Her Scoundrel Earl (Escape with a Scoundrel Series Book 2) by Shelly Thacker

Author:Shelly Thacker [Thacker, Shelly]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Summit Avenue Books
Published: 2015-02-05T18:00:00+00:00

“I was fifteen. It was an August morning. We were at Worthington Manor, just outside London. My father asked my mother and I to join him in his study. Said he had news.” Marcus’s eyes glittered unnaturally dark in the wavering light of the lamps. His voice had become a cold monotone, as if he were reciting a passage memorized from a book long ago. “Father told us we would be leaving that day. Leaving Worthington Manor, permanently. Because it belonged to someone else. All of our homes and possessions now belonged to someone else—a man by the name of Charles Montaigne.”

“But how was that possible?” Elizabeth whispered, not allowing herself to draw closer to him as she wanted to. She wrapped her arm around one of the tall posts at the foot of the bed.

“Montaigne,” Marcus said, his tone still icy, controlled, “was one of four trusted friends who lured my father into the West Indies investment madness.”

Elizabeth gasped, beginning to understand. “That awful scheme where everyone in England was buying shares in Caribbean sugar plantations—only it turned out half of the plantations didn’t exist?”

Marcus nodded. “They talked him into investing all he could. My father was a gambler by nature. He made huge profits at first. He was mad for more cash to buy more shares—and Montaigne offered to loan it to him. All my father had to do was sign a note putting up the Worthington estates against the loan. Then the crash came.”

Marcus looked down at the empty goblet in his hand as he continued. “My father found out that his friends had been involved in the company’s management all along. They knew the end was coming and used him to get out. His investment allowed them to unload their own shares at a rich profit. They were all fat and happy. We lost everything. That morning, my father confessed it all to my mother and I. He had documents in front of him—we were standing there on the other side of his desk, watching him sign away everything we had.”

The rapid rising and falling of Marcus’s chest was the only sign that he felt any emotion at all about the story he was relating.

“By the time he finished, Montaigne and his men were there. Arrived first thing that morning to toss us out. Walked right into the study. My father stood up to face them…and I came around the desk, to stand beside him…I thought if…the two of us could stand together against them, that somehow…”

Marcus’s voice faltered. A muscle flexed in his cheek.

“Then I saw the gun…in Father’s hand. But I didn’t realize…I thought he meant to fight them. To fight for us. Instead, he…put the pistol to his head and pulled the trigger.” Marcus shut his eyes, as if trying to shut out the memory. “His blood…was all over the desk. On the papers he had signed…I fell to my knees beside him, on the floor. His blood was all over my hands.”

Elizabeth

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