Free To Tempt An Angel (Book 1 Douglas series) by Patricia; Grasso Page B

palm of her hand.
    “No, but I’m certain I will someday,” she answered with a rueful smile.
    Angelica watched Robert ride down the dirt road to Primrose Hill. For the first time since she’d met him, he turned in the saddle and waved before disappearing from sight.
    In spite of seducing the virginity from her, Angelica thought, Robert Roy was truly heaven-sent. He cared about what happened to her and her family. Yes, he had seduced her before mentioning his aversion to marriage, but other than that one lapse, he’d been completely honest with her. How ridiculous that an expert cheat like herself should value honesty and loyalty above all else.
    Long after the sun had set, Angelica sat with her sisters in front of the hearth and told them her plans for revenge. Jasper had long since been put to bed, and Aunt Roxie was floating in and out of her bedchamber. She seemed in high spirits for a woman who’d buried her brother only that morning.
    “Aunt Roxie, what are you doing?” Angelica asked finally. “I’m packing a few of my belongings,” her aunt answered.
    Her reply confused Angelica “Are you going somewhere?”
    “Yes, I am,” her aunt answered with an ambiguous smile, and disappeared into her chamber.
    “Do you think Papa’s death has unbalanced Aunt Roxie?” Samantha whispered.
    “Aunt Roxie has always been a bit unbalanced,” Victoria answered.
    Angelica smiled at that. “We need to walk to the graveyard now.”
    “Why?” Samantha asked.
    “I want to be certain that Robert hasn’t forgotten his promise to guard Papa,” Angelica answered.
    “He said there was no demand for corpses at this time of year,” Victoria said.
    “That didn’t stop you,” Angelica replied, echoing Robert’s words.
    Samantha and Victoria rose from the settee. Angelica stood when they did and glanced at her aunt’s closed bedchamber door. She caught her sisters’ attention and shook her head.
    The three sisters tiptoed out of the cottage, stopping only to light a lantern. The night was warm and hushed and eerily dark since no moon shone overhead to help the lantern light their way. Ten minutes later, the girls arrived at the graveyard.
    “I don’t see any lantern light,” Angelica said, disappointed. “Robert must have forgotten.”
    “Perhaps he’s been delayed,” Samantha suggested.
    “I bet he’s on his way,” Victoria added.
    “We’ll guard Papa until he arrives,” Angelica said.
    “Can we guard him from here?” Victoria asked. “You know I don’t like the dark or graveyards.”
    “You weren’t afraid when you abducted Mr. Lewis,” Angelica reminded her.
    “Yes, she was,” Samantha said. “I had the devil of a time getting her inside. Tory jumped at every little noise and gave me the creeps.”
    “We’re going inside,” Angelica told her youngest sister. “You can wait here alone in the dark or come with us.”
    “Lead the way,” Victoria said.
    Though reluctant to enter the graveyard at night, Angelica forced herself to step inside and hold the lantern high. She walked the breadth of the graveyard to where they had buried their father beside their mother.
    “You don’t trust my word, angel?” asked a voice in the darkness.
    Angelica gasped in surprise, as did her sisters. She smiled when Robert appeared in the light cast by the lantern. “You’re alone?” she asked.
    Two other men stepped into the light. “These are my friends, James Armstrong and Adam St. Aubyn.”
    “I am pleased to meet you,” Angelica said. “These are my sisters, Samantha and Victoria”
    “We’ve heard good things about you,” James Armstrong told her.
    “Yes, we certainly have,” Adam St. Aubyn agreed.
    Angelica tried to think what good things Robert could have said about her. She’d cheated him out of more than a hundred pounds, enlisted his aid in burying Mr. Lewis, given him a lesson on cheating, and—and surrendered her virginity to him. Feeling her face heat with a blush, Angelica was