Free The Heiress by Jude Deveraux

drivers who’d eagerly watched all of it. When Rhys moved in a way that let Jamie know he was going to teach the boy a lesson or two, Jamie prevented him with a wave of his hand. “What is your name?”
    â€œSmith, sir.”
    â€œHave you done any fighting?” Jamie knew of course thathe hadn’t, but his test was of the boy’s honesty.
    For a moment the boy looked as though he were planning an elaborate story, but then he grinned, his face as plain and as wholesome as the daisies inside the cloak Jamie had in the wagon. “Never done anything except help my father farm, sir.”
    Thomas and Jamie smiled at that, and Rhys almost did. He was never one to hold a grudge, and the boy had courage. “You are hired,” Jamie said. After directing the boy to fetch the cloak from the wagon, he turned to the gate bell again.
    But before he touched the bell, the gate swung open, and standing there was the “it” he’d heard of. He was a young man, with a tall, strong upper body but made short by crippled legs. Down his face were long, deep scars, all on the left side, running down his neck and into his shirt. The scars had healed at odd angles, and so they pulled his face into a grotesque caricature of a human face. And, obviously, when the cuts were new, something had been put into them so they were forever red and raw looking. It was Jamie’s guess that this man had not been born with these physical deformities.
    Jamie did not flinch as the people behind him did. “What is your name?”
    â€œTode,” he said, meeting Jamie’s gaze levelly. He knew everything about what had just happened, about what had been said and what Jamie had done.
    â€œWhat is your real name?” Jamie demanded, frowning, remembering how many times he’d used his fists to inform people that Berengaria had a name besides Blind Girl.
    No one had asked Tode this before. His one concession to vanity was to change the spelling from Toad, as his father hadcalled him. “I do not know,” he said honestly, “but Tode does well enough.” At that he stepped back and allowed Jamie and his men to enter, and as Jamie passed him, he put a hand on Tode’s shoulder and gave a squeeze of reassurance. And it was in that moment that he won Tode’s allegiance forever. Only Axia ever touched him and she rarely. No man had ever touched him in friendship.
    As well he could, Tode hurried to keep up with Jamie’s long-legged stride. Even he could see that Jamie’s mood was not something to be toyed with, and he didn’t blame him. To travel the country with those iron-bound wagons with the name Maidenhall painted on the side of them was not what he wanted to do either. Axia would be in constant danger. No, he corrected himself, Frances would be as she was now the Maidenhall heiress. For a moment Tode suppressed a groan. Axia had had to pay every person on the estate to lie about who she was and who Frances was. Thank heaven the secret would only be entrusted to them for a few hours before they left the estate forever.
    Frances was waiting for them in the withdrawing chamber, just off the entrance hall.
    Now, standing outside the door, Jamie tried to get his bad temper under control. Guilt and fear for the woman’s safety raged inside him. Whatever happened, he would treat her well, he vowed.
    She was standing in front of a wall that had been painted with a beautiful scene of Greek legends, and she was so lovely she made Jamie smile. But his smile was not so much for her as at her, for Frances looked exactly like Joby’s parody of theMaidenhall heiress. Her dress of dark green brocaded silk must weigh as much as a small pony. Gold embroidery encrusted the bodice. Across her white-skinned bosom were emeralds, and if the enormous baroque pearls hanging from her ears were real, they could be sold to pay for a war. Even her hair was encased in a net of jewels.
    â€œLord