Pirate's Golden Promise Read Online Free PDF Page B

follow, but he wouldn’t allow her to have her way in this instance. For years he’d tried to ignore her tirades, her hateful words to him and Wynter. But sometimes he wished to strangle the woman. And Lucy, his elder daughter, would grow to become just like Debra if he didn’t take a hand now and put an end to this talk of a marriage to Somerset. He wished Lucy’s mind hadn’t been poisoned against him by Debra. For in his way, he loved the girl.
    But the woman who stood before him in her black garb, resembling a crow, he did not love. Too much unpleasantness had transpired between them for him to care anything about Debra. If only Debra had been kind, gentle …
    He wouldn’t think about what might have been.
    â€œYou shall support the match of Lucy and Somerset or suffer the consequences.” He heard Debra’s voice, bringing him back to the moment.
    â€œDon’t coerce me, lady-wife. I can make you wish you’d never been born if you carry out your threat.”
    â€œReally? Well, I wonder how Wynter will regard her loving father if she learns the truth.”
    With that parting remark for him to mull over, Debra left the room.
    Walter finished his brandy and wondered if Debra would confess the truth to Wynter. He knew she’d make it sound as sordid as possible and would show him in a very unfavorable light. He couldn’t risk losing his daughter, the only thing he held dear in life—the living reminder of his Sara.
    He wondered if the time had come to tell Wynter the truth, to let her know that her own mother had loved her before her birth and would have cherished her had she lived. He refused to allow Debra to dictate to him, to cause him to feel guilty. He’d appease her by finding Lucy another suitor. In this he anticipated no difficulty. The smell of wealth could be a great inducement. This he knew from personal experience.
    With the plan formed to tell Wynter the truth, he waited for Jennie. He hoped he wouldn’t tire out on the lusty wench tonight. He’d been feeling poorly lately and blamed his lack of performance on the girl, and told her she didn’t know how to please a man. But that wasn’t true, and they both knew it. Though Jennie never said anything to him in her own defense, she was the type of woman who could rouse a dead man from eternal slumber. He knew he wasn’t the man he had been years ago. Years ago when he loved Sara.
    When the flaxen-haired creature did crawl beneath the sheets later, all thoughts of Debra and his children fled. Jennie had a way with her hands, and that night he felt young again.

    The guest list had already been drawn up by the beginning of February. Though Debra helped Wynter make up the list, Wynter sensed that something lay behind Debra’s sly-cat grin, that in some way she was helping herself as well. Little else spoiled Wynter’s happy mood, except for Lucy, who refused to be fitted for her gown.
    â€œMadame Richard must take your measurements,” Wynter insisted one damp, cold afternoon. “How else will the gown be ready in time for the ceremony next month? You’re my only attendant. I do wish you wouldn’t act so petulant.”
    Lucy sniffed the air in disdain, reminding Wynter of Debra, her hand resting on a page in the Bible. Lucy’s eyes lifted to Wynter’s worried face. “You want me in the wedding party because I’m your sister. Not because you’re fond of me.”
    Wynter suppressed a sigh. She and Lucy had never been close and she knew they never would be. As far back as Wynter could remember, they had been at odds. Sometimes she envied Lucy, because nothing ever seemed to ruffle her composure. Wynter recalled the horrible pranks Lucy had played on her and the way she constantly treated her with disdain. In fact, during the past month Lucy had treated her worse than usual, almost as if Wynter were no better than a common servant. Wynter did