My Lady Vixen Read Online Free

to become rough.”
    Without warning a cloth was jammed into her mouth and she was slung over one of Adam’s broad shoulders, her head dangling helplessly down his back. Her arms and legs beat ceaselessly against his well-muscled body but he paid it little heed. When he reached the carriage Alexa had failed to notice, he flung her inside and flopped down beside her. Almost immediately the carriage jerked forward and Alexa cast one frantic look back at her home slowly disappearing as the carriage gathered speed.
    Alexa had no way of knowing, but from that moment on her life would never be the same.

2
     
    Finding her hands free Alexa pulled the cloth from her mouth, gasping and sputtering in an effort to catch her breath. Fear and anger knotted inside her and she began to shake as fearful images built in her fertile mind.
    That Lord Penwell was a dangerous man she never doubted. He exuded strength and authority from every pore. His very presence commanded respect and attention. Alexa held little doubt that the man could be brutal when crossed. But what did he want with her? she asked herself, puzzled. From the few words he spoke she gathered her abduction had something to do with her father. And her mother, even though that poor woman had been dead and buried these fifteen years.
    Beside her. Adam was tense, his eyes and body alert for any sign of pursuit. He doubted if Alexa had even been missed yet, especially since she was last seen with her fiancé. And if Mac had done his job, Charles should be safely in his bunk sleeping off his hangover. If luck was with him
The Gallant
would sail off in search of the elusive Fox without Charles ever knowing Alexa hadmysteriously disappeared.
    When they reached the deserted docks Adam heaved a sigh of relief and turned to face an enraged Alexa. “We’re nearly there, milady,” he coldly informed her.
    “Nearly where?” shot back Alexa, peering into the darkness. Though the tangy odor of the sea assaulted her senses she would not give him the satisfaction of admitting she knew where they were.
    “You’ll know soon enough,” replied Adam as the carriage skidded to a halt.
    Grasping Alexa by the wrist Adam hauled her from the conveyance and pulled her toward a long wharf at the end of which a shadowy ship rode quietly at anchor. The moment she realized their destination Alexa balked, digging her heels into the rotted wood of the quay.
    “No!” she gasped, panting in terror. “I won’t go! Why are you doing this to me, Lord Penwell?”
    “You may as well become accustomed to using my name,” Adam replied, ignoring her outburst. “It’s Adam. Adam Foxworth. Lord Penwell is too new and sits uncomfortably upon my shoulders. In America a title means nothing.”
    “Please. Lord Penwell … Adam,” anything to placate him, she thought, “if you release me now I won’t tell anyone what happened. I’ll return quietly to my room and you can go about your business.”
    “You are my business, milady.” Adam smiled tightly. “I’ve waited too many years for my revenge.” So saying he scooped up her resisting body in his brawny arms and hastened to the end of the dock, closing his ears against Alexa’s loud protests and cries of distress, telling himself that one insignificant woman mattered little in his scheme of things. Using the daughter was his one chance to avenge himself on a man he had despised for almost half his life.
    Nearly to the end of the dock, Alexa saw that thegangplank of the ghostly ship had been let down and that Adam, impervious to her pleas, was heading directly for it. Panic like she’d never known before welled up in her throat. It seemed impossible that this could be happening to her. Wasn’t she the daughter of Sir John Ashley, a powerful man at court? Just what was Adam Foxworth going to do with her? That quick and disturbing thought tore at her insides.
    Up the gangplank of the seemingly deserted ship, across the deck and down the ladder to a