Malia Martin Read Online Free

large front door. She had come to this home as a bride. She and John had arrived at just this time of night, actually, after the arduous journey from Rawlston Hall. She could still remember the servants swarming about them, hefting trunks and luggage. She had stood still in the middle of the chaos, staring up at the elegant townhouse in awe.
    It had been her first trip to London and her last. And she had been filled with hope, bolstered by the knowledge that the entire town of Rawlston believed in her, wanted her, the new young duchess, to fill the Hall with children and make the lands of Rawlston prosperous once more. Even though she and the Duke had not married within the first year he had inherited, the people believed Sara would break the curse. She was one of them. She knew how important it was to bear the Duke’s heir.
    Oh, she had failed them utterly. A wistful sigh blew through her lips before she could stop it. No time for self-pity now, she told herself. To make up for her failure, she must make sure that the next generation of Rawlstons did better than the last. Sara clamped her mouth shut and squared her shoulders, then she climbed the steps and frowned at the bare door. No knocker had been put out.
    Doubt made Sara bite at her bottom lip. He must be here, she thought, he must! She straightened her bodice, lifted her chin, and banged her fist against the door. And then she waited.
    And waited.
    Sara tapped her ripped and soiled slipper against the top step, peered around the quiet neighborhood, then pounded again, this time a bit harder. Nobody came. She let out a lusty sigh, then took hold of the doorknob and twisted, just in case.
    The door opened so quickly, she was yanked inside with it. She stumbled against the hard form of a large man and felt herself caught in the embrace of strong arms.
    “Oh dear.” Sara pushed away quickly, peering up at the Duke’s butler. Rather an imposing butler, she thought, pulling her bodice higher and clearing her throat. He stood with the light against his back, so she couldn’t make out his face at all. But he seemed very tall, with wide shoulders, and she definitely remembered the feel of his hard chest against her.
    “Do come in, miss,” the butler said.
    Well, that was much easier than she had thought it would be. “Thank you, kind sir,” Sara said brightly, and stepped around the man and into the Hall. Her footsteps echoed eerily in the cavernous room, making it seem rather deserted. As the butler closed and bolted the front door, Sara peered discreetly into an openroom, its contents shrouded in white sheets.
    “I didn’t expect you so soon,” the man behind her said, and Sara jumped.
    She clutched her hands together in front of her and turned around. “You expected me?”
    “Of course.” He lifted dark brows over glittering green eyes, then pulled a gold watch from the pocket of his coat and flipped open the top with a flick of his thumb. “You are quite early, actually.”
    Sara could only stare. This man had to be far and above the most beautiful butler she had ever seen. He stood tall and straight, with dark-as-night hair held back in a queue with a leather band. He had a long face with a strong square jaw that was, at the moment, covered with a day’s growth of dark beard. It should have made him look scruffy; instead, it made him look incredibly wicked, in a very tantalizing way. He looked, in fact, very much like a pirate. Not that Sara had ever seen one, of course.
    She blinked and realized that she stared. He stared right back. She reached up to cover her low décolletage with trembling fingers. “That’s a lovely watch.” She dragged her gaze from his face.
    “Thank you.” He snapped the thing closed and put it back in his coat pocket. “A present, a treasured present from my mother. I will never allow it to be stolen.”
    He looked at her meaningfully, but Sara could not fathom what that meaning was in theleast. She furrowed her brow. This