A Necessary Deception Read Online Free PDF Page B

would make her happier.” She propped herself up on her elbow and looked at him. “She’s been after me to accept you.”
    “I knew there was a reason I liked her.” He cuffed her playfully under the chin and it brought a wide smile to her lips, the first genuine one she’d dared in ages.
    “And before the wedding? How will we deal with Mr. Pratt?” She wanted to hear his solution.
    He pushed her hair off her forehead and tucked it behind her ear. “We’ll think of some way out of this muddle.”
    “Yes, we will.” She snuggled against him, not heartened by his answer, but with the weight of his arm around her, the sense of safety and hope which had eluded her for the last three years returned.
    ~*~
     
    Charles stared at the rough ceiling beams as he listened to Mary’s steady breathing beside him. Even with her warm body tucked against his, he couldn’t find enough tranquility to fall into a deep sleep of his own. Despite his assurances they would be fine, the only solution he had to their problems was his determination to see her through this as he’d seen his men through the long month behind enemy lines, and a single idea he didn’t wish to entertain. He prayed she’d gained enough confidence in him to at least consider the suggestion which kept coming to him no matter how many other solutions he tried to concoct in order to set it aside.
    No, it won’t come to that.
    He’d say nothing about it until he was forced to. Like her pawning and his gambling, he believed something would happen to change everything. It had in Spain when the farmer who’d held Charles and his unit at gunpoint while the French had crept through the nearby forest had turned out to be a sympathetic Spaniard. As Charles had faced down the old musket barrel, he’d thought their succeeding at getting back to the fort was over, but he’d been wrong. With any luck, he’d be wrong again. Tomorrow, a solution would come to him. It had to.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN
     
     
     
    The easy conversation which had floated between them as they’d helped each other dress and then broken their fast ended when they entered the common room. Mr. Pratt waited for them at the bar, smug as a conquering general.
    Charles strode up to him, refusing to be intimidated by the man. "What are you doing here?"
    "You said to bring ya' proof and I have it." He shoved a wrinkled paper at Charles who snatched it from his meaty hands. Mary came up beside him and read the document too. It outlined her stepfather's debt, his payments and the interest he'd accrued along with his mark and the placing of the Marquis of Granby as collateral.
    "Is this Paul’s signature?" Charles asked, not willing to take the man’s word. Sadly, Mary nodded, the color which had lit up her face during their time above stairs draining away. Charles fixed on Mr. Pratt. "It wasn't the hundred you claimed, but fifty." It was still too much.
    "I can't name all of me clients' debts off the top of me head," he sneered, before he seemed to cheer. "But I hear you're in need of money. I could loan it to you, add it to what's already owed by this place and then you’d have a fine posting with the Army and could well afford to pay me back."
    The memory of the sallow man who'd eavesdropped on Charles’ conversation with Aaron rushed back to him. He stared at Mr. Pratt, working to appear more jovial about his money troubles than he really was. "You heard wrong, I’m quite capable of purchasing my commission without your assistance."
    Mr. Pratt snatched the paper out of Charles's hand."Think you're too proud to take money from the likes of me, are you? Well, if you have enough for your commission then you have enough to pay me back, and you'd better do it by tomorrow morning or I'll summon the bailiff and claim my due, then you'll be wishing you’d accepted me offer."
    He turned on one thick heel and stormed out of the pub.
    Charles pressed his fingertips into the cool top of the bar, the unease which