Saving the Broken Highlander by Ann Marie Scott

Author:Ann Marie Scott
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: Highland
Published: 2019-12-15T16:00:00+00:00

12

THE REST OF THE STORY

They paused for a moment while Ava poured them both a large measure of whisky. “I hardly ever drink this stuff,” she confessed. “I am not very keen on it, but I feel the need of it now, and you must keep me company or I will feel guilty. Now where was I? Oh, yes. After he had asked all these questions she just sat there quietly looking at her hands for a while. It was only when Alastair barked at her to answer him that she looked up. She was crying, but if she hoped for any sympathy from him she was mistaken. His face was set as hard as stone.

“She told him that the part about her father was true. He had been a wealthy silk merchant, but he died suddenly of a heart attack, and it was only after that that her mother found out that he had a gambling habit and they were drowning in debt.

“They lost their house and all their material possessions, and with her mother and two younger sisters to support, she had no choice but to do what many other women have been forced to do since the dawn of time: sell her body. She was young and pretty, and managed to save a bit of money so that her family could feed themselves and rent some modest accommodation. She bought some good secondhand clothes and left them some money, then traveled here with the intention of marrying a rich laird. She lived in a hovel but always looked like a queen, and eventually she befriended some ladies who introduced her to polite society.

“Unfortunately, soon after that she realized that she was with child, but then she had a stroke of luck and met Alastair. As I said, it was love at first sight, at least on his part, but she had to convince him that the baby was his, so it was necessary to seduce him at least once, or it would be too late to convince everyone that the baby was premature when it was born early.

“However, my brother is a man of honor and would not lie with her before the wedding, so she needed to think of something else. She had run out of money and was living on borrowed time. She could not marry my brother if she were with child and she could no longer afford to pay someone to get rid of it; indeed, she could hardly afford to feed herself.

“That meant she had to earn money the only way she knew how—by selling her body—and that is what she was doing when I found her.” Ava sighed and threw back her whisky in one gulp, then went on. “She said—and I believed her—that she had become very fond of Alastair and she had only done what she had to do for her family. I think that she could have made him a good wife if things had been different. She was very upset, and I really did pity her.

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