Read Lord and Master for Free Online Page A

Gregory. Have you ever considered working in Stockholm?’
    They hurried back to the hut, but as they approached they heard Walker’s raised voice from within.
    â€˜â€¦ah fecking willnae wear it, fecking Swedish bastard!’
    Stefan quickly pulled Luna aside, out of Walker’s sight line through the open door. Pressing her up against the wooden siding that lined the hut’s exterior, he placed a finger on his lips.
    Walker continued ranting. ‘Thinks he can come in here, tell me my job…and
her,
that wee betch, the Marchioness’s terrier…’
    Luna raised an eyebrow at Stefan, who had the ill grace to look vaguely amused by Walker’s description of her.
    â€˜Ah tell ye, Fox, ye need to nep this in th’ bud. Talk to her Ladyship before we
both
end up in the crapper…’ There was a long silence as Walker listened to the person on the other end of the line. ‘Well, see ye do then.’ A pause, followed by raucous laughter. ‘Yeah, well you’re telling
me
…she’s got a right pole up her arse…’
    The conversation continued in this way, desultory now that Walker had vented his spleen, and Luna made to move away, but Stefan held her in place, shaking his head. Luna became conscious of his arms braced against the walls of the hut, penning her in. Now that the heat had gone out of Walker’s phone call, Stefan, too, seemed to become aware of their proximity. She could feel his breath on her face, see his bright blue eyes following the line of her cheek down to her throat.
    What was happening here? What had started as a bit of impromptu espionage had become…something else. Stefan’s face lowered towards hers till their noses were almost touching. Walker’s voice faded away, subsumed by the thrum of blood in Luna’s ears.
    Stefan turned his head this way, then that, within centimetres of Luna’s own. Silently feinting with her, a prelude to a kiss. Then he leaned in closer, bypassing her mouth. His nose grazed her earlobe, and she heard him inhale at the exact spot where she applied her perfume.
    Luna placed her hand on Stefan’s chest, felt his heart beating sure and steady. And pushed him away.
    Walker’s phone conversation was coming to a close. ‘Right then, yeah, I’ll ring ye later…’ Stefan grinned down at Luna as if to say,
can’t blame a man for trying,
then grabbed her hand and pulled her away from the hut.
    Three minutes later, with the edge of the forest and the garden gates in sight, and her own heart back to something like a normal pace, Luna broke the silence.
    â€˜Well. A terrier with a pole up its arse. I’m a little insulted, I must say.’
    Stefan laughed. ‘I think of you more as a loyal Alsatian. Tough, and smart.’
    â€˜I can’t say I’m enjoying the canine comparisons on the whole.’
    â€˜No,’ Stefan agreed. ‘No, most unchivalrous. You can leave Mr Walker to me from now on. Who was he talking to, do you think?’
    Luna sighed. ‘That, I can help you with. “Fox” is a pet name. It’s what some people call your cousin, Florian Wellstone.’ The Marquess’s brother, first in line to the estate.

    *
    Later that night as she sorted clothes into washing piles in her bedroom, Luna reviewed Walker’s part of the phone conversation that afternoon. Florian Wellstone was a keen hunter, and it was well known that he and Paul Walker were also sometime drinking companions. Luna thought it might even have been Walker who gave Florian his nickname; with his red hair and bright, darting eyes, the Marquess’s younger brother did look like a fox, but Luna thought a more likely explanation was his lust for killing animals, to the point of pure excess. Like a fox, Florian Wellstone killed indiscriminately, for the sheer pleasure of it. He’d set Luna’s teeth on edge on the occasions she’d met him.
    And now