A Convenient Bride Read Free Page B

Scotland as soon as I am able.” He pulled the pistol from his waistband and handed it to his steward. “If you find them, shoot the bastard, Lockley, if you must.”

Chapter Two

    B renna!”
    Father’s voice reverberated through the town house, startling a pair of maids, who skittered off toward the kitchen as if their skirts were ablaze.
    Brenna winced. Walter Harrington seldom raised his voice to his children, unless they’d done something outrageous. Her father was generally a controlled man. For him to shout loud enough to send servants fleeing did not bode well for her.
    And there was a note of anger in his tone.
    She rose up onto her slipper-covered toes, hoping to tiptoe up the stairs and race to the safety of her room, when a second bellow from his study, outmatching the first, boomed off the walls and snapped her upright.
    “Brenna!”
    There was no escape. Two shouts indicated that she was about to be flogged, figuratively speaking, for some misdeed. A locked door wouldn’t keep him from his course. When father summoned, you answered the call. There were no exceptions.
    With weighted steps, she headed off in his direction. The swish of satin and lace marked her passage down the suddenly quiet hallway. A sense of doom rose with each step.
    The only thing she could do was accept her punishment and hope it wouldn’t be dire. But what was causing his ire thistime? Since her list of infractions was lengthy, it was impossible to point in one direction.
    “Yes, Father,” she said sweetly, as she crossed the threshold into the study. “You wanted to see me?”
    Slowly, he stood, and she froze. His face was angrier than she ever remembered seeing. A sheet of paper was gripped tightly in his hand as he rounded the desk and stalked toward her like a cat on a hapless mouse. It was all Brenna could do not to flinch backward when he reached her.
    He thrust out his hand and handed over the note. “Explain this,” he said, his checks flushed a deep puce.
    With hands shaking, she took the crumpled missive and quickly read the first two paragraphs of the lengthy note. Her heart squeezed painfully in her chest as her eyes dropped past the bulk of the note to the name at the bottom. In spite of not recognizing the scrawled signature, she knew immediately who had sent her to the gallows.
    Her highwayman. The details of her crime were too intimate for it to be anyone but him. Theirs had been a private conversation. The bastard had betrayed her.
    “How—?” Her voice was a strangled squeak.
    “The man you offered to pay to compromise you was not a thief but my dear friend Lord Richard Ellerby, the Viscount Ashwood, who stopped your hired coach while looking for his missing sister. He was worried you’d come to harm and sent around this note.” His hands closed into fists in front of his mouth. “I cannot believe you’ve done such a thing, Daughter. Were you willing to risk your innocence, your life, just to avoid a marriage?”
    Never had Brenna experienced such censure from her father. He was grievously disappointed in her. This realization twisted a hard knot in her stomach as tears threatened to spill. “I’m sorry, Father.”
    He snatched back the note and shook his head. “What am I to do with you? Lock you in a wardrobe? Place a guard on your door day and night?”
    Brenna sniffed and whispered, “I cannot marry Chester Abbot. Please do not force me to, Father. He is horrid.”
    Father spun on his heel and returned to the desk. He dropped the paper on the surface and turned back. “It wasnever our intention to force you to marry that toad.” His face softened, but only slightly. “We hoped that with Abbot looming as a potential mate, you’d finally accept a suitor, any suitor, and settle down with a family of your own.”
    Her eyes widened. “I do not have to marry the marquess?” She was free! “Thank you, Father,” she exclaimed with relief. “You are the best father!”
    When she opened her arms