Free The Devil at Archangel by Sara Craven

been quite the daring deed it seemed at the time.
    They were quite probably friends of his, and that's why they made off
    in such a hurry. Dev keeps some pretty peculiar company at times,
    and his own past doesn't bear looking into. There was even a time
    when people said he should have been christened Devil instead of
    Devlin.'
    The room seemed to perform a sudden, sickening dive and Christina
    felt herself totter on legs that were too weak to support her. When she
    regained her control, she was sitting on the chesterfield being urged
    by Theo to put her head down on her knees.
    'I'm sorry.' She put her hand on her forehead. 'I—I'm still getting
    acclimatised. It must be the heat... I think I'll go up to my room for a
    while.'
    'That's a good idea.' Theo sprang to his feet, and placed his hand
    under her elbow to assist her. 'Lie down for a little while and you'll
    soon feel better. I think Cook is laying on something special for
    dinner tonight in your honour, and it would be tragic if you weren't
    well enough to come down.'
    'Oh, but she shouldn't,' Christina exclaimed in distress. 'I'm here to
    work, after all. I really am.'

    Theo's hand felt warm and solicitous on her arm as he guided her to
    the door. 'Of course you are,' he said soothingly. 'But there'll be plenty
    of time for that. Grand'mere wants you to get to know us, to enjoy
    yourself.'
    He would have accompanied her up to her room, but she assured him
    she could manage, and he stood at the foot of the stairs watching her
    go up.
    When she reached the gallery, she turned and smiled down at him a
    little uncertainly. He held her eyes with his for a long moment, then
    lifted his hand with infinite grace to his lips and blew her a kiss.
    Her cheeks hot, Christina turned suddenly away. Theo possessed
    altogether too much charm, she told herself warningly. She would do
    herself no good at all if immediately on her arrival at Archangel she
    was to embark on a flirtation with her employer's grandson.
    She tried to rest, but sleep eluded her. Her head whirled with a
    multitude of disturbing impressions, and foremost of these was the
    warning she had received from the for- tune-teller. 'Beware of the
    devil at Archangel.' At least now, she knew who the devil was and
    had decided for herself, even before his identity had been revealed,
    that he was someone best avoided. His own overt hostility had taught
    her that.
    If it hadn't been for that, she thought, it could have been quite easy to
    rationalise what had happened. The fortune-teller had known that she
    was accompanying Mrs Brandon as she had worked out previously.
    Therefore he would also know of Devlin Brandon and his
    reputation— and the nickname that had been bestowed on him and
    would naturally have woven these elements into his prediction to give
    them weight. It was a perfectly acceptable explanation for everything
    that had happened—so why could she not wholly accept it?

    It was because there had been something so strange in the man's
    manner—as if he had been genuinely alarmed by what he saw, or
    claimed to see, in the chicken bones. And then he had disappeared,
    even though there was still a crowd of potential clients waiting.
    She had already dismissed the notion that Devlin Brandon might have
    hired the man himself in order to frighten her off. It was obvious he
    had had no idea who she was when he met her on Martinique, and
    Theo had confirmed that he had no means of knowing about her
    appointment until he had arrived at the house that day. Besides, it was
    a strange sort of contempt, but not menace, that she seemed to detect
    in his attitude.
    He had decided that she was a parasite preying upon his aunt's good
    nature, she told herself bitterly, and wondered why that bitterness
    should also contain a trace of despondency. Surely she was not going
    to let his opinion trouble her? He knew nothing about her or the
    circumstances in which she had come to Archangel.
    She closed her eyes firmly,