How to Woo a Reluctant Lady (The Hellions of Halstead Hall) by Jeffries Sabrina

Author:Jeffries, Sabrina [Jeffries, Sabrina]
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Publisher: Pocket Books
Published: 2011-01-18T05:00:00+00:00

Chapter Fifteen

The unmistakable sound of a rifle being cocked brought Giles instantly awake. He looked up into the implacable face of the Marquess of Stoneville and then lower to the barrel of a Manton breechloader aimed right at his head.

This was bad. Very, very bad.

He felt Minerva stir beside him, then cry, “Oliver, what the devil do you think you’re doing? Put that away! You might hurt him!”

Stoneville’s gaze bore into Giles’s, cold as death. “What a pity that would be.”

“This isn’t how it looks,” Minerva said.

Giles tamped down a manic urge to laugh. “I doubt he believes that, minx.”

“Minerva,” Stoneville said, “you have about one minute to put some clothes on before everybody else gets here.”

“Everybody else?” she squeaked.

“Oliver, what do you think you’re doing?” cried an aged voice from the path.

“Too late,” Stoneville muttered.

Everything happened at once. With a shriek, Minerva dived for her clothes. Several dogs burst into the little space, dragging along Halstead Hall’s gamekeeper and an assortment of servants. Lady Celia came after them.

And Mrs. Plumtree appeared at Stoneville’s side. “You cannot shoot Mr. Masters!”

“Oh, I’m fairly certain I can,” Stoneville drawled. “I’ve got a pretty good bead on him.”

Giles groaned. His life definitely hung in the balance. If he’d found some scoundrel lying half-naked on the ground with his sister, he would have reacted exactly like Stoneville. Only he would have aimed lower. And he would have fired by now.

“But if you shoot him, how can he be any good to Minerva?” Mrs. Plumtree said.

“I’m not sure he can be anyway,” Stoneville snapped.

“I can if I marry her,” Giles said. “And I will marry her.”

“I don’t know if I want you to marry my sister,” Stoneville growled.

“And I don’t know if I want to marry him,” Minerva said hotly.

Giles’s heart sank as she came up to stand beside Stoneville, her eyes flashing fire. She’d managed to struggle into her petticoat and gown but had abandoned her corset and apparently couldn’t fasten her gown, which hung loosely on her.

Bloody, bloody hell. This wasn’t how he’d meant this to happen. Minerva hated being forced almost as much as he did. She was bound to be stubborn about this.

“If you are willing to roll about on the ground half-naked with the man, then you had better be willing to marry him,” her grandmother said in a hard voice.

“I’d rather shoot him,” Stoneville said. “Either now, or at dawn tomorrow.”

“You’re not going to shoot Giles,” Minerva snapped, “so just get that idea out of your head.” Walking over to her brother, she shoved the rifle to the side.

It went off, spitting a bullet into the ground a few inches from Giles’s head.

Giles sprang to his feet. “What the hell—”

“Don’t ever do that again!” Stoneville shouted at his sister as the blood drained from his face. “That rifle has a damned hair-trigger, for God’s sake!”

“Are you trying to get me killed, Minerva?” Giles growled.

“I-I thought it wasn’t really loaded,” she said, her face ashen.

Giles strode up to her. “Next

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.