Bewitching Kisses (Bewitching Kisses Series) Read Online Free PDF Page B

tell me why Beckett was all over the Lady May like a fly on a fresh pile.”
    Nick folded his arms across his chest. So now we finally come to the point of the visit, he thought. “How do you know that?” he challenged.
    “Don’t change the subject, Nicholas. We’re in this business together and don’t you forget it. More than half of the ships in Beaumont Shipping belong to me, at least until I die. And I want to know what is wrong.”
    Nick thought of Sarah, still sleeping in his bed. “And what makes you think that something is amiss?”
    Agatha’s fingers thumped against the wooden arm of her chair with impatience. “You always wait to hear that the ship has docked before you send an agent down. Suddenly, you have your best agent waiting in the rain for a ship that is not due in for days. That’s not coincidence, Nicky, that’s careful planning, and I want to know why.”
    Nick leaned back in his chair and wondered what she would make of Sarah’s story. Her body might be failing, but her shrewd insight to business constantly amazed him. “The last few trips I’ve had an uneasy feeling about Captain Riggins.”
    Agatha rubbed her hands together, her eyes narrowing. “I never did like that man.” She gave a shrug at Nick’s startled expression. “Oh, he’s a good enough captain. But he always gave me the feeling that he was looking for ways to make a quick fortune. Is he taking cargo?”
    Nick shook his head and rubbed his hand across his jaw. “I thought he might have been dealing with slaves.”
    “What!” Nick watched his grandmother’s pale face turn a sickly white before blooming a fiery red. “I won’t have it, Nicky.” Her cane thumped hard on the floor. “I don’t care how much money there’s to be made in that. I simply won’t have it.”
    “Gran, many people don’t carry the same beliefs that you do. And besides – “
    Agatha’s stunned expression fixed on her grandson in horror. “If you are going to tell me, Nicholas Beaumont,” she interrupted, “that you don’t share my feelings in this matter, then I am going to march out and get that hickory stick myself. You always did pick the puny branches anyway.”
    Nick reached for her hand and found it cold to the touch. “You know better than that, Gran. After all you’ve taught me, do you really think I would sanction such an act?”
    “Slaves.” Agatha shuddered. “What would the good Lord think if he were to look down and see slaves on a Beaumont ship? Why, I’d die from the shame of it.” Despite the heavy layer of rice powder she wore, her cheeks kept the fiery glow of her indignation.
    “You get down to that dock yourself, Nicholas, and you drag that blackheart Riggins back to me by his ear. I’ll give that man a healthy piece of my mind and then see him hung.”
    Nick struggled not to laugh at the thoughts of his frail grandmother trying to thrash a man who easily outweighed her three times over. “Gran, Riggins wasn’t carrying slaves. If you’d hush a moment I’ll tell you.”
    Agatha frowned. If her legs were working, she’d go down to that dock and see for herself, rain or no rain. She drew herself upright in her chair. “I’m still the head of this business, Nicholas, so if you know what’s good for you, you’ll give me a straight story.”
    Nick smiled. Some things never changed. “Beckett found that Riggins had a duplicate manifest. He wasn’t taking any of our cargo. He was simply using our ship to transport some of his own.”
    Agatha’s eyes narrowed in thought. “I never did like that scum. Too shifty, if you ask me. You relieved him of his position?” Nick nodded. “Good, I want to go home now. “Luuuttherrr, OOOOscarrr.” Her shrill voice filled the room, and Nick winced from the sound.
    Stepping to the hearth, he reached for the bell pull. “Gran, you don’t have to yell.” But his words were lost as the door to the study again crashed open and his grandmother’s two porters