CAPTURED BY THE BEASTLY DUKE BY HARRIET CAVES – eBook Details Online
- Status: Available for Free Download
- Authors: Harriet Caves
- Language: English
- Genre: Historical Romance
- Format: PDF / EPUB
- Size: 2 MB
- Price: Free
“It’s barely mid-day, Father,” Miss Marian Sullivan pointed out, fixing
her father, the Baron with her iciest glare. “We’ve yet to have
luncheon. At this rate, you’ll be in your cups by dinner.”
Marian was not a woman to suffer fools gladly. It was not in her nature.
And when the fool in question was her own, bird-witted father, she was
inclined to tolerate even less.
Her estimate was a conservative one. She knew perfectly well that her
father would be unlikely to make an appearance at the dinner table that
evening. By her estimation, he was already on his second flask of brandy,
and once the third was produced, she would be fortunate to get a single
coherent word out of the man. Which meant she had to seize the moment.
“Papa,” she said, bringing her fan down smartly on the table beside her to
gain his attention. “Please. If you won’t do it for yourself, then at least think
of me.”
The Baron passed a weary hand over his eyes.
“Enough, Marian,” he said, his voice already furred with alcohol. “You
weary me with your nagging. Your Mama would never have spoken to me
thus.”
Marian’s elegant fingers clenched the fan a little tighter at the mention of
her mother. “Mama wouldn’t have tolerated your current behavior any more
than I,” she said, speaking a little more sharply than she intended. “But as
she’s not here to tell you that herself, you leave me no choice but to do it for
her.”
She looked around the room, her blue eyes taking in the faded curtains, the
threadbare rugs, and the surfaces which hadn’t seen a duster in months. Her
mother wouldn’t have tolerated any of this either, she knew. But her mother
was dead, a fact that did not get any easier for Marian to accept, no matter
how much time elapsed since the moment her world changed forever.
Today
was day seven hundred and fifty-two since the fever had taken her. Most of
the servants had given notice on day four hundred and seven, or
thereabouts, when there was no money left to pay them, and the Baron’s
drinking, which had started on day two, had only increased since then.
Marian did not yet know on which day the money would run out for good,
but she knew for certain that if she couldn’t get through to the man slumped
in his chair before her, they would be reaching that point sooner rather than
later.
And that just would not do.
“Father!” she exclaimed again when he failed to answer her. “Please, I beg
of you, this cannot continue. Unless you wish to end up in the debtor’s gaol,
of course?”
“I said enough, Marian.” Her father’s watery blue eyes, which were a faded
version of her own, snapped open. “It is not seemly for a lady to talk about
money. You must leave these matters to me; there’s a good girl.”
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