Lost in You Read Online Free Page A

replied, adjusting his cuffs. “I heard you stopped by to see me earlier today. I was quite cast up when I found we’d missed one another, but I had ridden out early to collect the rents.”
    Ellery wished her savior had been anyone but Mr. Porter. Her landlord had always been friendly, but since her cousin’s death, his kindliness had grown cloying, and his smile smarmier.
    He made a show of flipping open an enameled snuffbox and inhaling a pinch from between his fingers. “I came to see you as soon as I heard about your…” He sneezed, then lowered his voice, “your problem. The talk in the village is quite salacious.” His eyes gleamed, and he stepped toward her, reaching for her hand. “I refused to believe it until I spoke to you directly.”
    Feeling suddenly cornered on this lonely stretch of lane, Ellery backed up. “That’s gallant of you, but really it’s not what anyone thinks. A storm in a teacup.” She tried changing the conversation. “My reason for coming to see you was the matter of my rent on the cottage. I know I’ve been late—”
    “I understand your plight, Miss Reskeen, and I sympathize. It must be hard to be a woman on your own with no family or connections of any kind.” He reached again for her hand and this time refused to let her elude him. His palms were sweaty and soft. “No one to lean on when times grow hard.” He squeezed her hand, his gaze resting on the neckline of her gown. “No one to offer comfort when you need it most.”
    Had she not owed him three months rent, Ellery would have wrestled out of his grip and boxed his ears. Instead, she tried easing away from him without his noticing. “I think you misunderstand, Mr. Porter, but if you give me a bit more time, I’m sure I can manage to pay it.”
    But he would not be put off. He tightened his grip, his fingers crushing hers, his breath sour on her face.
    “Miss Reskeen—Ellery, if I might be so bold. Your cousin told me of the unfortunate circumstances surrounding your birth and early years. From that moment, I only wanted to help you.” He was so close she saw the nicks his razor had left on his chin and the broken veins across his nose. “I can’t offer marriage—Mother would never approve of your lack of birth or breeding—but I would be pleased to ease your way if I could. Your rent would never again be an issue between us.”
    Ellery tore her hand away. Anger knotted her throat, and her chest burned with fury. “My cousin overstepped her place when she spoke of such private matters. I was born just as you were, Mr. Porter, from between my mother’s legs, and though my childhood was harsh, I’m no man’s doxy to barter myself for rent money.”
    He raked her with his gaze as if he already owned her, the tip of his tongue sliding across his lips. “Aren’t you? They say the apple never falls far from the tree. Whatever the man staying with you offered, I can top it.”
    Ellery spun on her heel and began to walk on toward the cottage. She’d gone only a few yards when he caught her up and whipped her around. “We can make this difficult or we can make this easy. You owe me, Miss Reskeen.”
    A deep voice, cool and impersonal, brought them both up short. “And what does she owe you, sir?”
    Ellery looked up to find herself under Conor Bligh’s insolent gaze. Candlelight hadn’t done him justice. He was one of the most beautiful men she had ever seen. Dark hair cut short and choppy as if he’d hacked at it himself without aid of a mirror. On a lesser man, the style would have seemed ridiculous. With his strong, chiseled features and warrior’s body, it only made him seem harder, tougher. He leaned against a tree, his arms folded across his chest, arrogance rising from him like steam. In the half-light of dusk, his face fell in and out of shadow; only the sun-gold glow of his eyes remained steady and fixed upon her.
    His lips curled in a thin, mocking smile. “One should always pay one’s debts,