The Heart's Companion Read Online Free

to the thorns holding her captive, though she was only too aware of the man's tall, lean presence.
    His deep answering laugh made her want to gnash her teeth, though she gave no sigh of perturbation. It was a restraint perfected in her days of uncertainty that she found useful. Few people knew that the confidence she possessed was not carried from birth.
    "Confess, Miss Grantley, you are not sorry at all."
    She looked up at him then, hauteur shimmering in the hint of a smile she bestowed on him. "You have such a ready understanding, my lord, that my words are superfluous."
    He gave a wry smile and bowed elegantly, in a manner that somehow belied the courtesy of the action. Instinctively he admired this tall, slender woman who stood at her ease as if in the middle of a ballroom rather than caught in a blackberry patch. Her piquant face was featured too sharply for beauty, with its thin, straight nose, defiant chin, and prominent cheekbones. Her most arresting feature was the pair of slanting, silver-green eyes that held speculation, intelligence, and coolness in their depths. Meeting her, he now understood the sobriquet Ice Witch, the name bandied by gentlemen who felt her cool green gaze. It was, however, a false description. She was not all cold female arrogance. She was filled with a quiet, yet intractable, womanly self-confidence. She didn’t give a damn about him. Neither his title nor his reputation affected her. He’d met men with a similar self-assurance, but never a woman. He granted she was not his normal flirt; nonetheless, he felt a perverse desire to shake her out of her complacency and see passion melt her green-ice gaze.
    "Seeing you standing there, thus, Miss Grantley, I find I am consumed with a desire totally alien to my nature. I would play knight gallant to your damsel in distress." He paused to stroke his chin with one tan-gloved hand. "I am awed by the novelty."
    Jane bristled. "I assure you, my lord, I would not have you do anything untoward. It might be too damaging to your sensibilities."
    "Oh, you may rest assured on that note, my dear, for I have none," he returned languidly.
    Jane compressed her lips to keep from laughing at his sallies. It would not do to encourage this man, and she was confident that any relaxation of her guard would do so.
    "Now, let us see how badly Mother Nature wishes you rooted to this spot," he said, striding to her side and bending down to reach the brambles entangling her skirt.
    His large hands had a surprisingly light touch as they gently worked her skirt free from the grasping thorns without damage to the fabric. Jane scarcely dared breathe with him standing so close to her; his light touch was somehow too intimate. When he was done and stood up, a deep sigh escaped her. She smiled at him.
    "Thank you. Oh!" she screeched as he swept her off her feet and into his arms. "What are you doing? Put me down! How dare you!" She kicked her feet, squirming frantically against his rock hard form. Her struggles only served to tighten his grip.
    He laughed at her quick anger. "Calm down, you little witch. I am only assuring myself that my handiwork is not for naught," he said, smiling easily, his dark eyes glinting with devil’s fire. Privately he congratulated himself on piercing the wall of her icy reserve.
    He set her down by the side of the road, his hands moving up slowly, decisively, to cup her slender shoulders.
    The pulse in her neck began to jump, and she stared bemusedly up at him, caught between indignation and a strange excitement.
    "And now I claim my right to reward," he murmured, his voice low and resonant.
    "I beg your par—"
    Her haughty words were lost in a searing kiss, his fingers tightening about her shoulders as he claimed his prize. Jane, too stunned to resist, bobbed adrift in a wild sea of sensations. When at last he let her go, she staggered backward, her cheeks flaming. But she was mistress of herself, and though her eyes glittered, her manner was cold,