The Captain's Wicked Wager Read Online Free PDF Page A

them, his wedding gift. They are very happy.”
    “So happy that they did not enquire how your father funded his gift, I gather,” Ewan said dryly.
    Isabella looked at him in surprise. “You’re quite right, they didn’t. It was another of Papa’s schemes of course. His grand design, he called it. Said it would shape our future. He was certainly right about that.” She was silent for a moment, staring off into the distance. Continued in a curiously flat tone, as if reciting something by rote. “The scheme involved buying ships and speculating on the value of the cargoof precious spices and the like they could pick up in the West Indies. I tried, but nothing I said could dissuade him. In fact, the more I begged him to back out, the more determined he became to prove me wrong. He borrowed an enormous sum—privately, of course No bank would have given him the money. He sailed with the ships. They were attacked by pirates. The ships and cargo were taken and Papa killed in the melee.” Isabella’s eyes filled with pain. “Poor Papa. He may have been foolish but he only wanted the best for us.”
    She straightened her back and shrugged her head as if to cast off unwelcome thoughts. ”That was some months ago. As his heir, poor Robin inherited the debt, which is far beyond what could be recovered by the sale of his property. He has tried, God knows, to find some means of generating sufficient funds, but without success. Now we have run out of time. We have until the end of the week, or Robin will go to prison.” She swallowed, brushed impatiently at a tear. “The doctor has made it clear my brother would not survive the harsh conditions of prison. It is as good as a death sentence. So you see, I had to do something.”
    “Does your brother know of your actions?” Ewan asked harshly.
    “No, no, of course not. I will think of some tale to satisfy him, you needn’t worry.”
    “He does not deserve you,” Ewan said, anger on her behalf warring with a kernel of guilt. With her hair unpowdered and her face free of rouge Belle looked younger and far more innocent than he had taken herfor last night.
    “I won’t have you judge my brother,” Isabella said vehemently. “You know nothing of him. And I won’t have you judge me, either.”
    Ewan disarmed her by kissing her hand. “I would not dream of judging you. You have my deepest admiration, Belle. It is myself I would judge.”
    “I don’t regret last night if that is worrying you. I have already told you that.” Unwilling to have him question her motives further, for she was not ready to examine them herself, she gave him a challenging look. “Do you?”
    Here at least he was on firmer ground. Ewan smiled. “Not if you don’t. I knew the moment I saw you that we would give each other pleasure.”
    She blushed. “Don’t be ridiculous.”
    “Come on, Belle, you felt it, too, admit it.”
    She shook her head, turning aside to hide her smile. “That is the second time today you have tried to make me do so, but I won’t. I needed your money. That is what I found attractive.”
    He touched her, a finger on the shell of her ear. His voice became low and husky. “You wanted me as much as I wanted you. I felt it in your kisses,” he whispered, his mouth on hers. “And in your touch,” he said.
    She brushed his hand away. “You are quite right, I did,” she said, looking at him with the determined tilt of her chin he already knew well. “It was not just your money I wanted, it was you. But not for the reason you think.”
    “My instincts tell me you are about to launch an attack. Yet still I would know. Tell me,” he said with asardonic smile.
    She crossed her arms defiantly. “It’s simple. I was curious. I am four and twenty, with no prospects. I do not want to die a virgin. I wanted the experience without creating an obligation. The terms of our bet made that possible.”
    He had known, of course he had known, that he was her first. It was