Twilight with the Infamous Earl Read Online Free

spoke eloquently of the poverty she endured. Her brown eyes were bloodshot from crying, and there was a wild, desperate look in them that angered him. The girl was frightened.
    “None of this is your business,” the man was saying to him. “Nor is it yours, witch!”
    The redhead did not take kindly to being called a witch. “Oh, so I have the look of a witch, do I?” she asked in mocking tones. “What gives me away? My red hair or my green eyes?”
    She took an intimidating step toward him, and the man had the good sense to retreat. “I’ll share a little secret with you. If I was a witch, I would turn you into a fat rat and then give your skull a solid thumping with my broom!”
    Several spectators chuckled, which only enraged the man.
    His face reddened as he mopped the sweat on his brow with his free hand. “See here, you—”
    “Before you finish your threat, I suggest you release the girl and step away from the lady,” Frost said, sensing the man was foolish enough to strike a woman in front of witnesses.
    Without warning, he found himself the focus of the lady’s ire. Her eyes were indeed a fascinating hazel color, an olive green trimmed with rings of gold. There was an inner fire in those clear, intelligent depths that, at the moment, conveyed her fury at his interference.
    “Are you a constable?” she asked, her eyes narrowing with disdain.
    The absurd question rendered him speechless. How had he become the villain? Finding his tongue, he replied with a question of his own. “Am I dressed like one? No. I am—”
    “I do not care who you are, sir,” she said, dismissing his attempt at an introduction with a wave of her hand. “What I care about is to remove this child from that blackguard.”
    Satisfied that she had put Frost in his place, she turned to address the man who had truly earned her wrath. “Release her, and allow us to leave unmolested, and I shall not report you to the proper authorities.”
    “Katie is my daughter,” he shouted at her. “She stays with me. Leave now, or I’ll report you for kidnapping.”
    “Kidnapping?” The redhead glanced at the girl. “Does he speak the truth? Is he your father?”
    The girl quivered like a frightened rabbit. She cast a wary glance at the lady and then at the man who gripped her arm. “He is—was married to my mum.”
    “I raised the girl as if she were my own,” the man said.
    The woman ignored him. “And your mum?”
    “Dead. Almost a fortnight,” the girl said, her eyes filling with tears. “We couldn’t afford the medicine she needed.”
    The redhead shook her head. “Say no more. You have my sympathies.” She inhaled deeply as if to fortify her courage. “Do you want to stay with this man?”
    “And what choice does she have, I ask you?” he asked, tugging on the girl’s arm. “I’m her da, and the only family she has left.”
    Frost silently concurred. Whatever circumstances transpired before his arrival, the girl belonged with the man who raised her. It was not his concern. Nor the well-meaning lady’s.
    His fingers lightly grazed the redhead’s arm, and she stiffened at his touch. “It is best to stay out of family squabbles.”
    She glared at him from over her shoulder. “Is that what you think this is? A family squabble? That man has been selling his daughter’s … er, favors to every gentleman within earshot.”
    He was not surprised by the lady’s outrage. Her sheltered upbringing had not prepared her for the harsh realities poverty had to offer. “May I speak to you privately?”
    Her eyes narrowed with suspicion at his request. “Surely, you jest. We are standing in the middle of the street and are surrounded by onlookers.”
    Frost unceremoniously seized the redhead by the arm and dragged her away from the man and his stepdaughter. He scowled at the man, and stabbed his walking stick in the man’s direction. “Do not attempt to flee with the girl. You will not enjoy the consequences.” He glanced