Free Wicked Designs (The League of Rogues) by Lauren Smith

her father had found in the garden a few years before. It had broken its leg and when they’d tried to help it, it had bitten him, drawing blood. Godric was very much like that animal. Hurt and blindly striking out in his own defense.
    “I imagine she loved you just as much.”
    “Thank you, Emily. I’m sure wherever they are, your family must be missing you just the same.”
    He meant it. His sincerity manifested in the glimmer of his eyes and the lift of his lips into a grim smile. A man weighed down by countless sins, believed in heaven and an afterlife. For the briefest second she couldn’t help but wonder perhaps if rogues could be redeemed?
    Godric reached over the small space between them and slipped his hand around hers. Neither had bothered to wear riding gloves. His bare hand enveloped hers. The warmth of his hand, so much larger than her own, offered a comfort she didn’t expect—a state of peace she recalled from evenings with her parents before the fire, settled on the floor as they laughed at the humor columns in the paper. Godric’s thumb stroked the sensitive plane of her palm, yet the seemingly innocent contact teased her body with a desire for something she did not understand. With that simple truth, all thoughts of her uncle and her parents evaporated. His touch made her want to follow him to the ends of the earth to see where it might lead.
    But she couldn’t let him win this game by wooing her into submission with tender words and caresses. Emily couldn’t afford to fall for this man. They were worlds apart. He was unlikely to marry for love and she wanted someone who could love as strongly as she did. She couldn’t stay, couldn’t take the risk of falling for him. Her parents would’ve wanted her to survive, and that required escaping the duke and finding someone to marry.
    Emily studied the surrounding lands. A low stone wall, about five feet in height, rose from the ground a few hundred yards off.
    “What is beyond that wall?” she asked casually.
    “A pond and a meadow or two, beyond that the village of Blackbriar.”
    A village? The fool might as well have drawn her a map to escape.
    Godric kept his attention on Cedric, who raced his horse back and forth in the field, stretching the horse’s stride into a beautiful gallop.
    Emily’s hand was still locked firmly in Godric’s grasp, complicating matters. Carefully, she extricated her hand from his, and he turned to see the reason she tugged free. Emily leaned forward to pat her horse’s neck.
    “He’s a lovely creature.” She threaded her fingers through the thick mane of her gelding. She didn’t even have to look up to know that Godric smiled at her.
    “Are you finding that you like horses?”
    “Oh, yes. They are a bit frightening, but this one is ever so sweet.” She resisted the urge to laugh. She’d never been scared of horses in her life—the occasional goat, maybe, when the awful things nipped at the hems of her skirts—but never horses. Godric was in for quite a surprise.
    She raised her head as though to follow Cedric’s progress across the field. She waited for the moment at which Cedric swung to the right, back toward the home.
    She painted a look of shock and alarm on her face and pointed frantically in Cedric’s direction.
    “Godric, look out! Highwaymen!”
    Godric tensed, bracing for trouble and reared his horse around.
    Emily dug her heels into her horse’s flanks and took off at a breakneck speed, straight for the wall, praying her horse could clear it. Blackbriar lay beyond the wall. She would seek help or hide until she found her way to London.

    It took Godric several seconds to realize what had happened. Highwaymen, indeed.
    Emily flew across the golden field, a warrior maiden at the apex of battle. Her lowered posture and natural control over the horse were evident. The girl was cleverer than he’d thought and he had been a fool by telling her about Blackbriar.
    “Emily!” he roared.
    She headed