Read Online Ondine by Ebony McKenna - Free Book Online Page A

all, thank you for calling and letting us know. Have a lovely day.’
    Ma put the receiver down on to the cradle and shuddered. ‘That was the van Nyuus booking, 27 cancelling for tonight. Cybelle, you’re better on thephone than me, can you take the rest of the calls? I’m going to lie down for a mo–’
    A streak of black fur barrelled into the kitchen, ran under the table and up Ondine’s leg.
    â€˜Shambles! Oh, Shambles, my darling, you’re alive!’ Ondine cried, scooping the bundle of bedraggled fluff into her arms and kissing the top of his messy head. Sparks of joy danced around her heart. He was back!
    â€˜As much as I appreciate a kiss from a fair maiden, there’s no time for that,’ Shambles said as he panted for breath. ‘Everyone get to work, the halth inspecta is coming!’
    Ma turned white and her chin wobbled in distress. ‘Can this day get any worse? Who cares if the health inspector comes? We’re done for anyway!’
    Josef, Chef, Thomas and Marguerite all turned to Ma, asking variants on the ‘what did you say?’ theme. Because, of course, they hadn’t heard Shambles say anything.
    Only Cybelle remained looking at Ondine. The middle daughter instinctively knew, from her mother’s screeching reaction, that Shambles hadcome back with bad news.
    Ignoring them all, Ondine cuddled her returned friend. ‘Shambles, you stink. Where have you been? You must be starving. Here, have some sausages. Chef, can you grab some bones out of the stockpot?’
    Shambles found his voice. ‘It’s that ungrateful Duke’s family. This is all their doing. They’re hell-bent on running us out of town! And I’ll say yes to the meat too, I’m fair starven.’
    Confusion reigned at the table while Shambles virtually inhaled his snack. Ondine patted his back, feeling the corrugated ribs through matted fur.
    All eyes turned to Ma, waiting for an answer.
    She gave it to them, revealing Shambles’s true identity and communication skills.
    Da shook his head. ‘Now you’re saying he can talk? Then why can’t I hear him?’
    Confusion aplenty. Thanks to the newspaper review, they were already in a state of shock. It was only natural that the news that their ferret could talk and was in fact a real man would completely bowl them all over.
    * * *
    You’ll understand a certain need for brevity at this stage, what with everything being so exciting – plus, you already know the whole story up to now, so you don’t need to hear it again. Let’s pick this up after the half hour of ‘whats?’ and ‘hows?’ to the point where people started to make sense again.
    Chef shook his head and said, ‘Now I’ve heard everything.’
    Marguerite and Thomas gave each other surprised looks.
    Da’s jaw clamped shut and Ondine could tell, just from his expression, that his mind was already moving on to more important matters: white-hot indignation.
    â€˜But we saved that miserable Duke’s life!’ he spat.
    Cybelle chimed in, ‘What could he have against us? He came over here after the incident, bringing half of Venzelemma with him. He was having a great time, wasn’t he, Ondi?’
    Heat seared Ondine’s cheeks as she thought about what a great time she’d had, with Lord Vincent kissingher wrist. Her skin still tingled just thinking about it.
    â€˜Right then, no time to waste. Let’s close the place ourselves and then there’s no reason to let the health inspector in,’ Ma said, rising from the table and fetching the clutch of keys.
    â€˜But we’ve got guests, and a full house tonight!’ Da said, then corrected himself. ‘I mean, a nearly full house.’
    â€˜We cancel everything, just for a week, and we’ll work like stink and get it all sparkling from floor to ceiling. Cancelling the bookings buys us some time and when we