Adams, Eve - The Banished Bride [Brides of Bachelor Bay 5] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting) (15 page)

Amelia didn’t know what to say. At one dollar per week in earnings, she’d never be free. This was grossly unfair, and Noah simply stood there, allowing his aunt to take advantage of her.

“Forget the tea,” Mildred told her. “It’s quite warm outside. I believe fresh lemonade is in order. Besides, I have my doubt that you’ll be able to start the fire without help. The block of ice is down below and the lemons are there on the counter. We’ll be out on the terrace. Come, Noah. Tell me what trouble you’ve been in lately. I do so love your stories.”

Amelia stood there and watched Mildred lead Noah out of the kitchen, leaving her there alone and seething.

She really hated it here.

Chapter 10

Amelia’s Journal, Saturday, August 19
^th
, 1865

Port Steele, Washington Territory

I’ve never had a longer week in my life. Mildred is cruel, plain and simple. I swear she is going behind me and sabotaging my work and blaming me for it. The debt I’ve incurred this week from things broken far exceed my earnings and now I must live here forever, which will surely kill me. I just can’t keep my mind from wandering and my hands from shaking. Noah stops by every day to torment me and Andrew hasn’t come to pay me a visit at all, which also torments me. I’m at the end of my wits with these two. What sort of game are they playing with me and why must I enjoy it so?

* * * *

The sun blazed in the sky, and Andrew pulled at his neckline to release the restraints stopping him from dragging in a full breath. He really hated propriety at times. He’d be perfectly satisfied with a loose collar and no suit coat. It had to be at least ninety degrees already, and it wasn’t even high noon, yet.

“Are you sure about this?” Noah thrust his hands into his pockets as he paced back and forth outside of Aunt Mildred’s house. “Aunt Mildred is going to be pissed.”

Andrew held back the gesture to roll his eyes. For a man who prided himself on his playboy reputation, Noah Gallagher had no balls.

“Then let her be pissed. This is what we agreed to, remember?”

“Yes, but it still feels wrong. Tomorrow will mark a week that she’s been at this. Surely she’s learned her lesson now. No wife of mine should be forced to lift a single beautiful finger.”

“Good thing she’s not your wife, yet. Trust me, Noah. She needs this. Do you want her growing into Aunt Mildred someday?”

“Dear God, no. But how do you know this is the right thing?”

“Do you remember when I told Aunt Mildred to move up here?”

“I can’t believe you convinced her. The rest of us had asked her to move up here since we arrived. It isn’t right leaving a single woman alone at her age.”

It still shocked Andrew that no one knew Aunt Millie the way he did. Did no one pay any attention to her? He couldn’t begin to count how many times he’d sat with his dear old aunt listening to her ramblings about yesteryear. Every story reminded him of Amelia and made him miss her so much he couldn’t help but dream of her every night.

Her stories also scared the shit out of him at how much Aunt Millie resembled Amelia Prescott’s life right down to the details of not bothering to learn the names of the servants. She’d cried more than once as she talked of her life and all of the things she would have done differently had she known then what she knew now.

He’d paid attention. His other brothers clearly hadn’t.

“Because I didn’t ask,” Andrew explained. “I simply told her that this was the way it would be and she accepted it. Amelia is no different. Mildred had everything handed to her, as has Amelia. The only way to break her is to take away every comfort she’s ever known. Only then will we be able to build her back up into the woman we both want.”

“I want her the way she is now.”

“Bullshit,” Andrew barked. “Quit thinking with your dick. You want to fuck her, but you don’t want her for your wife, not the way she is now. Sending her to live with Aunt Mildred is showing Amelia what she’ll become if she doesn’t see the errors of her ways.”

Noah looked at him. “You’ve had some time to think about this, have you?”

Andrew ignored his brother’s snide comment and turned to look up at the house. “She has got to learn her lesson.”

“But banishing her isn’t the answer. Can’t we have her visited by three ghosts like Dickens wrote? Scrooge saw the errors of his ways and it brought no harm to him. Hell, it even happened all in the same night. This is taking too long.”

“A single week is not too long, Noah. Amelia lacks guidance and discipline, to name a few. Banishing her, taking away everything she’s taken advantage of all her life, is what she needs. She and Aunt Mildred are very similar in that way. If we don’t do this for Amelia now, she will end up alone and bitter, just like our aunt. Do you want that?”

Noah looked at him and paled. “No.”

“Then won’t you trust me?”

Although he clearly didn’t want to, Noah nodded. “Go through the plan once again, would you?”

This time Andrew did roll his eyes. “For the third time?”

“Humor me.”

“Amelia clearly wants us both. We’ll seduce her together once again and remind her what’s at stake. Clearly that night wasn’t enough. This time we’ll tie her down and torture her with pleasure. She’ll beg for release and only after she’s made her choice will we allow her to come. And come she will, dear brother, over and over. It will be the most exquisite torture she’s ever had the pleasure to endure.”

“If you say so.”

“You don’t think so?”

“I think she’s going to be pissed that we tied her up. She likes to participate, that one.” Noah grinned. “When we release her, she’s going to have our balls.”

“Not if this goes according to plan.”

Noah laughed. “When has anything gone according to plan?”

“Shut up.” Andrew growled, his good mood quickly fading. He walked into the back entrance to Aunt Mildred’s house and froze, his heart thudding madly as it lodged into his throat. Swallowing thickly to push the muscle mass back into his chest, he forced a smile.

Aunt Mildred sat at her kitchen table, her ever-watchful gaze on him.

“Aunt Mildred.”

“Hello, my boys. Come for a visit with me? Or are you here for another reason?” Although she spoke with a pleasant tone, there was an underlying tension in her voice.

Shit. How much had she heard? He and Noah weren’t exactly quiet as they plotted out their plans with Amelia. From the way she grinned at them, like she had a secret and couldn’t wait to hold it against them, Andrew knew she’d heard too much.

Noah, oblivious as usual, walked in and leaned down to kiss Aunt Mildred on the cheek. “Hello, Aunt Mildred. I hope the day finds you well.”

“Now that you’re here, it certainly does.”

Andrew stopped himself from rolling his eyes and moved to kiss her on the cheek. She had the propensity to wail like a spoiled banshee if the Gallagher brothers didn’t dote on her every second of every minute they were around her.

Not much different than Amelia.

“Is Amelia in?”

Mildred lifted her brow and pursed her lips. As she stiffened her spine, she flipped her hair and turned away from him. It really was improper for a woman of her age to wear her hair down, but Andrew had a suspicion that she knew that.

“Why wouldn’t she be here? She’s collected quite a debt to repay. Just this week she broke so many dishes I’ll have to order another set from Paris. Of course, that won’t be easy and she will need to pay for the shipment on top of the set itself.”

Andrew snapped his brow into a frown. “Why not simply replace the ones she’s broken? Surely she isn’t expected to pay for another set entirely.”

Aunt Mildred looked at him, a hint of venom hiding in her eyes. If Andrew hadn’t practically lived with her while tending to business in San Francisco these past years, he wouldn’t have caught it.

“I’m sure you aren’t insinuating that I should let her get away with ruining my Parisian china set. It was a gift from a suitor and I’m very upset that it is no longer complete.”

“Of course he isn’t,” Noah said and turned to glare at Andrew before turning back to Aunt Mildred. “It’s perfectly understood. By the way, Madam Chen was able to remove all the soot stains from my suit. She says it wasn’t easy, and her bill reflects that, let me tell you.”

Aunt Mildred waved her hand to dismiss his concern. “Have Madam Chen send me the bill. I’ll add it to the girl’s debt.”

“The girl?” Andrew barked.

Aunt Mildred blinked up at him.

“Why are you calling her that?”

Visibly swallowing, she lowered her gaze to her lap and said nothing.

Andrew set his jaw as anger coursed through his veins, boiling his blood. He refused to accept this. Having Amelia live with Aunt Mildred to learn her lesson was one thing, but Aunt Mildred had no right to take advantage of Amelia like this. Not only was it unfair, but at the rate Aunt Mildred kept adding to her debt, the poor girl would never have everything paid off.

Before he said something he’d regret—Aunt Mildred did love to hold grudges, after all—he spun on his boot and left the kitchen in search of Amelia.

She wasn’t in the great room, so he headed up the stairs to check her room. Reaching up, he doubled his hand into a fist and was about to knock when a noise stopped him.

Was that crying?

Oh, please no. He couldn’t handle her crying. Those tears ripped through him and clawed at his resolve. He rapped on the door. “Amelia?”

He heard scurrying and then sniffling as she drew close to the door. “Who’s there?”

“It’s Andrew. Are you all right?”

“Oh, Andrew! I mean…Yes. I’m fine. Was there”—she sniffled—“something you needed?”

“I’d like to see you.”

“I’m afraid that isn’t a very good idea right now.”

He sighed. His heart had an odd pang in it in reaction to her tone. She sounded so sad, so beaten. It wasn’t at all what he’d planned for her.

“Amelia, please.”

“I can’t,” she whimpered quietly. “Please, just go away.”

Dear God, what had happened to his Amelia, to the one who maddened him so? “Please let me see you.”

A sob sounded from the other side, and Andrew damn near broke down the door. “I c–can’t let you s–see me l–like this.”

He had to do something. Despite his want to charge into her room, he held back and asked, “Would you open the door if I kept my eyes closed?”

She laughed through her sobs. The lock clicked, and he turned the knob to open the door.

And stopped short of pulling in a gasp.

Amelia Prescott, the only woman with the power to terrify him with the feelings she invoked in him, shocked the shit out of him yet again. She stood there in a dress with a shredded hem and so many stains he couldn’t begin to guess the color. Her pretty blonde hair was piled up on top of her head and looked like she hadn’t combed it in a week’s time.

But it was her eyes that held him prisoner in his guilt. Those gorgeous blue eyes that captivated him the minute she’d walked off the ship a year ago no longer shined. They were red, swollen, and sunken in. She must have lost ten pounds, which made her look gaunt.

It killed him. He needed to protect her, to shield her from the evils of the world, and yet he’d sent her away to live in the center of all evil. He had no idea Aunt Mildred would react with such malice, such spitefulness from her past that she’d take out her regrets on Amelia. How dreadfully unfair.