Read Her Rebel Heart for Free Online Page A

what he's doing in Ludlow that interests me.”
    “Shall I send our scout again?” Ned asked.
    Luke shook his head. “No. I will go myself.”
    “Don't be a fool,” Deliverance scoffed. “You can't just walk into Ludlow. You would be instantly suspected.”
    Luke looked back at her, his brows creased.
    “Not if I had a woman with me.” He raised an eyebrow, a slow, conspiratorial smile spreading over his face. The grey eyes that only a moment ago had cut her down with the force of cold steel, now rested on her with the warmth of soft smoke. “A woman who had a fancy for a little adventure?”
    “Do you mean me? Don’t be such a fool. Do you really think that I, the daughter of Sir John Felton, rebel, can just walk in through the gates of Ludlow when it suits me?”
    “You could if you were suitably disguised. Are you particularly well known in Ludlow?”
    Deliverance bit her lip, trying to suppress the sudden surge of excitement within her. What would her father say when he found out? Would he commend her for her courage and audacity?
    “Not so well known that I couldn't pass as a goodwife on her way to Ludlow market.”
    “And when is market day?” Luke asked.
    “Collyer, this is folly!” Ned interposed.
    “Tomorrow,” Deliverance said.
    “Excellent,” Luke said. “Tomorrow it is.”
    “Are you both mad?” Ned looked from one to the other. “Do you honestly think that you will get away with this?”
    Luke held Deliverance's gaze with his as he said, “Yes, I do, Ned.”
    “Then let me go,” Ned said. “You're needed here.”
    Luke gave his second-in-command a withering glance. “What am I doing that's so valuable here? Digging ditches?”
    Ned looked at Deliverance. “Of all the people in the castle, the two of you are the ones we can least spare. Please see sense. Mistress Felton, see sense.”
    Luke's gaze returned to Deliverance. His grey eyes sparkled with irresistible and infectious mischief. “Well? Mistress Felton, it's entirely up to you.”
    What he proposed was rash, bordering on dangerous, but looking into the smoky depths of his eyes she would have followed him into hell.

    The gates of Ludlow stood open, but heavily guarded as the market day traffic flowed into the old town. Seated pillion behind Luke on the oldest cob they could find in the stable, Deliverance’s stomach gave a nervous lurch. Even the telling off she had endured from Penitence could not quell the heady anticipation of danger. Every nerve in her body seemed to have a life of its own. The lure of adventure had always called her and now she had the opportunity to shine. She would make her father proud of her, the worthy protector of Kinton Lacey.
    She gripped the handle of her basket of eggs harder with one hand while the other, twisted in Luke's belt. He cast a reproachful look over his shoulder.
    “Relax your grip. I can hardly breathe.” he said.
    They had rehearsed their story on the journey. She would be Goodwife Chambers of Kersey bringing eggs to sell at the market. In a russet gown borrowed from her maid, Meg, and a starched white cap on her head, topped with a flat crowned brown felt hat that concealed her face, she looked very much a goodwife.
    Luke would be her 'man', Tom Perry. Despite much grumbling from Luke, Penitence had rough-cut his hair like a labourer’s, and now it stuck out at odd angles from beneath the filthy, battered hat borrowed, like the greasy jerkin he wore, from one of the stable hands. Riding behind him, at such close quarters, Deliverance’s nose wrinkled at the smell of man and horse that exuded from his borrowed garments.
    The guards on the gate gave them no more than a cursory inspection and asked their business. Deliverance responded in a faultless local accent that would have appalled her father.
    Once inside the gate, they found a stable for the cob, and set out on foot for the market square at the gates of the castle. They stood looking up at the magnificent walls and the