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

as I.”
    Katherine’s
insides took an odd tumble at that declaration. When he again faced her, however,
she raised her chin and arched one brow in question. Why had he lied to the
Cookes? She didn’t want to look away from him to write the question, however.
There was an intensity in his eyes that stilled her.
    Lord Drayton’s
mouth opened, then closed and tightened. As he walked toward her holding the
candle, the room shrank behind him in the darkness.
    Since he hadn’t
dismissed her, Katherine did not move.
    He stopped and
scrutinized her, his features flickering in the candlelight. “Must you always
tremble like this? I do not wish to frighten you. Whatever the past, you may be
assured of your safety.”
    There it was
again, that reference to the past. She hadn’t met him before now, had she?
Insulted him during a party at Whitehall? Perhaps Ellis had done something.
    No. She’d never
seen Lord Drayton before. She would have remembered his height, the span of his
considerable shoulders, those blue eyes, that jagged scar on his jaw. Her
overwhelming draw toward him.
    “Would that you
could speak,” he said softly. “We would have much to discuss.”
    Indeed they
would. She’d question his paradox of behaviors toward her, protecting her from
others while maintaining a simmering animosity. She took in a slow breath then,
and caught the clean masculine scent of him, warm citrus and spice.
    At once,
everything about him stood out in more vivid detail than a single candle could
possibly provide. Katherine heard his intake of breath with clarity, felt the
air around them crackle.
    His eyes
darkened as they drifted to her lips. He stood so very near.
    The sleeve of
his linen shirt rasped as he moved his hand toward her waist. His tongue wetted
his lips, and Katherine feared her heart would burst from her chest.
    An odd, aching
warmth stole into the most private part of her.
    Now he would
take her in his arms and kiss her. Baffled at the thought, she knew she would
let him. She closed her eyes.
    His hand brushed
her waist. She heard a click at her side, and her dazed mind registered it as a
latch.
    “You are
blocking the door.”
    Her eyes opened.
His tone, impassive and flat, matched the expression on his face. Gads! She was
a fool to think that Lord Drayton could feel any emotion.
    The man had a
heart forged from iron.
    ****
    In her
bedchamber once more, Katherine allowed Millie to help her change into her
nightclothes, and then dismissed her with a wave. She walked to the window and
once again opened it to let in the breeze. Below her, the Cookes made their
noisy way to their carriage. Sir Cooke stumbled and cursed, and Lady Cooke
fussed at him. Edward seemed unperturbed.
    Agnes glanced
up. Her head angled to the side as she stared at Katherine as if contemplating
something. To be polite, Katherine waved, and after a moment, Agnes returned
the gesture.
    Katherine turned
away from the window and then crossed the room to sink into the chair at her
writing desk.
    Lord Drayton
provoked a swirling cauldron of emotions within her that she’d never encountered
in her life. She should detest him for his coldness, or fear him because of
what he might have done to his wife. Instead, she couldn’t help the undoubtedly
lethal heat that made her breath come short and her hands damp whenever she was
near him. What was behind that aloof, handsome face, and why did he affect her
so?
    She balled up
her fists and hit her thighs in frustration, and then rubbed her legs briskly against
their protesting ache. His references to their tied past mystified her. She
could not fathom how they knew of each other before her arrival here yesterday
afternoon.
    Unable to dispel
her agitation, she pulled her journal from the drawer of the writing desk and
opened it to a blank page. Only here could she express her innermost thoughts.
    Moments later, a
ponderous creak behind her made her drop the quill with a gasp and whip her
head around. Her