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

finished their rude stares at Katherine.
    Sarah Cooke
settled her round self, leaned toward Katherine, and shouted, “Did you meet
with much rain on your journey here?”
    “She is mute and
dimwitted, Madam, not deaf,” said Robert as he plucked a goblet of wine from a
servant’s tray. “You can ask, but she will not answer.”
    Sarah sat back
and touched her fingers to her lips as if self-conscious. Her gaze flitted to Agnes,
who raised her brows and gave a bored shrug.
    Alex watched
Katherine’s aggravated, rhythmic tap of her fingers on her slate, and wondered
why anyone, including himself, had assumed she’d be daft. She seemed perfectly
attuned to the activity around her. The slight smirk on her face as she
examined everyone’s clothing confirmed his initial suspicion of her arrogance;
a product of London nobility she was. Had she been even haughtier before the
fire? Was she a bit more humbled now by the new knowledge of her past?
    His mind snapped
to attention when she lifted the chalk to write, and he involuntarily tensed
and clenched his jaw. “’Tis an annoyance to hear that sound.”
    Brows furrowing
with indignation, she waved him off with a quick flick of her hand. Alex glared
at her, but knew her reaction was justified. The slate was her only means of
communication.
    Beside him,
Robert’s angular features creased into a smile. “Your acquisition seems lively.
And she is not old after all, is she?”
    Alex grunted
under his breath and drew a scowl. “Not old. But a burden nonetheless.” No need
to tell Robert how she affected him.
    The statement
had been meant for Robert’s ears only, but Agnes caught it and giggled. “Lord
Drayton, you mustn’t be cruel to poor Lady Katherine. She may be a burden, as
you said, but she certainly admires your drapes.”
    Across the room,
Katherine glowered at Agnes, then turned darkened eyes, etched with hurt, on
him.
    Alex hid both
his annoyance at Agnes and regret at his words. She had just caused him the
need to apologize to Katherine.
    “A highwayman
lurks along the woodland path to Chiswick,” Sarah said. “My maid told me she
heard he attacked a lone rider last week and left him for dead.”
    “He is a
coward,” Robert said. “He hides in the woods, and only shows himself when
there’s one rider.”
    “I would be
afraid to go to town without at least two footmen,” Elizabeth said with a
shiver.
    Edward sent his
easy smile toward Elizabeth. “Just stay on the main road away from the forest,
and you should be fine. ’Tis what I’d do.”
    “That’s you,
Ed,” Robert growled. “You’d steer clear of him. Agnes now, if she were a man,
she’d run the rogue down and run a sword through him before he got a chance to
yelp.”
    Agnes flipped
open her white fan and began a swift flutter, her eyes on Alex above the lacy
edge. “But I am a lady, Father. Not a man.”
    “Must’ve been a
mistake,” Robert said.
    The usual gleam
of Agnes’ eyes faded. Edward, perhaps used to such talk, sent a dispassionate
glance toward his father.
    Alex silently
acknowledged a brief empathy toward Robert’s children, and then returned his
attention to Katherine. Had any doctor inspected her throat? He dismissed the
question. The king had no reason not to have aided Katherine as her father’s
traitorous trunk had only been discovered in the past month. Not only that, but
she was a noblewoman formerly betrothed to a man holding the prestigious
position of gentleman of the king’s bedchamber. Surely even a worm like Lord
Rochester would pay the best doctors in London to heal her before he grew tired
of waiting and shook her from his pudgy, bejeweled hands.
    The best
doctors. And in London, too. Before he could crush it, a ghost of an idea took
shape in Alex’s mind.
    “And the dog
leaps, I tell you, leaps as high as my head to catch the dried sheep dung that
the groomsman’s children throw,” Edward was telling them, his eyes now bright
with amazement. “I