The Blackmailed Bride Read Online Free PDF

was wrong with him?
    Marcus still had his attention focused after his sister. “I’m sorry for that,” he said. “She’s not usually so…frantic.”
    Nick brushed aside the apology. “When will you leave?” he asked.
    “I guess at first opportunity. Perhaps in the morning. It’s several days’ journey to Westin Park.” Marcus put away his cue. The game of billiards now forgotten in the wake of Olivia’s appearance. “Can you spare the time?” Marcus asked.
    “I suppose so, why?”
    “Come with us. We’ve known each other for years, yet you’ve never seen my home.”
    Nick considered the offer. He had no wish to intrude upon the siblings’ time together, but he couldn’t deny there was something infinitely alluring about escaping the scrutiny of town for a few days. And while he could have easily visited his country estate, Nick wasn’t ready for that yet. Wasn’t ready for whatever memories awaited him there.
    “I don’t guess anyone will miss me.” And Nick was surprised to find he was swayed by the thought of having more time to study the fascinating Olivia.
    The idea appealed to him more than it should.

Chapter Three
    I t wasn’t there.
    The letter she’d believed would be in the rosewood box in the library at Westin Park was missing.
    For a moment, Olivia could think of nothing. She stared at the dark velvet lining of the empty container as though the parchment would somehow mysteriously reappear. Olivia watched for several moments, waiting for one of the miracles Marcus so believed in to happen.
    It didn’t.
    The severity of her predicament overwhelmed her.
    What was she going to do? Unfortunately, there were few choices…and none of them held much appeal.
    Ignoring Lord Finley was definitely what she would prefer to do. Perhaps if she could keep her distance from him, making sure that he never had cause to be alone with her, he would give up his quest to make her his wife. But even as Olivia thought that, she knew the baron wouldn’t cave so easily. He would expose them. For herself, Olivia didn’t much care. She had no use for society or its good opinion. Marcus, however, would be laughed out of the House of Lords, unable to push through the legislation he’d been working on. And when her brotherdecided it was time to marry, no eligible woman would want to link her name with such a damaged and scandalized family.
    So pretending she and Finley had never even talked wouldn’t work—much as she might have wished otherwise.
    That left confessing this to her brother. But what would he say when he realized the secret she’d been harboring for years? Telling him the truth was the only option, wasn’t it? With Marcus’s help, she could devise a way to nullify Lord Finley’s threat and prevent their family disgrace from becoming common knowledge. Perhaps her brother could write him a bank draft. Or maybe they could figure a way to get the letter back, which would make Finley’s accusations—should he make any—seem like nothing more than spiteful fabrications.
    But what would the revelation do to Marcus? Would he be reduced to the person she’d let herself become? Would the truth strip him of his faith in a God who would allow such things to occur the way it had to her? And what would he think of her part in the charade, and the fact that she’d hidden the truth from him for so long?
    Marcus would be disappointed. Well, disappointed was probably not the right word. But she refused to consider a harsher emotion, one that would forever change the way Marcus looked at her.
    She’d become a liar in order to protect him, never anticipating he’d discover the truth…either about her mother or about her.
    She wasn’t sure which revelation would crush him more.
    I could accept Finley’s proposal.
    The thought repulsed her.
    But was it worse than confessing to Marcus?
    Could she bear to hurt her brother when she had another option?
    No, she couldn’t.
    Olivia thought she’d cried all