Free My Lady Vixen by Connie Mason Page B

would have fought Adam to the death rather than allow him to defile Alexa.
    Alexa felt her small frame shake violently as she grasped the large brass knocker in trembling fingers. Why should she feel such fear? she asked herself dully. This was her home and her father would no doubt be happy to find her safe and sound. Banging the knocker three times, she stood back to wait.
    Within minutes the door was opened to reveal a pleasant-faced older woman dressed in a black dress covered by a voluminous white apron so spotless it dazzled the eyes. Her gray hair was drawn into a neat bun and her dark eyes viewed the bedraggled figure standing on the doorstep with compassion.
    “Beggars are fed at the back door,” she said not unkindly as she started to close the door.
    “Maddy, wait, it’s me!” Alexa cried, dismay clouding her perfect features. “I’ve come home!”
    The housekeeper recognized her mistress the moment she heard Alexa’s voice. “Oh, my lady Alexa!” she cried, throwing her apron over her head, “you’ve come home!”
    Alexa stepped inside and shut the door behind her, then moved to take the sobbing Maddy in her arms. Maddy had been their housekeeper for as long as Alexa could remember and the closest thing she had to a mother. Maddy had bestowed love and understanding freely on the motherless child when Alexa’s father was too busy to care.
    “I’m home, Maddy,” Alexa crooned consolingly. “Don’t carry on so. I’ve not been harmed.”
    “But the note, milady! The note your father received said you were … were …”
    “We’ll talk about it later, Maddy,” Alexa said, fullycognizant of Adam’s cruelty. His note to her father must have been explicit in revealing his intentions toward Alexa. “I need to talk to my father first. Is he home?”
    John Ashley stood at the top of the stairs, thoroughly annoyed at having his work disturbed by loud voices. Still handsome and trim at forty-five, he frequently displayed a raging temper and mean streak that kept the servants terrified. To Alexa, he rarely showed this side of his nature, but with his cohorts he earned the reputation of being a man easily aroused to vindictive acts when crossed. He was invaluable to King George for he could be counted upon to deal swiftly and ruthlessly with enemies of his country and his king. No compassion existed in his stalwart body.
    With the possible exception of his daughter, John Ashley exhibited strong feelings for nothing or no one. At least that had been so for the past eighteen years. And had Alexa not been such a loving and dutiful daughter, his disposition would have been entirely different. After he had killed his wife’s lover he watched carefully throughout the years for some manifestation of his wife’s unfaithful nature in her small daughter. But thankfully the child had grown up in her father’s shadow exhibiting no sign that she would develop into the wanton her mother had become. Until now, that is.
    “Oh, Sir John!” Maddy cried joyfully, “Lady Alexa has returned!”
    Sir John stared incredulously at the slim figure ill-clad in a dirty white shirt and trousers, her long dark tresses covered by a wrinkled kerchief. “Alexa, is it truly you? What are you doing here?”
    Alexa had been in the process of throwing herself into her father’s arms when his words stopped her cold. Her violet eyes gew wide with confusion as she watched him slowly descend the stairs until he stood before her.Alexa gasped as he skimmed her slim figure with barely concealed contempt.
    “Father, what’s wrong? Aren’t you glad to see me?”
    “I would think you’d have the decency not to return.”
    “I … I don’t understand.”
    “Well, I understand only too well where you’ve been and what you’ve become. Your lover’s note explained all too clearly. To think that a daughter of mine should become whore to the spawn of Martin Foxworth, the man responsible for your mother’s death!”
    “My mother! You