Pale Moon Rider Read Online Free Page A

on her face. Tyrone had amassed enough impressions to suspect there was a very lovely woman hiding beneath the hood, but not even his finely tuned perceptions had prepared him for the full extent of her loveliness. His breath, in fact, stopped somewhere in his throat. The combined effect of a lushly pouting mouth, a nose as slim and delicately refined as on a porcelain figurine, and eyes large and luminous had an immediate and startling impact on the way the blood flowed through his veins.
    “You could try seducing me, mam’selle,” he murmured.
    “Pardon?”
    “Tempt me. You said you would be willing to pay me handsomely for my services. What do you consider ’handsome’?”
    She let the hem of her skirts settle onto the dew again and turned fully around to face him. “Would a thousand pounds pique your interest, m’sieur?”
    “Not as much as two,” he countered bluntly.
    “Two!”
    “It will be no easy ride in the moonlight, mam’selle. There is, as you aptly pointed out, a considerable reward on my head and no lack of men out there who are not above shooting first and asking questions later if they think they have me in their gun sights. Furthermore, if the jewels are worth as much as you say they are, you will be well able to afford it.”
    “On the other hand,” he shrugged and adjusted the rim of his collar higher, prepared to lead the way back to the coach, “if the price of freedom is too steep—”
    She straightened her arm and extended a slender, gloved hand toward him.
    “Two thousand,” she agreed. “And no price is too steep to pay for freedom.”
    Tyrone pondered the businesslike gesture a moment before taking the delicate hand in his and grasping it firmly to seal the pact.
    “I will need more details, of course. But not tonight. My comrade should be about ready to burst his seams by now, and besides … I would say we both need time to think things through very carefully, for—like the act of losing one’s virginity—once the deed is done, it cannot be undone. Shall we say three days? If, in that time, you are still determined—”
    “I am not a virgin, Capitaine , nor will I change my mind.” Her hesitation had been barely perceptible and she hid it well by using the time to extricate her hand from his. “Only say where and when you wish me to meet you and I will be there.”
    Tyrone almost smiled, and certainly would have if the hairs on the nape of his neck were not prickling upright like the spiny quills on a hedgehog. He relished the secure feeling of knowing his instincts had not been corrupted by the shine in her eyes or the faint tremors he had felt in her hand. She was obviously not telling him the whole truth, but at the same time, she looked so eager, and so desperate, he played the charade to the end.
    “I will expect you to come prepared to tell me everything you know about the events planned for the week of your wedding. If I think it can be done, I will do it. If I think there isn’t a hope in hell of succeeding, I will tell you that too. But I will also warn you, mam’selle, that if I think you are lying at any point,” he added softly, “I will not hesitate to wring your lovely neck.”
     
     
    CHAPTER TWO
     
    R enée Marie Emanuelle d’Anton stared out the window of the coach, her heart pounding as if she had run all the way down the hill. She had not, of course. She had forced herself to walk as calmly as she could beside the tall, black silhouette, taking fastidious care where she placed her feet on the slippery grass, wary not to brush too close or appear to cringe too far from his side. Arriving back at the coach, he had handed her inside with a cavalier bow, and Finn had climbed into the box, snapping the horses to attention, driving away as if nothing out of the ordinary had occurred—as if she had not just met and invited the most elusive, most hunted criminal in five parishes to rob her at gunpoint and steal a fortune in jewels.
    She sank back