Free Ruined by Moonlight by Emma Wildes

daughter?”
    It had been too much to expect all along—Ben had known it from the beginning—for this to be kept entirely quiet, but he had to admit he hadn’t anticipated the news of Lady Elena’s disappearance to spread so quickly. Granted, two days had passed and Lord Whitbridge had questioned the staff at the theater the night Elena had gone missing, but for someone like Altamont to know of it already was a bit startling.
    “What exactly have you heard?” he asked casually, watching as Gibbons, his first choice of jockey, slid off Thor and said something to the lad who took the reins.
    Adam wasn’t fooled, but, then again, his quick mind and intuitive reactions were why Ben had taken a chance on such an untried trainer. “I might be a fifth son, but myolder brother does move in your circles. He mentioned it to me. Word has it she abruptly disappeared and her family is looking for her. No one seems to know where she’s gone. Speculation is growing.”
    Ben had been doing some speculating of his own. “I understand Lord Andrews is also missing.”
    Adam cocked a brow, watching as the roan trotted past them, one of the lads taking him to cool down. “The viscount owns some of the finest horses in England.”
    “Some,” Ben agreed mildly.
    “Not as fine as yours, my lord.”
    “You might be a dash prejudiced.” Still, he found the quick equivocation amusing. “What he does own is the reputation of bedding Britain’s finest ladies. Who can I talk to?”
    Altamont leaned back, holding on to the paddock railing. “I have to say, knowing his lordship’s reputation, a connection would surprise me. She is not his usual choice in a female in any way. He avoids the marriageable ones.”
    “That’s interesting.” Ben spoke evenly. “But I would like to confirm that there is no connection between him and Lady Elena. What about his stable master? The lads usually talk to the maids and footmen, and it would be a much more subtle way of inquiry.”
    “Prescott?” Adam answered readily enough, his gaze steady. “Would you rather I speak to him? He’s Welsh and a bit prickly. We know each other, and though he feels I’m too young to be in charge of such fine horses we get along well enough. I’m going to guess you’d get little to nothing from him. We usually exercise on the same track at dawn. I could talk to him for you.”
    That was a generous offer, and as Ben still hadn’texplained—nor was he going to—his interest in the matter, probably prudent. It took him a moment but he nodded. “Ask Prescott if he’s heard intimations that Andrews is involved seriously with anyone. And leave Lady Elena’s name out of it, though it doesn’t appear to be a deep, dark secret.”
    “It’s quite puzzling as to what it is,” Adam declared succinctly. “With the viscount’s propensity for a very different type of lady, it seems unlikely they are together.”
    “Does it?” Ben wasn’t quite as sure.
    “I would think so.”
    This was all becoming rather interesting. Ben watched Thor being led away toward the stables, a powerful animal, so proud and confident, but being taken in a certain direction willingly because of the promise of a reward.
    “I suppose it is possible their mutual absence is not connected.” The concession was insincere. He didn’t believe that for a moment.
    His instincts told him otherwise.
    Between the whiskey, the candlelight, the beautiful girl…he could almost succumb to temptation.
    Almost.
    Once he’d begun to understand the dynamic of the predicament they were in, Ran declined the honor of this planned seduction.
    Still, she was damned tempting. It hadn’t helped that he’d listened to her bathe earlier, the slight splash of the water erotic, and had watched—what else was there to do in this prison?—as she performed the very intimate task of combing out her long, damp hair, unsnarling the golden strands. The act was so feminine and arousing it had sent him to his feet to