It Takes a Hero Read Online Free Page B

looking for someone," he said, moving forward, slanting another glance at this imperious Miss Tate to see if perhaps his eyes were playing tricks on him.
    If she had been disinterested in him before, her attention was now focused on her fingernails and she'd completely missed his attempt to undermine her indifference.
    "Oh," the postmistress said, sounding relieved. She shared a bemused glance with her friend. "Yes, I should have known." She pointed down the street. "First lane after the pair of dovecots. Esme's cottage isn't hard to miss. Her door is painted bright blue."
    "Esme Briggs?" he asked, wondering how the lady knew who he was looking for without even asking.
    She shook her head. "No, sir. Esme Maguire. The matchmaker."
    The matchmaker?
    Cochrane's worst fears were about to be realized.
    Rafe shook his head. Probably a little too adamantly. "No! No! I'm not looking for the matchmaker," he told her, his hands waving in front of him.
    "You aren't?" she asked, a little surprised.
    "No!" he said. "Certainly not."
    "Then whom, sir, are you looking for?" This question came from Miss Tate. Her query startled him out of his reverie, and then he realized something else about her. Her words weren't formed with the strict tones of an English lady, but held a lilt to them that whispered with an odd note like exotic spices on the nose.
    They teased at his ears like the sultry tones of a well-experienced lady, one who knew how to tell a man exactly what she liked. And once again, he found himself taking another gander at this enigmatic spinster before him.
    "I'm sorry, you are?" Rafe asked.
    "Miss Tate," she said. "Miss Rebecca Tate." She inclined her head ever so slightly, yet her sharp gaze never left his.
    So she wasn't the elusive M. Briggs. He didn't know if he was disappointed or relieved that he wouldn't have to tangle with her.
    "And this is Miss Sarah Stone," she added, "the postmistress of Bramley Hollow. And you would be?"
    "Danvers," he offered. "Raphael Danvers, at your service." Remembering some hint of manners, he added an elegant bow. "I'm looking for an M. Briggs," he said, reaching into his jacket and pulling out a packet of papers, as if he were merely trying to complete an errand. It was a ploy that had worked well in the past. These ladies didn't need to know the packet was the eviction papers his landlady had served him with this morning.
    The postmistress shared another glance with Rebecca, only this time there was no humor in their silent communiqué.
    The postmistress cocked her head. "Did you say
Miss Briggs?
"
    Now I am getting somewhere
. He'd have his directions and be gone from Bramley Hollow before Cochrane's dire predictions of an unplanned wedding came true. "Aye. I'm looking for Miss Briggs."
    The postmistress's brow furrowed. "And what business do you have with the lady, sir?"
    He wanted to tell her that his business was none of hers, and in London that would have been well and good, but he reminded himself that this was the country and a modest, more mild approach would serve him to better advantage.
    "These papers are from a solicitor in London. A very confidential matter, or so I am told," he lied. Manners were one thing when they were a means to an end, but honesty had little place in his line of work.
    Especially when there was so much at stake.
    Miss Tate smiled at him. "How kind of you, sir, to bring something so important all the way from London to Bramley Hollow."
    It was then he noticed a few tendrils of red hair peeking out from beneath her bonnet. The rebellious color seemed at odds with the prim spinster before him. Rather such silky, enticing tresses were far better suited for spilling over the tangled sheets of a moonlit boudoir, and in an instant he imagined the lady herself naked in his bed. But then he glanced at Miss Tate again, seeing only the plain lady in the hideous bonnet and wondering what had happened to the momentary temptress of his imagination.
    "I said how kind it