Pirate's Bride (Liberty's Ladies) Read Online Free PDF

sister company in England, Jessica held title to it. As Ian grew older he wondered why she never relinquished control to Matthew since he was the driving force behind it and he felt that his father must feel belittled at times to not own the company he ran.
    However, his father appeared happy with things as they were, and when Jessica sailed to England to visit her old aunt, and to see to the British end of the company, Matthew insisted she go alone. He claimed pressing duties and couldn’t break away.
    If only he’d gone, Ian found himself thinking for the ten thousandth time in the last eight years. Perhaps then his mother wouldn’t have been an easy target for a lecherous nobleman if his father had been by her side. He remembered the day she arrived home with her earl. Ian and Molly had come home from a friend’s house, and there the man had sat in the parlor.
    He’d never forget the Earl of Dunsmoor rising to his feet, of the way he’d peered down at them, his eyes cold and hard as if they were vermin and he’d delight in brushing them away. His mother came forward to kiss them. “This is a very special friend of mine,” she’d said with love in her eyes as she took the earl’s hand in hers. Ian discovered sooner than Molly how special this friend was to his mother. Within a month, she begged the fifteen-year-old Ian to leave with her and come to England, that a great fortune and life with Briston Shipping awaited him there. He’d adamantly refused, knowing he hurt her. He expected she’d take Molly, but she didn’t, perhaps thinking Molly would be better off with her brother and father. In that regard, his mother was correct. Ian and his father, when he was alive, doted on Molly, spoiling her outrageously. He sincerely doubted the earl would have wanted two strange children underfoot.
    Sometimes Ian forgot he ever had a mother, and that was fine with him. He completed his formal education in Italy before returning home to work in the office with his father. Though his parents had divorced, Jessica wished Matthew to still run the colonial end of the company, and because he loved her and still hoped she’d come back to him, he agreed. Such love has no man, Ian thought bitterly. There were moments over the years when Ian wondered why his father never fought for Jessica, why he docilely allowed her to leave and didn’t protest the divorce. Had his father been a basically weak, cuckolded man, a man who pretended to adore his wife only for the prosperous company she’d inherited? Was his father, after all, no better than the earl himself? He hated to think so.
    When Matthew died five years ago, the doctors said he’d succumbed to heart disease. More like a broken heart, Ian decided. Because of his father’s experience, Ian vowed never to fall in love and appear foolish, never to become the discarded object of a woman’s whimsy. Never. If anyone would do the discarding, it would be him. He rubbed his chin in thought. He’d do anything to cause the earl as much humiliation as Matthew suffered, to make up for Molly’s pain. Growing up without a mother wasn’t easy for his sister. Lady Bethlyn Talbot had the privilege of a mother’s love these last years, his own mother’s love to be exact — something which had been denied him and his sister.
    Earlier, he’d hinted to Eversley and Marcus at a way to make the earl appear foolish, not certain at this time how he intended to cause such discomfort. However, as he raced through verdant pastureland towards home a plan formed in his mind.
    What better way to wreak vengeance on the hateful man than through his own daughter? He knew he must marry the girl to keep his company. In truth he didn’t want to hurt her, but the years of pain had taken their toll upon him, hardening his heart until all he thought of at that moment was the joy he’d receive to see the earl’s shocked and surprised face on the day of the wedding ceremony.
    A dry, coarse laugh