Free The Heiress by Lynsay Sands

since Richard’s townhouse had burnt to the ground, George had purchased a new one, and they hadn’t known the layout. They’d had to survey the house, guess at which room might be the master bedroom, and had then climbed a tree to get in the window.
    It hadn’t taken more than a look to establish that George was definitely dead, but they’d quickly run into the second problem when Richard had noted the scent of bitter almonds by the man’s mouth. It seemed the imposter hadn’t died of natural causes as the women seemed to think. Poison was the culprit. Deciding that was a worry to consider later, they’d stripped George of his clothes which had been sopping wet from the melting ice, wrapped him in a blanket and started to cart him out, which had led to more problems. The women had apparently locked the door to the hall, no doubt to prevent servants from entering to find their dead lord. Forced to take the body out through the connecting bedroom which happened to be occupied by a sleeping maid, Richard had hefted his brother’s stiff body in his arms, leaving Daniel to lead the way and handle the doors.
    They’d managed to make it through the room without waking the maid, and all the way to the top of the stairs before the next problem had arisen in the form of the women returning from the ball and entering the foyer below. In a panic, Daniel and Richard had rushed back along the upper hall, and then ducked into this room to wait for the way to be clear.
    “We’d best move while we have the chance,” Richard said behind him. “Once they have Christiana in bed, the girls will no doubt seek their own rooms and this could be one of them.”
    Daniel nodded and eased the door open to check the hall. When a quick glance in both directions showed it to be empty, he pulled the door wide and stepped out of the way for Richard to lead with his burden. He then started to follow, but had barely taken a step when Richard suddenly whirled back toward him. Caught by surprise, Daniel was slow to react. Before he could, Richard cursed, and suddenly thrust George’s body on him.
    Pure instinct made Daniel grab at the blanket-encased corpse. He then found himself stumbling back under a push from Richard, a very stiff George caught to his chest in some sort of macabre dance as the door closed leaving him alone in the dark room. Regaining his footing, Daniel stood absolutely still in the lightless chamber, simply listening as he tried to figure out why Richard hadn’t followed him into the room. He relaxed a little when he heard the other man’s voice muffled through the door, saying, “Ladies. Might I convince you both to join me in my office for a drink before you retire?”
    Daniel adjusted the hold he had on George, but it helped little. The man was stiff as a board and unbending. He may as well have been a life-sized statue. Shaking his head, Daniel moved closer to the door to listen to what was taking place in the hall as someone said, “No, thank you.”
    Daniel recognized Lisa’s voice and wasn’t surprised at the stiffness in it. None of the women liked Dicky and they thought Richard was him right now.
    “I need to talk to you!”
    Daniel stilled at the panic in Richard’s voice, worried about what might have caused it. Dear God, he hoped he wasn’t in Lisa’s room, he thought, but the desperation in Richard’s voice and the fact that he sounded closer to the door wasn’t reassuring as he said, “I realize I’ve been a bit of an ass to your sister—”
    “A bit?” That was Suzette and Daniel found himself grinning at her tone of voice. The woman gave no quarter. He liked that.
    “All right, a lot of an ass,” Richard said sounding pained. “The point is, my brush with death tonight has awakened me to what is important in this life, and I would dearly like to make it up to Christiana and, if possible, mend our relationship. I was hoping you could advise me on how to do that.”
    Daniel raised an eyebrow