Reckless Angel Read Online Free Page A

all the laws of chance to imagine that the presence in this cottage of two strangers and an injured girl would go unnoticed in the surrounding countryside—and not all who heard of them would be of Royalist sympathy.

Chapter 2
    I t was a week later when Tom rode up to the cottage, alarm etched in every line of the leathery countenance. “’Tis said a party of Roundhead troopers and a captain are combing the area, sir,” he blurted out as he jumped from the cob. “They’ve already found three wounded men holed up in a barn about five miles from ’ere.” He spat disgustedly on the ground. “Bastards fired the barn, although the farmer swore ’e’d no knowledge of the men hidden there. Poor sod lost ’is winter’s feed.”
    Daniel glanced backward at the neat little cottage, the turning mill wheel, the harvested field, the round figure of the goodwife bent over a currant bush in the kitchen garden. After all the kindness shown them, they could not put the woman and her son at risk of losing their livelihood. It was time Harry was induced to tell the truth, so that at least they might flee in the right direction.
    She had left her sickbed on wobbly legs the previous day, and was now sitting in the shade of a copper beech by the front door. He had been right about her hair. Freshly washed, it was the color of corn silk, feathering in soft tendrils around a heart-shaped face in which the brown eyes still appeared overlarge. She was wearing a borrowed gown that swamped her in shapeless folds, evidence of the goodwife’s rather different bodily structure. However, there was nothing waiflike aboutthe smile with which she greeted Daniel as he approached.
    â€œAre you come to amuse me, Sir Daniel? I am sadly bored just sitting here without even a book to while away the tedium.”
    â€œAlas, child, I am come to annoy you, I fear,” he said. “We must move from here without delay, and I’ve a need to know in what direction our way lies.”
    â€œWhy, sir, how should I know in what direction your way lies?” she said, that mulish look upon her face again, replacing the previous smile. “’Tis no business of mine.”
    â€œI think we had better continue this discussion in your chamber,” he said quietly. “I intend to have the truth from you.”
    There was something about the quiet tone that caused Henrietta a quiver of apprehension. “I will not go home,” she said as he took her elbow and drew her to her feet.
    â€œWe will see about that.”
    She pulled back against the hand that would lead her into the house, but even had she been restored to full health and strength her resistance could only have been token. “I won’t go home,” she reiterated on a note of desperation. “I can fend for myself if you must leave. Mayhap the goodwife will let me stay with her and earn my keep.”
    â€œYou talk foolishness,” he replied shortly, pushing her ahead of him up the narrow staircase. “Now, let us be done with this Harry nonsense. I want your name.”
    Released, she thumped down on the cot, drawing her knees up and hugging them fiercely. “I am called Harry.”
    â€œOf what family?” There was an edge now to the smooth, deep voice, and the hint of humor it normally contained was quite gone. His eyes were hard; his lips thinned.
    Henrietta shook her head in mute refusal.
    â€œIf you were one of my daughters,” Daniel saidsoftly, “I would make short work of your obstinacy. Do not try me too far.”
    Her eyes widened. “How many do you have?”
    â€œHow many what?” The question threw him off balance, bearing no relation as far as he could see to the matter under discussion.
    â€œDaughters, of course.” Interest laced her voice.
    For a moment his expression softened. “Two, and a graceless pair they are.” A shadow crossed his eyes. “They