Free Seduced Bride-To-Be by June Richards Page A

your death. I will build a fire in the drawing room, so we can
both dry ourselves.’
    ‘Are
there no servants here, sir?’ she asked.
    ‘Not
at the moment. It’s my uncle’s old hunting lodge. I’ve just come here for a day
or two to check the grounds. I brought only one man with me and him I left at
the inn.’
    The
girl looked uncertain. She was alone with an unknown man in the middle of the
forest. He read the doubt in her eyes and said impatiently:
    ‘Look,
I know what you are thinking but there is hardly any choice left under the
circumstances. Would you rather be sitting alone on the road?’
    ‘No,
of course not’ she said quietly, but looked unconvinced.
    ‘Good.
Now, come with me, I shall find you one of my uncle’s old dressing robes and a
blanket, so you can change and wrap yourself for warmth.’
    She
followed him into one of the bedrooms and accepted a dark blue silk gentleman’s
dressing gown and a plaid blanket.
    ‘Once
you are changed, come to the fire. And bring your clothes so they can dry.’
    He
left her a candle and shut the door behind him. Thank goodness he and Richards
had been off riding for so long today. Had they not found the injured man, he
might have been lying on the road till the morning. And Dinah Benson would have
to spend a night alone on the road in the raging storm, of which she was so clearly
petrified.
    He
started the fire with the practised ease of a soldier and went in search of a dry
shirt and a clean pair of breeches. He also fetched some cold ham and bread
from the kitchen and a bottle of brandy. He was just laying it all out on the table
when the door opened and Dinah came in.
    The
dressing gown was obviously far too big for her and she had to tie it with an improvised
belt. The blanket covered her shoulders. Her damp red hair was in disarray and
she was clearly still shaking.
    He
took the bundle of her wet clothes from her and spread each garment on various
pieces of furniture. He noticed that she blushed when he was handling her underclothes.
    ‘You
must excuse me the lack of elegance, Miss Benson. I know that it is more like a
soldier’s camping place that anything you shall be used to.’
    ‘Why,
it is all perfectly all right’ she said kneeling in front of the fire. The
flames put a rosy glow to her white skin and Alex could not avert his eyes from
her slender figure. ‘There is fire and I can see that you brought some
refreshment. After all, having adventures is not about being comfortable, is it?’
    ‘Are
you keen on adventures, Miss Benson?’
    ‘I
have not had much experience of them and, I dare say, I shall have even less in
the future.’
    ‘Why
is that so?’ he offered here a glass of brandy and when she looked dubious, he
urged: ‘Drink it, it shall chase the chill out of your body.’
    She
turned to face him as she accepted the glass. She lifted it to her eyes, as if
appraising the golden liquid within it, and then, with a challenging gleam in
her green eyes she drank half of it in one go. She grimaced slightly and then
gave Alex a speculative look.
    ‘I
shall tell you about myself, sir, but first I would like to know something
about you. We could start with a name.’
    She
is reproaching me, thought Alex. Just seeing Dinah Benson, dressed only in an
old dressing robe, with her red curls coiling around her long white neck, was
enough to make his throat go dry. When she gave him that look, she was almost
provocative. 
    He
swallowed, chasing away disturbing thoughts, and introduced himself:
    ‘I
am Captain Alex Legrant.’
     
    Dinah
looked across the table at her saviour, her mouth full of ham and bread. She
had hardly eaten all day and had been starving. The situation, she decided,
allowed her to forget some of her table manners and let her youthful appetite
take over. For a moment they ate in silence and Dinah took opportunity to study
Captain Alex Legrant. He had the strong features and browned complexion of a
man used to rough conditions.