Read Online Patricia Rice by All a Woman Wants - Free Book Online Page B

crushed like feather pillows against his chest. If only he could
rid her of the damnable corset...
    “Put me down, you demented monster!” she shouted
loudly enough to shatter his eardrums. “Your daughter needs a physician,
not a drunkard.”
    Mac dropped her like a hot rock. Ignited by alcohol, panic spread with the speed of wildfire. “What’s wrong?” he shouted.
    She picked up her skirts and headed huffily for the
house. “A fat lot of help you’ll be. Your daughter could be breathing
her last breath, and you would be quaffing a few tankards with the
boys.”
    “Bitsy? Is something wrong with Bitsy?” Fear evaporated any trace of alcohol as he staggered after her. “What? Tell me!”
    “I think she’s eaten something she shouldn’t.” Anger
still scorched her voice. “I’ve sent to the earl’s residence to see if
they know of someone to help, but the nearest physician is in
Cheltenham.”
    Bitsy would eat a toad if someone put it in her
hand. He’d dallied in the tavern, and she’d poisoned herself. It was all
his fault. Mac broke into a run past his angry hostess.
    Miss C scooped up her skirts and stayed apace with
his ground-covering strides. “She’s thrown up everything she’s eaten. I
can’t keep milk down her. She’s crying and acts as if her... belly...
hurts.”
    His mother had warned him never to mention body
parts around ladies. Another good reason to stay away from the lot,
except Miss C had overcome her squeamishness for Bitsy’s sake.
    “Chamomile?” he suggested as he bounded up the outside stairs toward the wide front door.
    “Won’t stay down. Cook suggested a tincture of laudanum and aniseed.” She trailed him closely as he ran into the lamp-lit foyer.
    “No laudanum!” he shouted, racing toward the stairs. “That could be part of the problem. She’s been poisoned with the stuff.”
    “Don’t be ridiculous. Everyone uses laudanum. I don’t know why I’m listening to a sot.” She sailed up the stairs after him.
    “I’m not a sot,” he shouted. “The more laudanum a
person takes, the more they need.” He was nearly breathless by the time
they reached the third-floor nursery. Panic exploded through his skin at
the sight of Pamela screaming and drawing her knees up to her aching
belly while a maid held her over her shoulder.
    “Where’s Buddy?” he demanded, reaching for his niece.
    “I put him to sleep in my room, and my maid is with
him.” Beatrice swept into the room and brushed her fingers over Bitsy’s
forehead. “She’s still feverish.”
    Bitsy wept noisily, chewed on her fingers, then held
out her arms to Beatrice. The child quieted to choking sobs as Beatrice
rocked her against her breasts.
    “Could it be constipation? Maybe some mineral oil...” Mac’s head spun, and he couldn’t think clearly.
    “Not after what she done up here this morning,” the maid answered quickly.
    From the shadows in the corner, the tall footman
gestured helplessly. “My mother always gave me warm tea with honey and
bits of sopping toast.”
    Mac thoroughly disliked the bewigged weathercock, but he grabbed at any suggestion now. “If she likes warmth, that might work.”
    James looked grateful and hurried out the door to fetch the requested items.
    “Nothing stays down,” Beatrice warned him.
    He couldn’t bear to stand helplessly by and do
nothing. “Where does the earl live? Could I go there faster by taking
the fields?”
    “Landingham is the country estate of the Earl of
Coventry. He’s seldom in residence, but he often has guests who might
know who we could call on.”
    The Earl of Coventry. Shocked into silence, Mac
curled his fingers into fists. The Earl of Coventry, the viscount’s
father, the children’s grandfather. How bad could any one man’s luck be?
The earl had shown little regard for his grandchildren in the past, but
he would no doubt throw Mac into a dungeon if his son had told him who
had stolen the