, her faded red cloak the one warm, bright note in the somber landscape. Someone had used a harrow recently, breaking up the clods, so the breeze carried the smell of turned earth. The wind had pinkened her cheeks and freed loose strands of gold to fly about her face. He wished he had seen her gallop. She leaned against the pony, giving and taking comfort, indifferent to wind and cold. She looked up at the sound of his rig approaching, and he noted the turbulent blue of those eyes. Her vulnerability in the mud-flecked cloak maddened him and made him want to pull her up and crush her to him. He tried for civility instead.
    â€œTelling your troubles to