Wolf of Arundale Hall Read Online Free PDF

hinted at Elizabeth’s fall from status. Finally Melinda had come out and said it. Elizabeth nodded. “You may wish Joshua has come back to Arundale to divorce me and marry you, but I know my husband. Even if he hated me, Melinda, he would remain married to me.” She stepped closer to the woman, years of resentment seething inside her. “But perhaps he’s come home to give me the child I’ve always wanted.”
    Melinda stared at her. “You mean to usurp Gerry with a brat of your own?”
    “Why not?” Elizabeth snapped. “For ten years you’ve waited for your chance to steal my husband, relying on my good will but always reminding me I was childless and my husband miles away. Why wouldn’t I want my own child to inherit Arundale Hall?”
    The other woman shrank from her. “I didn’t mean—”
    “Don’t start what you’re unwilling to finish, cousin .” She snapped the last word. “I’ve loved you for Joshua’s sake and will continue to do so. But don’t ever threaten me like that again.”
    Melinda glared at her. “Or what? You’ve no children and Perry is well on his way to a destruction of his own making. With the entail, Gerry will inherit. You can’t remove me.”
    “No. But until now, you’ve had whatever you’ve requested. You might keep in mind that Joshua may not see your financial ‘needs’ the same way I have.” She gave the woman a contemptuous glance from head to toe. “He’s coming home and things will change. We’ll see if you get your chance to remove me.”
    The woman’s face crumpled. “I’m sorry, Elizabeth. I never should have said it.” She began to cry and Elizabeth sighed.
    Melinda wasn’t evil and Elizabeth doubted she truly wanted Joshua for her husband. But her helplessness, her dependence, made her lash out. That was something Elizabeth knew well.
    “Joshua cares for you as he would a sister. You will not be cast out of his home. By him or by me. Provided you mind your manners with him.”
    Melinda’s arms tightened around her. “You’re too good. I’m so frightened all the time, Elizabeth.”
    Elizabeth wasn’t afraid of Joshua coming home.
    She was angry.
     
    Work helped. She attacked the business of readying the estate for her husband’s homecoming, preparing an elaborate meal, cleaning out the unused rooms in case he wanted to inspect them and supervising the work of the maid.
    In the days before he left, Arundale Hall had employed three maids and a cook. But Elizabeth had been forced to economize when Perry’s exploits and Melinda’s spending habits had cut into the household accounts. Now only one maid, the cook, Jackson and Huggins, who was too old for any strenuous task, took care of the hall. The stable had suffered as well. Botter was all that remained to care for the three horses they still owned. Whether Joshua had noticed this or not Elizabeth did not know. She’d sent a rendering of the accounts every quarter and rarely received any input from him.
    By the time she’d finished the upstairs, the rage she’d experienced earlier had subsided, though it smoldered beneath the surface. She could feel it boiling and bubbling like some foul brew.
    Perry didn’t help.
    She approached his apartments in the south wing of the house with trepidation. The smell was bad and the maid refused to have anything to do with Perry’s room. When taxed with it, Sarah had said the man was dangerous. Elizabeth took that to mean Perry had either assaulted her or insulted her. Either way, it meant Elizabeth cleaned his room or it remained a pigsty.
    Her knock on his door seemed loud in this deserted part of the house. Damn him for being such a stubborn man. She stifled a gasp when the door was flung open and Perry stood there, wild-eyed.
    Elizabeth studied her brother-in-law. He’d been fifteen when she’d married Joshua. Then, he’d seemed amusing, well on his way to becoming a lawyer. But drink and gambling had destroyed that hope. At twenty-five he already