Read Her Lord and Protector (formerly titled On Silent Wings) for Free Online

me
now.
    Alex swore under
his breath and slapped a hand on the table. “Fine. Anything to stop that sound.
The king suggested I take you to wife.”
    Katherine’s jaw
dropped. Her slate clattered to the table. She stared at him in wide-eyed
shock, and shook her head.
    “You needn’t
concern yourself, however,” Alex continued. Why did she grimace so? “As we
discussed yesterday, I will—”
    Katherine rose,
her back stiff and straight.
    “I did not
excuse you,” Alex said.
    The command gave
her pause, but only for a moment. She raised her chin and arched a haughty brow
at him before turning heel and sailing out of the room.
    Alex maintained
a vigilantly stern countenance. He should be satisfied that she objected to the
marriage suggestion. Instead, a band of iron seemed to tighten around his neck
and a strange, sinking distress over her reaction weighted his heart.
    Did she, too,
think him the fiend that his wife had?
    Agnes lay a hand
over her deep cleavage. “I am shocked at her willful behavior, my lord,” she
gasped. “ I would never think to do such a thing.”
    Alex dragged his
gaze from the empty doorway to Agnes. To his knowledge, she had never raised
debate over anything he said, but was drearily agreeable with him. “I am sure
you would not.” He forced a smile that felt like a grimace, and Agnes cocked
her head in that annoying manner that reminded him of a bird listening for a
worm in the ground.
    Robert dipped
his fingers into the small bowl of water set before him and then wiped them dry
on the tablecloth. “I’d say a beating is in order for that vixen.”
    Alex turned to
Robert and held no check on his displeasure. “I’d say you will not give your
opinion of how to handle a willful woman in my household.”
    “I’d offer to do
the job myself, but I know you will put her in her place.” Robert leaned back
in his chair and lifted his cup to his host.
    Alex stood to
lead his guests into the adjoining withdrawing room for dessert. He fervently
wanted everyone gone.
    Elizabeth caught
up with him at the door. “What will you do, Alex?” she whispered, her eyes
bright with worry.
    Alex paused with
one hand on the doorframe. What would he do? What he’d like to do. Catch
Katherine before she got to the stairs, swing her hard toward him, and grasp
her head in his hands. Taste her luscious mouth. Run his hands down her
damnably sensual body.
    His hand on the
doorframe clenched. “That is not your concern, Elizabeth,” he said, wanting to
drive his fist to his forehead and pound some sense into himself. “She will
soon learn that I have control over her and will demonstrate it fully if need
be.”
    “You do not
mean—”
    “I will do what
is fitting to Lady Katherine Seymour,” Alex said. “And since she cannot speak,
I will not have to listen to her futile protests.”
    ****
    “M’lady, do ye
require help—”
    Katherine slammed
the door, leaving Millie standing in the corridor. Yanking out hairpins and
tossing them onto her dressing table, she began a rapid pace across the room
and back.
    She didn’t know
at whom she was angrier—King Charles, Lord Drayton, or Sir Cooke. Charles would
not care for a complaint after so generously finding her a guardian, yet she
felt compelled to pen him a letter anyway and remind him of her father’s many
years of service during His Majesty’s exile. Out of deference to her father,
the king should have told her of his suggestion. Instead, she had to hear about
it at the dinner table in front of Lord Drayton’s guests.
    She shook out
her hair until it fell loosely down her back, then strode to the window and
flung aside the curtains. She would marry Lord Drayton when hens made holy
water! Thank heaven he agreed with her way of thinking.
    He was just as
much to blame. Had he only told her during their first meeting, she would have
tolerated the unpleasant duration of the meal. As it was, now he knew that her
forced silence had done nothing to dampen