Scoundrel of Dunborough Read Online Free

the wounds he got fighting Audrey’s killer.”
    Gerrard didn’t sound overly concerned. Nevertheless, she remembered what he’d said at the house, about Audrey’s bodyguard nearly killing Roland. She’d been too overwhelmed by all that he had told her to inquire about Roland’s state then. “So he
will
recover?”
    “Yes. I’m garrison commander in charge of Dunborough until he returns.”
    Being the temporary lord was better than nothing, she supposed, although she nevertheless found it hard to believe that Gerrard could be so apparently accepting of his lower status.
    “Things are better between us now,” he added.
    Much better, it seemed. “So Roland won’t be angry if you drink all the best wine.”
    Gerrard laughed softly. As much as she’d remembered, she had forgotten the sound of his laughter and the way it seemed to brighten everything around him.
    “It would take years to do that,” he assured her, “even if I drank as much as I used to.”
    She had heard that he drank to excess, among other sins, so that was not a surprise. The surprise was that he was willing to admit it.
    “Enough of what’s happened here in Dunborough,” he said. “I have some questions of my own to ask.”
    The last thing she wanted was to be interrogated by Gerrard. It would be worse than facing the mother superior at her most irate.
    Celeste got to her feet. “If you don’t mind, Gerrard, I’m quite tired and would like to rest.”
    A flash of irritation crossed his leanly handsome features and she waited for a protest.
    Instead, he rose and called to the maidservant who had brought the refreshments. “Lizabet, show Sister Celeste to Roland’s chamber.”
    He turned back to regard her with those brilliant dark brown eyes. “Or are you Sister Something Else?”
    She kept her composure and silently prayed for forgiveness for the lie she was about to tell, along with her other recent sins. “I am Sister Augustine now.”
    “Until later, then, Sister.”
    “Yes, until later,” she agreed as she turned to follow the maidservant to the stairs leading to the family chambers.
    Despite her answer, though, she had already decided she would not be joining Gerrard in the hall later, or at any time. When she was with him, the past crowded in on her, the memories fresh and vivid, both the good ones and the bad.
    Lizabet passed the first door. “That was Sir Blane’s,” she said, her voice hushed as if she thought someone would overhear.
    “And that was Broderick’s, the late lord’s eldest son,” she continued as they passed another. “I suppose you heard what happened to him? Killed by a woman! Sir Roland’s wife’s cousin. I can hardly imagine it.”
    “A woman?” Celeste repeated, unable to hide her surprise.
    Gerrard’s older brother had been a big man and a bully, fierce and cruel. To think that any woman had been able to—”
    “Aye, it’s true. He was about to kill the man Lady Mavis’s cousin loved, and Lady Thomasina killed Broderick instead.”
    Sister Sylvester once said that a loved one in trouble could give a person great and unforeseen strength. It seemed that she was right. “From what I remember of Broderick, I find it difficult to be sorry, however he met his end.”
    Lizabet slid Celeste a questioning glance. “You know the family?”
    “In a way. I’m Audrey D’Orleau’s sister.”
    The young woman came to a startled halt. “I—I’m sorry, Sister!” she stammered.
    She didn’t wait for Celeste to respond, but quickly continued on their way.
    “This chamber is Gerrard’s when he sleeps here,” she said, hurrying past another door, “and this is Sir Roland’s.” Lizabet opened the last door in the corridor and stood aside to let Celeste enter.
    The room was a far cry from the way she’d imagined any chamber of Roland’s. She’d been expecting bare walls and few amenities, something Spartan in keeping with his cold, stern demeanor. Instead, there were tapestries on the