Read Online Enticed by Ecstasy (Wicked Treasures) by Donna Grant - Free Book Online Page B

trash.   You were the man who killed your own wife.”
    “I didn’t kill her.”   But his anger had deflated.   He looked at her with new eyes now, eyes that told her he was more than wary of her.
    Abby snorted.   “Every time you left the house for one of your mistresses, you twisted the knife.   Every time you strutted about the ton with your mistresses instead of Mum, you took part of her soul. Every time you walked past her room without giving her a simple hello, you choked the life out of her.   She gave you everything.   You gave her death.”
    Huntington stared at her silently for one heartbeat...two.   “What do you want?”
    “I want you out of my life.   Forever. I don’t ever want to see your face or hear your name again.   If I had my way, you’d be locked in prison in the depths of Hell, but I have no evidence to give to the authorities.”
    “Do you know why I came looking for you?” he asked softly.   Too softly.
    Abby was immediately cautious, but she knew her father well.   “You came to kill me.”   She flashed a bright smile. “And you can try, but if you think that will get you the money, you’re wrong.   My will was made the day Mum’s was read.   In the event of my untimely death, the money goes to charity.   You won’t get a penny.”
    “That bloody marriage agreement.”   Huntington cursed and yanked his hat off to slap it on his leg.   The sea wind whipped the short strands of his head full of blond hair streaked with silver.   “I didn’t think she knew about that part of it.”
    “She knew.   Grandfather made a point of telling Mum.   He never trusted you.”
    Huntington released a pained sigh and returned his hat to his head.   “Kill her,” he ordered his men.
    “Didn’t you hear her?” Channing finally spoke up, his question to the men with the guns pointed at them.   “You won’t get the money from Abby’s father.”
    Her father’s gaze moved to Channing and narrowed.   “I remember you.   You’re supposed to be dead.”
    “I’m not,” Channing said and stepped to Abby’s side.
    “You two conspired against me.”
    Abby laughed, wondering why she had been so afraid of her father for so long.   He was just a man, and without the money backing him, he had no control.   “Unknowingly.   It wasn’t until I arrived in Africa that we discovered we were after the same thing.   Your downfall.”
    Huntington turned to his men.   “I said to kill her.”
    Each man lowered his rifle.   “No money, no killing,” one of the men said.
    “I’ll get you the money!” Huntington shouted.
    Abby felt Channing’s hand reach for hers.   His touch comforted her, for even though she had needed to say those things to her father, she knew it involved an amount of danger that could very well end with her death.
    “No, he won’t,” Abby answered.   “All the money is mine.   I’ll pay you triple what he offered if you take him out of here.”
    “You want us to kill him?” one of the men asked excitedly. “We were told we could kill someone.”
    Abby looked into her father’s hazel eyes and shook her head.   “No.   I won’t have that on my conscience.   I just want him gone.”
    Three men stepped forward.   One took her father’s weapon while the other two grabbed Huntington by the arms and pulled him after them.  
    Abby blew out a breath and turned away from them.   The fury she had let loose made her entire body shake, and she was ready to return home with Channing.
    They had only gone a few steps when there was shouting behind them and the blast of a rifle.   Channing’s arms wrapped around her as he pushed her against a tree to shield her.
    Abby peered around his shoulder and saw her father had managed to get a rifle away from one of the men.   He was now pointing it at her.   Smoke rose from the barrel, and she realized he had already fired a shot at her. How close had it come?
    “If I can’t have the money, neither