Read Online Bride by Stella Cameron - Free Book Online Page B

dropped to his haunches in front of the child and brushed fair curls away from his brow. “That's a fine drum you have there, Niall,” he said, grinning indulgently. “May I have a turn?”
    Struan scrubbed at his face. He sometimes forgot that Arran had helped bring little Niall into the world, but this was not the time or the place for glad reunions.
    Max's dance grew wilder. Around and around the kitchen he cavorted, his shirttail flying, his muddy boots clattering a tattoo on the flagstones.
    Arran covered young Nidi's hand on the spoon handle and they beat out a rhythm to match the dance.
    “Oh, how lovely,” Justine said, pressing her hands to her cheeks.
    Calum hoisted the thumb-sucking Kirsty into his arms and allowed her to anchor his face between tiny fists while she studied him very closely.
    There were entirely too many people in this ghastly room. And everything had slipped from Struan's control—at the very time when it was essential that he maintain the tightest control ever. In daylight, with three formidable men present, he did not fear for those he intended to keep safe, no matter what the cost to himself. If he was forced to keep the children at the lodge tonight, he must mount a careful vigil.
    Calum, still carrying Kirsty, came close to Struan. “Look at this place,” he said. “Cobwebs and dust. Everywhere. I'll wager that stove hasn't been used in years before today. I was told the maid came here several times a week. What does she do?”
    “Nothing, for all I know,” Struan said. “It is of no concern to me.”
    “The floor is filthy. Everything's filthy.”
    Defiance destroyed Struan's caution. “The entire lodge is filthy. I have more important things on my mind.”
    “Do tell.”
    “I cannot. Not yet. Only trust me to take care of what I must.”
    “You haven't told Justine about Ella and Max?”
    Struan thinned his lips, and said, “Make no mention of that, please,” in low tones. “I must break it to her in my own way and in my own time.” A time he didn't wish to contemplate. He had rescued Ella from a London brothel where the owner planned to sell her to the pervert willing to pay the highest price for a beautiful young virgin. Ella had then beseeched Struan to find her brother, Max, then the property of a pickpocket in Covent Garden. Struan shook his head. “Eventually I will find a way to explain it all to Justine.” A truly revolting thought.
    “Where do they go at night?”
    “Damn
your curiosity, Calum. They stay with the Mercers.”
    “Overly crowded in that little cottage, I should think.” Calum's voice was even, as if he spoke of mundane matters.
    “They are safe there, and I trust Robert and Gael. It's the best I can do for the present.”
    “It's amazing,” Calum responded. He set Kirsty down and turned serious eyes—eyes so much like Justine's—upon Struan. “Something's badly awry. I knew it the instant I learned you had chosen to live here, and that you didn't want to be found by any chance caller. Tell me what's afoot, my friend.”
    “Not the time or place,” Struan responded. The shame he bore must remain his alone. Sharing his sordid past—with anyone—was unthinkable. And since he wasn't exactly certain what was in store for him, he could not truthfully answer his friend's call. He indicated the rest of the company. “Not the place at all. Don't worry. It's nothing I cannot take care of.”
    “You show me no evidence that I should believe you.” Calum glanced at Justine. “She must come away with me. I cannot leave her here.”
    “I agree.” Fate sneered at him yet again, this time in the tantalizing form of a woman who might be all he could ever desire yet could not have.
    Heat rattled the pot on the stove. Gael Mercer began to ladle porridge into bowls. These Ella set upon the great square table that had been hastily relieved of its layer of dust by Buttercup.
    To Struan's discomfort, Justine promptly sat on the end of a bench as if