Read Online Tears of Gold by Laurie McBain - Free Book Online Page B

placed her elbows on the table, propping her chin in her palms as she stared up at Don Luís with a saucy look. Winking at him broadly, she spoke.
    “Ye’re right, luv. Fer’ow’d the ’ell would the likes o’ me, a bit o’ fluff, be knowin’ about the affairs of gent’men likes yerself? Leastwise their business affairs, if ye knows what oi means,” she hinted audaciously. “Why, ’twas bloody ’are-brained o’ me to be even askin’ such a question. Cooee, what a nerve oi’ve got, ducks,” Mara said in her broadest cockney accent, her voice sounding coarse and vulgar even to her own ears. She picked up her wineglass, silently toasting the don’s stunned face. Swallowing a hefty swig, she hid her grimace of distaste behind the back of a hand raised to wipe her lips.
    “Mara!” Brendan hurriedly intervened, his dark eyes glinting angrily as he glared at Mara’s triumphant and unrepentant face. “Please, Don Luís, you’ll have to excuse Mara. She sometimes speaks without thinking of the consequences,” Brendan apologized, “but she is always sorry afterward. Aren’t you, Mara?”
    “To be sure, mavournin,” Mara replied, smiling innocently, “I seldom am.”
    “Mara! How can you—”
    “Enough!” Don Luís spoke abruptly, his voice shaking with anger. “I have never been treated with such contempt by anyone, and never by a woman such as this. Were you a true relative of mine, heaven forbid, then you would soon know your place, señora. But this does little good. If I cannot trust you, if you do not do as I wish, then,” Don Luís paused, looking at them malevolently, dislike evident on his face, “I shall have no choice but to prosecute Señor O’Flynn for not paying his debts to me. It is hard for a young mother and child alone to make a living in a strange land. I would not envy you, señora,” Don Luís said silkily, a contemptuous look in his black eyes as his gaze roamed over Mara’s face and body. He turned without another word and walked to the door, his back stiff with outraged pride.
    “Don Luís,” Mara spoke softly, looking into the dark red depths of her wine. “You need have little fear that I, Amaya Vaughan, will let you down. As your very properly brought-up English niece, I shall do nothing to cause you or your family embarrassment or concern. My conduct shall, of course, be impeccable and above reproach,” Mara told him, her voice coolly cultured with just the right hint of hauteur.
    Don Luís turned slowly from the door and stared at her in amazement. She sat demurely before the table, her hands folded and her small, chignoned head bent slightly, as though in prayer. The madonna herself could not have looked more serene or pure. Don Luís was incredulous. Mara looked up as she felt his eyes on her. Her tawny eyes were warm and softly luminous as a single teardrop clung to her lashes before dropping to her cheek. Her parted lips trembled slightly as she solemnly returned his stare.
    “ ¡Madre de Dios! ” Don Luís exclaimed. “I compliment you, señora, for you are indeed an accomplished actress.” He bowed in deference. “You have set my mind at rest, and I have the utmost confidence in your abilities now that I have just witnessed a miracle. Never would I have believed it possible for a person to sound and act so differently,” he said, shaking his head in disbelief. “One moment a shrew, and the very next instant an angel.”
    Brendan laughed, thoroughly enjoying himself. “Mara is full of surprises, Don Luís. I’m sometimes believing she doesn’t know who she is, or what she wishes to be, eh, me little darlin’?” Brendan taunted, anger still smoldering behind his dark eyes.
    “As long as she is Amaya, that is all that need be important,” Don Luís interjected quickly, afraid a row would erupt between these wildly unpredictable O’Flynns. “There is one small thing I must know: The child will not be confused to be calling you Amaya?” Don Luís