Read Online This Wicked Gift by Courtney Milan - Free Book Online Page A

brother’s
footsteps fall heavily on the stairs that led to their living quarters. James
had seen her   embracing a strange
man. Half an hour ago he’d followed William outside. Now he was coming back,
and she didn’t have answers for any of the questions he might put to her. She
didn’t want to defend her virtue tonight. Instead she stared at the account
books in front of her. Industriousness would ward off any hard questions.
    She forced herself to concentrate on the
numbers in front of her.   Five plus six plus thirteen made four-and-twenty….
    The door squeaked behind James, and then
closed.
    Four-and-twenty
plus twelve plus seventeen was fifty-three.
    He crossed the room and stood behind her.
She could hear the quiet rush of a resigned exhalation. Still, Lavinia
pretended she couldn’t hear him. Yes, that was it. She was so engrossed in the
books that she didn’t even notice he was breathing down her neck.
    Fifty-three and
fifteen made sixty-eight.
    “Vinny,” James said quietly. “I don’t
think you should always be the one to slave away over these books. Isn’t it
about time I began to take over?”
    No accusations. It would have been easier
if she’d been able to lie to him. Lavinia carefully laid her pen down and
turned to her brother. His eyes were large, not with accusation, but with the
weight of responsibility. She’d wanted to save him from that.
    “Oh, James.” Lavinia arranged the lapels of his damp coat into some semblance of order.
“That’s very sweet of you.”
    “I’m not being sweet. It’s necessary. I need
to be able to manage without you.”
    Why? I can do it
better.
    She caught the words before they came out
of her mouth. How many times had James offered to help, in his awkward way? How
many times had she refused him? She couldn’t even count.
    “After all,” he continued, his voice slow, “you might marry.”
    “I’m not getting married.” Her denial came
too fast; her light tone sounded too forced. He’d   seen   her with William. And even though he
hadn’t actually caught them kissing, they’d been clasping hands in easy
intimacy. How was she supposed to explain to her younger brother she had
engaged in such conduct with a man she was not marrying? Best
to talk of something else.
    But before she could offer up even the
most ham-handed change of subject, James let out a slow breath. “Still. Should I not help?”
    What had William said about them? Oh God.
Had he told James the embarrassing details? Lavinia’s hand shook, ever so
slightly, where it rested on her brother’s coat. “You’re right. Maybe I can
assign you some task—something small.”
    He frowned and folded his arms. “I should
have thought you would be happy to step down.”
    Step down? Step down! That would ruin   everything.   Her brother had no notion how to argue
with creditors for a favorable repayment schedule; he’d not learned   how to account precisely for the
location of every volume in the library. If she left the shop to him, he’d lose
a ha’penny here, a ha’penny there, until the flow of cash dried up. The library
would falter and then fail. Everything she’d worked for would fall to pieces.
    James didn’t seem aware he’d just proposed
complete disaster. He continued on, as if he were a reasonable person. “I think
I should be able to handle the work very well. I   am   almost sixteen years of age.”
    “James.” In her ears, her voice sounded
flat and emotionless. “I can’t step down. There are too many things to
remember.”
    “So you can tell me what to do at first.”
    “I can’t tell you everything! Would you
think to save pennies each day, so we might have a Christmas celebration? Would
you think to bargain with the apothecary, giving him priority on the new
volumes in exchange for a discount on medicines?”
    She could see his fine plans crumbling,
his desire to do more faltering. He drew his brows down. “Would
it be so awful, then, if I made a