Free School For Heiresses 3- Beware A Scot's Revenge by Sabrina Jeffries Page A

“I shouldn’t have let her go alone,” she said as she came back. “If she doesn’t return before dark, she’ll never find us without a lantern.”
    The colonel uttered a heavy sigh, then stood. “If it’s that worried ye are, then we should try to go back.”
    “You needn’t come along. I’ll just go myself.”
    “No, you won’t.” He wavered unsteadily on his feet. “If you’ll let me lean on you a bit, I can hobble down. I’ve had a long rest now—I should be all right.”
    She hesitated, but she really didn’t wish to descend the mountain alone, especially when she wasn’t certain what had happened to delayVenetia . “Very well.” Hurrying to his side, she let him drape his arm about her shoulder.
    Generated by ABC Amber LIT Conv erter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html It had been years since a man had done so, and the pleasure she took in the feel of his fit body astonished her. Alarmed her. Heavens, she was softening toward the old fool, and that wouldn’t do. She had no desire to wreck her perfectly comfortable life as a widowed countess by taking up with an aging soldier.
    As if he’d read her mind, he said, “It was good of you to wait with me. I’m sorry I couldn’t be better entertainment.”
    “Nonsense. I don’t need entertaining. I’m a grown woman, for heaven’s sake.” She actually liked him better when he wasn’t trying so hard to amuse her. Usually, he did everything to excess. They’d been walking in pained silence for an hour when they were met by the colonel’s coachman. He was alone, which struck her right to the heart.
    So did the man’s cry as he approached and spotted his master’s limping walk. “God save us, sir, what has happened?”
    “Have you not seen my niece?” she asked, her stomach sinking. “She was supposed to be fetching a horse for the colonel, who has injured his foot.”
    The coachman shook his head. “I fell asleep on the perch, but I could hardly have slept through her taking a horse.” He reached into his pocket. “When I got worried about you and went to see if Lady Kerr’s walking stick was still gone, I came upon this. Perhaps it’s a note from the girl. It’s addressed to Lady Kerr.”
    The colonel reached for it, but Maggie snatched it first, opening it hastily. What she read there made her blood run cold.
    Mindful of the coachman’s curiosity, she pulled the colonel aside. “The Scottish Scourge has takenVenetia ,” she whispered. “Or someone claiming to be him, anyway. He’s supposed to be dead.”
    “Yes, I read that in the papers. But the papers are sometimes wrong.”
    Her chest hurt. “I should have known such a devil couldn’t be killed.”
    “What else does the letter say?”
    She thrust the note at him.
    The colonel scanned it quickly, then met her gaze. “He won’t hurt her as long as you don’t speak to the authorities and send no one after her. He says he only wants what Duncannon owes him.”
    “And you believe him?”
    “Surely even a scoundrel like him wouldn’t kill a lady.”
    “He doesn’t have to killVenetia to destroy her life. Once people hear of this, she’ll be ruined. She’ll never be able to marry.”
    “Then people mustn’t hear of it, must they?”
    Generated by ABC Amber LIT Conv erter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html How could he be so calm and controlled when her niece was in such danger? Who knows what horrible thingsVenetia was suffering even now?
    “You must send men after her,” she said hotly. “I don’t trust the Scourge not to hurt her. We must ride intoEdinburgh at once and gather soldiers—”
    He grabbed her by the shoulders. “Stop, lass, and think. They say the villain has eyes all overScotland . If you amass an army to go after him, you only risk her life. And her reputation.” A frown knit his brow.
    “Thanks to my trouble on the mountain, he has quite a start on us. By the time we could reach town and organize soldiers, he’ll be halfway to the