The Love Affair of an English Lord Read Online Free Page A

opposite direction. “Yet there are dangers to avoid even here for a pretty young woman with a nose for trouble. Stay off my property in future.”
    A nose for trouble? Dangers to avoid? Meaning what? she wondered. Chloe, the daughter of a deceased marquess, the sister of the current marquess who wielded considerable influence, had been too flabbergasted by his blunt dismissal to ask. She had stood in the rain, drenched and offended, to watch him gallop off as if he were part of the angry storm. She had stood in disbelief, still burning from that kiss, from his enigmatic advice.
    How did he know about her? And what was she to make of his melodramatic warning? The only menace Chloe had encountered in this dreary village until today was a parson who loved to spread gossip and a worrisome aunt. Good heavens, was she made of glass?
    Without a doubt Dominic Breckland was the rudest and most attractive man she had ever met. Obviously he didn’t give tuppence for what she thought. He did not seem to care that she might report his behavior to her brothers, who would probably only defend him anyway, assuming Chloe had been at fault.
    Â 
    Chloe lingered in the rain until he disappeared from sight, no longer feeling the chill. Feeling an extraordinary heat and annoyance, if anything. She had stayed there, and suddenly she realized that she had never dreamed a man like Lord Stratfield even existed, and wished she had never made the discovery.
    In fact, she was so put out that she decided the only antidote was to completely forget her arrogant savior, which proved to be exactly the same advice her distraught aunt dispensed a few minutes later.
    â€œI could not believe my eyes, Chloe Boscastle! I could not believe I saw you on a horse with Lord Stratfield. Holding him around the middle!”
    Chloe darted to the window to peer outside. “I wandered onto his property by mistake. He brought me home.”
    â€œWell, that was a miracle in itself. The man is said to seduce every woman he meets.”
    â€œDid he ever seduce you, Aunt Gwendolyn?”
    â€œDo not be impertinent. Stratfield is a neighbor and a nobleman, and as such I respect him. But that doesn’t mean I approve of his keeping a mistress on his estate.”
    â€œHave you met her?” Chloe asked curiously, turning from the window in disappointment that he had not returned.
    â€œOf course I haven’t, Chloe.”
    Aunt Gwendolyn pulled the curtains back into place, looking indignant at the question. “Parson Grimsby has seen her on several occasions. In the viscount’s window, Chloe.”
    Chloe bit her lip in amusement. “Perhaps the viscount has a sister or an aunt staying with him.”
    Aunt Gwendolyn’s face had colored beneath her rice powder. “I hardly think he would have been behaving with a female relative in the manner the parson described.”
    â€œDoes he hold bacchanalian orgies in the middle of the night?” Chloe could not resist asking, to tease her.
    â€œI do not have any idea,” her aunt sputtered in indignation. “Nor do I wish to know,” she added, “and neither should you. The fact that I sense something is amiss at Stratfield Hall should be warning enough, Chloe. Matters are not right with that man. Mark my words.”
    And perhaps Chloe should have listened instead of laughing. Three weeks later the viscount had been stabbed to death in his bed.

Chapter 2

    The news rocked the tiny village of Chistlebury to its roots. Chloe, who seemed to have developed an intolerance to clean country air, had caught a nasty chest cold and could not attend the funeral. The truth was that even before he died, Dominic had become a ghost to her, haunting her thoughts at all hours. She had dreamed of that kiss in the rain. She’d sworn to snub him the next time they met. She’d imagined kissing him again. She had even vowed that one day she and her brothers would hunt down his