Haunted by the Earl's Touch - By Ann Lethbridge Page 0,77

for the ladder and stepped on to it. There was not help for it, she put her hands around his neck and clung on. It was either that or fall ten or more feet to the floor.

Ranger wagged his tail in greeting when they hit the ground. Mary gave him a glare. ‘But for your dog, you would never have found me.’

He gave a grunt in answer and put her down next to the stallion who was contentedly munching on hay. He pulled the horse away and mounted him with fluid ease. ‘Give me your hands.’

She hadn’t liked riding the horse the last time and she was sure she wouldn’t like it any better now. She shook her head.

‘It is either that or be tied on behind the saddle like luggage.’

That sounded worse. She approached the horse gingerly.

‘Don’t worry, he’s calm after such a good run.’

She winced and held up her hands to him.

‘Put your foot on top of mine,’ he commanded.

She did so, with some difficulty, and then flew upwards. He somehow caught her under the arms and set her on his lap.

‘Ready, Miss Wilding?’ His voice wasn’t offering an option.

She sighed. ‘I suppose so.’

He urged the horse out into the night, setting it into a steady canter.

* * *

She couldn’t believe how little time it took them to reach the drive up to the Abbey. Minutes. Not the hour or two she had been walking. ‘How did we get here so fast?’

‘You were walking in circles,’ he said grimly.

Something hot rose in her throat. A hard lump of disappointment at her own inadequacy. She should have been miles from the Abbey. She sniffed the tears away.

She heard him mutter something under his breath that sounded like ‘God save me’, but she couldn’t be sure with the wind rushing in her ears and the sound of hoofbeats. What she was sure of was the band of iron around her waist holding her firmly in place and the hard wall of chest at her back.

If she hadn’t felt quite so cold, she might have enjoyed the wild ride in the wind and the dark. He rode the horse right into the barn where a sleepy-eyed groom was waiting with a lantern.

His eyes widened when he saw Mary, but he took the reins the earl threw at him and turned his back while Beresford helped her down.

‘See him well rubbed down, if you please, Sol,’ his lordship said. ‘Some warm bran and not too much water. Ranger, with me.’ He grabbed Mary around the shoulders and marched her into the house by the side door. The one by which she had left that very first day. Tonight it was unbarred and unlocked.

He walked her past the corridor leading to her chamber in the north tower.

She dug in her heels. ‘Where are we going?’

‘You’ll see, soon enough.’

But she knew where they were going. He was heading for his rooms. ‘You can’t...’

‘I can do whatever I please in my own home, as you will soon discover.’

He flung open a door to a chamber and pushed her inside. A room where a large four-poster bed took up most of the room. A fire blazed merrily in the hearth where a pot hung from the crane, and gave off a faint aromatic aroma. In front of a comfortable-looking sofa was a table. The two glasses said he was expecting company.

Startled, she turned to face him.

He kicked the door closed with his heel, took off his coat and flung it on a chair. He gave her a tight smile and began attacking the fastenings of her cloak.

She pushed his hand away. ‘What are you doing?’

‘Getting you out of these clothes before you are chilled to the bone.’

‘I can undress in my own room.’

‘You are not going anywhere before you and I talk.’ He finally untied the knot at her throat and pulled off her cloak. He spun her around and started on the buttons of her gown.

‘I can’t undress in here.’

‘You can and you will. Either you do it, or I will do it for you.’

A shiver ran down her back at the dark notes in his voice, the seductive promise laced with the heat of his anger. He might be completely in control, but she could still sense his anger running hot beneath the surface.

She folded her arms across her chest. ‘I can’t. Not with you watching.’

He walked around her, picked up a robe from across the foot of the bed and handed it to