Read Online Chained: Reckless Desires (Dragon's Heart Book 1) by Jacqueline Sweet - Free Book Online
Authors: Jacqueline Sweet
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turn on the way to the eastern drawing room—there were pottery shards to clean up, a mess of food that had been hurled against the wall, and broken glass everywhere. She found herself in a room that she hadn’t explored. It was dimly lit and low ceilinged, long and bent like an elbow, with tables and chairs stacked neatly against one of the walls. Storage perhaps? She heard Rodney’s voice coming from within and went to investigate, desperate for a friendly face.
He hadn’t quite asked her to sleep with him yet, but they both knew it was coming. He was waiting for her to get bored enough of the work to need it, and she knew it. How many other maids had he played this game with? Ten? Twenty? He was good at it. The man was pretty, in an overly polished sort of way. Would he be fun in the sack, or a selfish lover? She’d find out soon enough, but there was a game in seeing how long she could wait. Her father would be ashamed if she slept with Rodney—not that he’d spoken to her at all since she’d begun as a maid.
Bella decided to walk deeper into the dim room, to see what Rodney was up to, to flirt a bit, if only because it meant another few minutes before she’d spend her entire day picking glass shards out of a rug.
Rodney was hunched over a table with a light strapped to his forehead, one of those jogging lights or reading-under-the-covers lights. He was mumbling to himself, counting. Bella crept up on him, a smile on her lips. When she was behind him she poked his neck and said, “What is the meaning of this?” in her best impression of the Winterborn.
Rodney jumped up, hurling a handful of coins hard against the wall and ceiling. He shrieked in a high voice, like Michael Jackson hitting a high note.
“What? Why?” Rodney gasped.
The light from his forehead blinded her in the darkness. Bella laughed. “Sorry. I’m so sorry. I just couldn’t help myself. I’ve never caught you unawares before. Here, let me help you pick these up.”
“No!” Rodney said, a little too fast. “I’ll take care of it.”
But it was too late. Bella was on her knees, feeling around for the coins. Her fingers slipped across the dusty floor—this room must be low on Miss Agatha’s priority list—and found two of the coins. They felt odd. Bella picked them up and held them in Rodney’s light.
They were gold. Thick and heavy and large, with indecipherable writing on one side and a seal of some sort on the other, bearing a flag she’d never seen before. The coins were worn, but was there really a dragon on the flag? What country had a dragon as its emblem?
“What are these?” she asked.
“Our little secret,” Rodney said. He was hidden in shadow and she was blinded by the light, but the smirk in his voice was unmistakable. “If you keep it our secret, there’ll be a bonus for you.”
“You’re stealing these? From him ? You must be mad.”
“What’s mad, love, is working for a madman. The pay isn’t worth this treatment. I could make more and be treated better in service at any other estate in the country. I could be a concierge at a hotel or work public relations. I have the skillset for it. If the madman expects me to stay on here as his footstool and lackey, there will be added compensation.” He held up one of the gold coins to illustrate his point.
It was the kind of speech that you recite to yourself as justification for doing what you knew was wrong. Every attorney had one of their own that they practiced, to convince themselves helping the rich get richer or the guilty avoid justice was the right thing to do.
Was this how she wanted to live her life?
Rodney’s voice changed, getting serious and honest for once. All trace of the smirk was gone. “If you tell him, he will kill me. If you tell him that I’ve stolen from him, you will have killed me. Please, promise me you won’t.”
“Tell me what his sickness is,” Bella said. If Rodney was going to candid for once, she was going to
He hadn’t quite asked her to sleep with him yet, but they both knew it was coming. He was waiting for her to get bored enough of the work to need it, and she knew it. How many other maids had he played this game with? Ten? Twenty? He was good at it. The man was pretty, in an overly polished sort of way. Would he be fun in the sack, or a selfish lover? She’d find out soon enough, but there was a game in seeing how long she could wait. Her father would be ashamed if she slept with Rodney—not that he’d spoken to her at all since she’d begun as a maid.
Bella decided to walk deeper into the dim room, to see what Rodney was up to, to flirt a bit, if only because it meant another few minutes before she’d spend her entire day picking glass shards out of a rug.
Rodney was hunched over a table with a light strapped to his forehead, one of those jogging lights or reading-under-the-covers lights. He was mumbling to himself, counting. Bella crept up on him, a smile on her lips. When she was behind him she poked his neck and said, “What is the meaning of this?” in her best impression of the Winterborn.
Rodney jumped up, hurling a handful of coins hard against the wall and ceiling. He shrieked in a high voice, like Michael Jackson hitting a high note.
“What? Why?” Rodney gasped.
The light from his forehead blinded her in the darkness. Bella laughed. “Sorry. I’m so sorry. I just couldn’t help myself. I’ve never caught you unawares before. Here, let me help you pick these up.”
“No!” Rodney said, a little too fast. “I’ll take care of it.”
But it was too late. Bella was on her knees, feeling around for the coins. Her fingers slipped across the dusty floor—this room must be low on Miss Agatha’s priority list—and found two of the coins. They felt odd. Bella picked them up and held them in Rodney’s light.
They were gold. Thick and heavy and large, with indecipherable writing on one side and a seal of some sort on the other, bearing a flag she’d never seen before. The coins were worn, but was there really a dragon on the flag? What country had a dragon as its emblem?
“What are these?” she asked.
“Our little secret,” Rodney said. He was hidden in shadow and she was blinded by the light, but the smirk in his voice was unmistakable. “If you keep it our secret, there’ll be a bonus for you.”
“You’re stealing these? From him ? You must be mad.”
“What’s mad, love, is working for a madman. The pay isn’t worth this treatment. I could make more and be treated better in service at any other estate in the country. I could be a concierge at a hotel or work public relations. I have the skillset for it. If the madman expects me to stay on here as his footstool and lackey, there will be added compensation.” He held up one of the gold coins to illustrate his point.
It was the kind of speech that you recite to yourself as justification for doing what you knew was wrong. Every attorney had one of their own that they practiced, to convince themselves helping the rich get richer or the guilty avoid justice was the right thing to do.
Was this how she wanted to live her life?
Rodney’s voice changed, getting serious and honest for once. All trace of the smirk was gone. “If you tell him, he will kill me. If you tell him that I’ve stolen from him, you will have killed me. Please, promise me you won’t.”
“Tell me what his sickness is,” Bella said. If Rodney was going to candid for once, she was going to
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