Free My Lord Deceived by Rebecca King Page B

Up close, his brown hair had been tousled by
the stiff sea breeze but rather than make him look unkempt, it gave
him a roguish look that accompanied the devilish twinkle in his
blue-green eyes; eyes that now studied so closely that she
struggled to remember how to breathe.
    She realised
then that he was waiting for her to expand on her explanation of
the men she had just encountered. She gave herself a mental shake
and turned her attention back to Walter Seabourne.
    “He is quite
nondescript. Helps out on his family’s farm but seems to have gone
off the rails of late, ever since he met Brian, as a matter of
fact. I don’t know much else about him, except that he also does
everything Brian asks of him.”
    Jonathan
scowled at that and stared darkly down the lane after the boys.
“What about the others?”
    “Robert Taylor
is a bully through and through. He is the kind of person who would
drown kittens just for the laugh. He isn’t averse to breaking
children’s toys when he passes them just to prove that he can do
what he wants and get away with it. He is a horrible man who is too
big for his boots.”
    “Parents?”
    “None. He lives
with his grandma in Smisben.”
    Jonathan lifted
his brows.
    “Colin Foster
is also from the village but comes from a family who are just as
bad as he is. The trawler they run is barely able to stay afloat
yet they continue to take it out.”
    “I take it that
Colin works on the trawler?”
    “Yes, but
unfortunately that gives him the rest of the day to cause
trouble.”
    Jonathan
sighed. He knew that none of the boys posed any serious threat to
him, they were in his eyes still boys, however they did pose a
threat to Kat, and that was something Jonathan had to put a stop
to. As quickly as possible given the sinister threat Brian had just
issued.
    Jonathan gently
placed a kiss on her forehead in an almost fatherly manner. The
warmth of his lips as they briefly pressed against her cold brow
made her gasp in surprise but, before she could fathom what to say
to him, he relinquished his hold and turned to face forward.
    “Let’s get you
home,” he drawled.
    “I was going to
go to read to your uncle,” Kat murmured from behind him. For some
reason, she was strangely reluctant to put her hands on him, much
less her arms around him. She was astonishingly aware that her
skirts were rucked up above her knees. As they made their way
toward the village, she frantically tried to think of something to
say that would make him leave her at the edge of the village. While
she didn’t want to offend him, she didn’t want the gossips to have
a field day. Although being connected with the lord of the manor
wouldn’t be too much of a discredit, she didn’t want her virtuous
reputation to be tarnished by being branded his lover, his whore or
anything else they wanted to call her. She couldn’t lose sight of
just how easily he disappeared from the village, and stayed away
for many months at a time. She didn’t want the pitying looks, or
suspicious glances, when people assumed that she was his dumped
lover.
    To her
consternation, Jonathan insisted on her riding to the front gate of
the first house that marked the edge of the village. Even then she
had to persistently nag him until he sighed and agreed to allow her
to dismount. To her dismay however, he dismounted too and insisted
on escorting her to her front door. She was aware of the curious
looks and the cautious greetings of her neighbours as they passed,
but didn’t take the time to explain.
    She tried to
say goodbye to him at the front door, only to be thwarted by her
own family. As soon as she opened the door, she walked in and
caught sight of her mother. The initial shock that appeared on
Agnes’ face when she caught sight of Jonathan behind Kat was
quickly replaced with a cautious smile of welcome.
    Kat’s eyes met
and held her mother’s for a moment and she silently willed Jonathan
not to tell her mother what had happened. Her mother