Read Online Everlastin' Book 1 by Mickee Madden - Free Book Online Page B

Looking at Borgie, he
asked, “Have you a job, mon, or are you still a worthless lump o’
flesh?”
    “Get ou'!” Agnes shrilled,
blue veins mapping her brow and temples. “You can’t come
into ma home and
insult ma boy!”
    With a smug smile, Lachlan
walked up to Borgie and placed a heavy hand on his shoulder. “Yer
bastard's a mon, no' a boy, Aggie.” Placing his face inches from
the terrified man's nose, he grinned off to one side. “Ye're
lookin' a wee pale, lad. A pint—” He clipped Borgie in the gut with
the back of a hand. “—will stiffen yer spine, aye?”
    Befuddled, Borgie shook his
head then nodded.
    Straightening, Lachlan cast
Agnes a pitying look. “In the morn. It'll do you good to wait on
someone worth their spit.”
    * * *
    The sudsy hot water served
to ease the tension in Beth's aching body. Only the throbbing knot
at the back of her head remained. Submerged to her chin, her knees
poking above the iridescent bubbles, she closed her eyes and tried
to ignore the thoughts that had been plaguing her since she'd left
the gazebo two hours earlier.
    At any time, Carlene and
David should return. Then she would have plenty to occupy her mind.
She could shut out Lachlan and the pain his inquisition had
prompted.
    “Please.”
    The softly spoken voice in
her head caused her to squeeze her eyes shut.
    “Do it for me.”
    “Don't ask me, Ma,” she
whispered.
    “The pain, Beth. It never
stops.”
    Beth blinked hard, refusing
to give in to a threat of tears.
    “How can you ignore my
suffering. Damn you, Beth. Damn you!”
    A burning sensation lodged
in Beth’s chest. “I c-can't. Don't ask me again.”
    “Ask wha', lass?”
    The deep voice crashed down
on her. She nearly sprang up out of the bath, stopping herself when
she spied Lachlan leaning against the doorjamb across from her. He
held a plate laden with fruits and cheese. Ignoring the crimson in
her face, he casually seated himself on the closed lid of the
toilet next to her.
    “Have you eaten
today?”
    She blinked at him as if
disbelieving he was in the bathroom with her. He popped one of the
purple grapes into his mouth and took his time chewing it, his gaze
studying her. When he proffered the plate, she shrank back into the
bubbles.
    “Get out!”
    In response to her shrill
tone, he placed an isolated finger in his ear and jiggled it. “Ma
day for bein' told where to go.”
    “You can't come in
here!”
    He looked about him in mock
bewilderment. “But I am in here. Have I embarrassed you?” He
chuckled when she glared at him. “Guess I have.”
    “I asked you to stay away
from me.”
    “I must have forgotten,” he
grinned and proffered the plate once again. A smile of satisfaction
played on his mouth when she churlishly plucked a wedge of sharp
cheddar from the plate.
    She chewed and swallowed.
“Now get out! I don’t think David and Carlene will appreciate you
treating me like this!”
    “Wha' would you like
for....” He frowned. “You Yanks call it supper, aye?”
    “If I'm hungry, I'll fix
myself something. Get out!”
    “I thought perhaps we could
picnic in one o’ the south gardens.”
    “No, thank you. Get
out!”
    He released a dry chuckle
and placed the plate behind him on the tank. “You plan to waste the
day sulkin', do you?”
    “Leave me alone and get out!”
    “Ah.” He scratched the back
of his neck. “I would have thought you'd had yer fill o’ bein'
alone. Silly me.”
    Beth sliced a hand along the
surface of the water. A wave jumped the edge of the tub and landed
on Lachlan's lap.
    “Nice,” he said with a
grimace.
    Anger simmered in her core.
“I prefer to bathe in private, thank you!”
    “Tell me, Beth,” he began,
resting his elbows just above his bent knees, “would you have gone
all the way? In the gazebo, I mean.”
    Beth glared at him, her face
dark purple.
    “You see, I’ve a wee problem
understandin' women. Wha' they say and wha' they do is often
contradictory.”
    “Really? And