Read To Tempt An Angel (Book 1 Douglas series) for Free Online Page B

dragging him here,” Samantha added. “How will we get him to the surgeons?”
    “We could have managed if you didn’t have that damned limp,” Victoria told her sister.
    “If it weren’t for me,” Samantha countered, “you would still be trying to read those tombstones.”
    Ignoring her sister, Victoria turned to Robert, asking, “May we use your horse?”
    “Everyone will go back inside the cottage,” Robert ordered, taking charge of the situation. “ Now .”
    “What about Mr. Lewis?” Aunt Roxie asked.
    “Mr. Lewis isn’t going anywhere,” Robert told her.
    Aunt Roxie, Samantha, and Victoria marched around the cottage to the front door. Behind them walked Robert and Angelica, carrying the lantern.
    “I’m sorry you had to witness this,” Angelica said. “I had nothing to do with Mr. Lewis’s abduction.”
    “Be thankful I drove out here tonight,” Robert said, “or the lot of you would have hanged.” Once inside the cottage, he ordered, “Sit down, ladies.”
    Aunt Roxie and the girls sat on the settee in front of the summer-darkened hearth. Only Angelica remained standing.
    “Hello,” the macaw called from inside his blanket-covered cage.
    “Good night,” Angelica called to the bird.
    “Good night.”
    Robert ran a hand through his black hair and wondered what kind of an asylum he’d stepped into. No wonder the earl had lost his fortune. The whole damned Douglas family was mad.
    Robert turned to Angelica, whose gaze was fixed on his formal evening attire. She looked surprised.
    “Your revenge requires that I renew some old acquaintances,” he said by way of an explanation. Without giving her a chance to think, he asked, “Where is your father?”
    Angelica shrugged. “My father won’t return until he needs drinking money.”
    Though it made him uncomfortable, Robert decided to play the role of father. He turned to raven-haired Samantha and asked, “How old are you?”
    “Seventeen,” she answered.
    “And you?” he asked the flame-haired Victoria.
    “Sixteen.”
    “Have either of you ever witnessed a hanging?” Robert asked, his voice filling with anger. “Let me tell you what happens to a—”
    “Please don’t,” Aunt Roxie cried. “My nieces are delicate creatures who couldn’t endure the shock, and speaking of vile things will bring us bad luck.”
    Robert inclined his head and then turned his attention again to the delicate creatures who’d dragged Mr. Lewis out of his coffin. “Hanging is an unpleasant death.”
    “The money is worth the risk,” Samantha told him.
    “We were lucky no one else tried to steal Mr. Lewis,” Victoria agreed with her sister. “There are organized gangs that steal bodies, you know.”
    “You little blockheads, the anatomical schools are in session from October to May,” Robert informed them. “There’s no demand for corpses in the summer.”
    Aunt Roxie burst out laughing. Angelica covered her mouth with her hands and tried to stifle the laughter bubbling up in her throat
    Robert flicked a glance at her but managed to maintain a stern expression. “Samantha and Victoria, go to your room, and do not dare show your faces until morning,” he ordered.
    The two younger Douglas girls rose from their chairs and headed for their bedroom. After she’d passed him, Victoria stuck her tongue out at his back
    “We’ll need a shovel to put Mr. Lewis back into his grave,” Robert told Angelica.
    “We left ours there,” Samantha called from the doorway. “We couldn’t manage the shovel and Mr. Lewis.”
    “Take the lantern,” Robert ordered Angelica.
    “What shall I do?” Aunt Roxie asked.
    “Guard those two miscreants.”
    Stepping outside the cottage, Angelica glanced sidelong at Robert. Almost magically, he had appeared to rescue her and her family.
    “We’ll drive into the garden,” Robert told her.  “I don’t want anyone to see me loading Mr. Lewis into my carriage.”
    “Thank you,” Angelica said, touching his