House of Angels Read Free Page B

on Ella, teeth gritted against the pain, arms stretched to breaking point as she gasped out her plea. ‘I’m all right, Ella. Please don’t give in. You…really… mustn’t !’ She saw how Maggie drew her sister close, which caused Livia to strive all the harder to hold on to her own courage. ‘Don’t let her, Maggie. Don’t let her agree!’
    Livia could say no more, needing the last of her strength to deal with the agony.
    Ella was watching her sister’s torment with growing despair, desperately striving to still her own trembling, knowing it would serve only to anger her father further. There seemed to be no escape for her now, let alone for poor Livia. No more secret meetings with Danny Gilpin in the shadow of the castle ruins, no more lovers’ trysts, heartfelt promises or sweet, stolen kisses. She was to be sold to the highest bidder, auctioned off like a heifer at Kendal Auction Mart to a cold-hearted farmer in need of a wife.
    Pretty, scatter-brained Ella, at just turned twenty, had endured her own beating with remarkable fortitude, but quailed at witnessing the more brutal torture inflictedupon her beloved and brave sister. And she knew that if Livia, with her fierce rebellious nature, refused to concede defeat to their father’s tyranny, he would turn next on the softer Maggie, whose weak chest and nervous manner made her an easy victim.
    She could not let this go on. She had to say something, anything. She had to save Livia, as well as herself.
    Brushing aside Maggie’s restraining hands, Ella took a tentative step forward and faced her father with reckless defiance. ‘I would marry this man, this Amos Todd, but I doubt he would have me since I’m carrying Danny Gilpin’s child.’
    Maggie pressed her hand to her mouth, stifling a cry of dismay, while Livia groaned, knowing all was lost. But Ella stood resolute, her chin held obstinately high even as her eyes brimmed with tears, her beauty and distress surely sufficient to melt even the coldest heart. Unfortunately, not Josiah’s.
    Josiah drew a walnut from his pocket and cracked it in his palm while he considered his daughter in all seriousness. ‘Don’t lie to me, Eleanor. I’ve always been able to tell when you were lying. But just in case it’s true, we’d best look sharp, hadn’t we? If we marry you off quick, Amos will never know. At least, not till it’s too late.’ Tossing aside the shells, he turned on his heel and strode from the room, taking the key to Livia’s prison with him.
     
    Josiah did not trouble to lock the door of the attic, knowing Maggie and Ella would not stir from their sister’sside while she hung like a joint of meat from a butcher’s hook. As ever, they would cling together, stubbornly united against him. Until he finally broke them, that is. Which he fully intended to do.
    They accused him of being harsh but in Josiah’s eyes he’d been far too indulgent. It was long past time all three of his daughters were wed. Most women of twenty-two , as Lavinia now was, were married, yet she’d refused every suitor he’d found for her, resisted every attempt to do her duty. Now he’d turned to the next in line, deciding to deal with Ella first, and come to Livia next. Maggie, he would keep at home a while longer. He had other uses for his youngest daughter, and was in less of a hurry to dispose of her services.
    Josiah proceeded at a leisurely pace to his study, showing no sign of haste as he dealt with several pressing matters of business, determined to allow his rebellious daughters ample time to fully appreciate Livia’s distress. He wanted them to share her agony and reflect upon the consequences of their disobedience.
    He certainly had no intention of being sidetracked by Ella’s hysterical nonsense. A barefaced lie if ever he heard one. But just in case the tale was true, he’d make sure the nuptials took place promptly, before Amos Todd could get wind of it.
    As ever, there was a great deal of business in