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

a...friend?”
    Katherine jumped
to her feet, temper blazing. How dare she speak thus?
    Voices outside
the parlor doors heralded the arrival of other guests. Katherine froze, chest
heaving, fighting the mounting cough-tickle in her throat. Lord Drayton might
enter at any second. Since they hadn’t crossed paths since their first meeting
yesterday, it wouldn’t do for him to see her coughing into one hand while
raising the other to slap his betrothed across her white, cerused face.
    “Gramercy!
Alexander is coming in and I am a mess.” With a satisfied pucker of her lips,
Agnes smoothed her blue dress and patted her shining curls.
    Katherine
dropped back into her chair and attempted unsuccessfully to control both her
temper and her cough. Lord Drayton had little taste in women if he courted this
one.
    Seconds later, a
young man dressed in bright blue petticoat breeches and matching embroidered
jacket strolled into the room with Elizabeth. Following were a thin older
gentleman and a short, wide woman, both of them dressed entirely in green. A
stalk of celery with an artichoke, Katherine mused.
    Lord Drayton
entered last, tall and arresting. Indeed, a most pleasing sight.
    His gaze stopped
and remained on her far too long, his eyes sending a silent question that she
couldn’t discern.
    Her heart’s leap
had nothing to do with seeing him again, of course. He was most certainly a
passionless man, full of wasted virility—even if he did emanate a primal
strength that made her quiver. To regain her poise, she studied his attire.
    His taste in
clothes confirmed his status as a country dweller. That dark blue shirt needed
more lace at the wrists. He’d bothered with neither waistcoat nor petticoat
breeches, but instead wore another pair of those plain leg-hugging breeches,
these the color of dead weeds.
    Not one ribbon
festooned him. Even his golden hair hung unbound. And in those ancient brown
leather boots, he would be laughed out of Court.
    Yes. He was an
unruly savage, completely lacking in fashionable taste.
    Had he really
had something to do with his wife’s demise? The rumor had to be simple servant
gossip, else these perfumed vegetables wouldn’t be visiting.
    When at last she
could tear her eyes from him, her gaze happened upon Agnes, who had brightened,
cocked her head, and set a charming smile to her red lips.
    “How do you do,
my lord?”
    A smile touched
Lord Drayton’s lips when he answered, “I am well, Mistress Cooke. And you?”
    “ Very well, thank you.” Agnes’ predatory eyes shone with some emotion. Lust, perhaps.
    There. Agnes and
Lord Drayton must be, if not betrothed, in earnest courtship.
    Katherine fought
to relax her throat when Lord Drayton again turned his attention to her. He
seemed to take in all of her with that penetrating gaze, as if she were the
only other person in the room with him.
    “Lady Katherine,
may I present Sir Robert and Lady Sarah Cooke, and their son, Mister Edward
Cooke,” he said.
    She gave each of
his guests a polite nod. Edward’s smile was friendly but cautious, whereas his
parents regarded her as if she were an animal on exhibit. A silence ensued
while they seemed to decide how to deal with her.
    Katherine had
grown used to others’ awkwardness toward her lack of speech, but it didn’t ease
the deep pain within. She was different now, something curious to stare at—or ignore.
    Again the cough
threatened, and again she desperately swallowed it away.
    Then, Lord
Drayton stood beside her, and somehow his towering nearness calmed her. “May I
present Lady Katherine Seymour,” he said, frowning at Edward. “She will be
staying here for a fortnight or so.”
    Katherine tried
to maintain her smile. Only a fortnight, and then tossed to another destination.
Would she ever find a home?
    Alex wished to
hell Edward would hurry up and ask his cousin’s hand in marriage. The man’s
eyes did not leave Elizabeth as she seated the Cookes around the parlor after
they