Reese's Bride. Kat Martin

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СКАЧАТЬ Bransford Castle, his brother’s home, on a piece of property at the edge of the village, and Royal was already making plans to build a second plant closer to London.

      His brother needed barley to increase his production. Whatever Reese produced was certain to sell.

      The thought did nothing to lift his mood. He had never wanted to be a gentleman farmer. He was only there now because he had promised his dying father he would come back and work the land he had inherited.

      It was a promise he meant to keep, even if he hated every bloody minute.

      So far, if he was honest with himself, being a member of the landed gentry hadn’t been so bad. In fact, he had begun to enjoy the peace and quiet of the Wiltshire countryside. No waking up to the sound of cannon fire. No riding for endless hours until he fell exhausted into his cot at night.

      Watching the leaves turn red and gold and hearing the wind sighing through the trees instead of watching the men in his command dying in pools of their own blood.

      Still, he missed the camaraderie, missed traveling to faraway places, missed his friends. He was glad Travis had stopped for a visit.

      It kept his mind off Elizabeth and her son.

      “Your Elizabeth … she’s extremely beautiful,” Trav said, pulling his thought back in that direction.

      Reese’s stomach instantly knotted. He looked over at his friend. “She is hardly my Elizabeth. We are barely civil to one another. I told you, she is only here because she asked for my protection.”

      “But she is beautiful.”

      He gave up a sigh. “More beautiful, I think, than she was as a girl.”

      They turned away from the fields and headed back toward the house. Reese made it a point to walk every day to exercise the muscles in his stiff leg. One day he meant to climb into a saddle, though he grudgingly admitted he wasn’t up to it yet.

      “So what do you plan to do? About the woman, I mean?”

      As they reached the top of a rise and looked down on the whitewashed, slate-roofed manor draped with ivy, he blew out a breath.

      “I wish I knew. She isn’t completely recovered. Once she is, I imagine she’ll go on to London. She was her father’s only heir. When he died, he intended she would inherit his fortune, including the family mansion, Holiday House. As I recall, it’s quite a place.”

      “Will she be safe there?” Travis asked.

      It was a question he didn’t want to consider. An unwanted kernel of worry swelled in his chest. “I’ve sent a letter to an investigator named Morgan. Royal has used his services in the past. I’ve asked him to find out what he can about Edmund Holloway and his brother, Mason. Once Elizabeth returns to London, I’ll have him arrange some kind of security for her protection.”

      “But still you are worried. I can see it in your face.”

      He smoothed his features into blandness, but he and Trav had been friends too long to play games.

      “Jared is still just a boy. Elizabeth is frightened for him. After my run-in with Holloway, I don’t blame her.”

      “Perhaps they are better off here.”

      His stomach tightened. Having Elizabeth there was the last thing he wanted. “For the time being, they are. My aunt is due to arrive any day. At least that will staunch any possible gossip.”

      Travis smiled. “I’ve met your aunt. Lady Tavistock is quite something.”

      The edge of his mouth curved. “She is definitely a force to be reckoned with. I don’t envy Elizabeth. Aunt Aggie considers her little better than a harlot.”

      Travis chuckled. “It’s a definite coil. I’m glad I’ll be leaving before your aunt arrives.”

      Reese tossed him a glance. “Coward.”

      Travis just laughed.

      They walked along in silence, Reese pondering his good friend’s words. Elizabeth and her son were in danger. Of that he had no doubt. He couldn’t stop thinking of the boy. Seeing him there in the stable gazing with reverence at the mare, he could have been Reese’s own son.

      The notion had occurred to him, of course. There had been that single night, a fumbling, desperate coupling between two people who hadn’t meant for things to go so far. Looking back on it, he was sorry Elizabeth had suffered his amateurish efforts. She deserved a better initiation, not a bumbling attempt by a novice to the act himself.

      He wasn’t that green lad anymore. During his years as a soldier, he’d had dozens of women. He had learned from skilled courtesans how to pleasure a woman and in doing so gain more pleasure for himself.

      But that single night with Elizabeth, he hadn’t even spilled his seed inside her. He had known that much, at least. He had been determined to protect her, and his brother had unwittingly told him the way.

      Jared wasn’t his, he was sure. His hair wasn’t black but a dark chocolate brown, the same deep color as his eyes. His features were softer, less carved than his own. His manner was different, as well. He was extremely withdrawn.

      Reese had been a little shy as a boy, but neither he nor any of the Dewar brothers had been anything like Jared.

      The boy belonged to Edmund Holloway and Reese couldn’t help wondering how soon after Reese had left for London, the earl had enjoyed the woman Reese had already made his.

      Travis left the following morning, an hour before Aunt Aggie’s carriage pulled up in front of the manor. The weather had turned blustery and cold and his frail aunt leaned against him, the wind whipping her skirts, as Reese led her along the brick walkway toward the front porch.

      She sighed as they entered the house out of the weather and Hopkins closed the front door. Shoving the hood of her cloak back from her gleaming silver hair, she smiled, resilient as always.

      “You’re looking well, nephew, if perhaps a little strained.”

      More than a little, he thought, with Elizabeth under his roof. “It’s good to see you, Aunt Agatha.”

      She cast him a glance. He usually called her Aunt Aggie—much to her distress. “That desperate, are you? It’s a good thing I have come.”

      He smiled as he settled her on the sofa in the drawing room, thinking how good it was to have her there, though he wished she couldn’t read him quite so well. “Thank you for coming, Auntie. As I said in my letter, Lady Aldridge has a son. It’s important her reputation be protected.”

      His aunt merely grunted. “She didn’t seem to mind the scandal when she tossed you over for that no-good Aldridge.”

      He tried not to smile. His aunt had always been prejudiced in her nephews’ favor and far too outspoken, even if he did agree.

      “She and the boy are in danger. She asked for my protection and I couldn’t turn her away.”

      She harrumphed this time, but didn’t argue. Though she might СКАЧАТЬ