Read Online Emma Jensen - Entwined by User - Free Book Online

alternative. Can't take it, of course..."
    "Papa!"
    "Och, very well. The man is willing to let us keep the house. He even offered an allowance. If..."
    "If what?"
    "Nay, nay." Jamie lifted bleary eyes. " 'Twas a lifeline, but one not to be grabbed. Damn me if he wasn't generous, though."
    "We'll be here a long time if you cannot manage to get the tale out, Papa."
    "You'll not like it, Izzy lass."
    "As if my liking for the way of things has stopped you in the past!" She ignored Maggie's hand, lifted in warning. "Out with it now."
    Jamie shuffled for a moment, then announced, "He'll forget about my—
    er—lapse in judgement in exchange for..."
    Suddenly the room grew very still. Isobel took a deep breath. "In exchange for what?"
    "For you, Izzy. He'll trade his hold on me for you."
    There was a quiet gasp from the other side of the room as Maggie nearly lost her grip on the decanter. Isobel's jaw was slack. For what seemed an eternity, the only sound in the room was the ticking of the mantel clock.
    Then Rob's voice shattered the silence. "He wants Isobel? My God, is the man daft?"
    "Deaf?" was his brother's contribution. "Blind? No offense, Izzy. You know we think you're a prime article, but you've a hell of a tongue on you, and, well, Maggie's the looker. Why didn't Oriel ask for her?"
    "Geordie!" Maggie had clearly found her voice. "How dare you say such things?"
    "Didn't mean anything by it. You've always been the pretty one."
    "Oh, you idiot! I wasn't referring to your nasty insults, though you'd do well to take a bit of lye to your tongue. Nay How dare you be so glib about a devil's bargain?" She slammed the decanter onto the nearest table and rushed to Isobel's side. She wrapped one arm around her sister and, in uncharacteristic fury, shook her free fist at her father. "You told him what he could do with his offer, didn't you?"
    There was another ominous silence. Isobel, roused from unfamiliar speechlessness by Maggie's equally unfamiliar shouting, managed, "What did you say to him, Papa?"
    Their father could not have looked less impassioned if he had tried. "I refused, of course."
    "And called him out on the spot, I trust," Maggie snapped.
    "Called him out?" Geordie repeated.
    "Are you daft now?" Rob demanded. "The fellow's no doubt had years at Manton's!"
    "Madness," Geordie agreed. "Da' would only end up with a ball in the gut."
    Jamie shuddered. "I know I ought to have____Manton's.
    Aye, Manton's."
    "I cannot believe I am hearing this!" Maggie was nearly spitting in her rage. "The man has the gall to bargain so, and you let him get away with it?"
    "Don't see that he had a choice, Mags." Geordie was making his way stealthily toward the decanter. "Happens all the time. Local demigod, holed up on some ghastly country estate. I daresay he's gone through all his maids already."
    "And the tavern wenches," Rob added, gesturing for a glass. "Be happy he hasn't had a look at you, Maggie Líl. You're the only one with hopes of marrying well, after all."
    From his seat, their father was moaning again, this time something about being a miserable wretch of a man. Isobel felt her sister stiffen to the point of shattering.
    "A curse on the three of you! " 'Tis ashamed I am to share blood! Why, if I'd one of Manton's pistols right now—"
    "Maggie," Isobel said gently.
    "You'd what?" Rob laughed. "Have a go at Oriel? He might just let you shoot him if you'd but flash a smile first."
    "Robert." Isobel's voice went up a notch.
    '"Tis right, Margaret is," their father mumbled. "Honor and my duty as a father, wretch of one though I am, demands no less. Find me some gloves, Geordie lad. Daresay the blackguard'll shoot me dead on the spot, but I'll have the satisfaction of slapping him like a proper gentleman."
    "Both cheeks, Da'!" Geordie chuckled into his glass and made no move whatsoever to find the demanded gloves.
    "I mean it, lad! Off with you now to m'wardrobe! And you can lay out my best black coat while you're at it. 'Tis fine