Deadly Secrets by M J Marlow (good short books .txt) 📖

said to him. “You just keep my sister and her baby safe. Understand?” At five minutes to six, Elis stood in the library and wondered why she felt like she was going to the guillotine. Going to live with her brother was worrying enough, but it was the fact that he was friends with the men who had abandoned her so callously when she had fallen into the sink hole that made her uneasy. She was moving into a world she did not understand and she could only hope she would learn the ropes quickly. It was only dinner. What harm could he do to her during a dinner surrounded by other people? She reminded herself who she was doing this for and then jumped as someone knocked on the door. Percival stuck his head in and she smiled at him briefly. They had all made their way to her one at a time since tea time to talk her out of this exchange, but she would not listen. Someone had to help him and she was the obvious choice. Besides, she missed her brother and she wanted to be with him. “You’re sacrificing everything for this woman and her child, Elis,” Percival said simply. She waited for his censure, his anger, and his disappointment. Instead he held his arms out to her and smiled. “I am very, very proud of you.” “Just promise me it won’t be long, Uncle,” Elis asked as she let him hold her, “and that when its over I’ll have a home here with you.” “Do you really need to ask?” Percival held her so tight she could barely breathe. He was the one who flinched when there was a knock on the door. “Yes, Jenkins,” he sighed as he stepped away from his niece. “Mister Milosevic is here for his sister,” Jenkins said. He looked at the girl and she was surprised to see tears in his eyes. “Her luggage has already been loaded on the carriage.” “Thank you, Jenkins,” Elis nodded. She went up on tiptoe to kiss her Uncle on the cheek. “I love you, Uncle Percival. Always.” “You are coming back, Elis,” Percival smiled back at her. “If I don’t,” Elis said simply, “make certain Titan and my boys are taken care of.” She left him then and saw her brother waiting in the foyer for her. He looked her over and had to admit that she was a vision in her periwinkle blue silk gown. She did him credit and that was what was needed. He held his arm out to her and they went out to the carriage. He helped her in and she sat quiet for a moment as she pondered what she was about to do. “How are we to play this, brother?” Elis asked him. “I am at a loss when it comes to men like lord Marston.” She told him about the sink hole and her nightmares and saw the anger in his eyes. She laid her hand on his and he patted it. “I’ll do my best, Ori.” “I would expect nothing less,” Alexei smiled and touched her cheek briefly. “Trust your instincts and follow my lead.” He was astounded by how fierce she had become. He had never expected her to be like him in temperament. It was a pleasant surprise. “To the world, I am an arrogant and hot-tempered man. You must prepare yourself to be treated harshly by me.” She nodded but he noted that she looked a little apprehensive. “We have been apart for ten years, so if we argue and rage at each other, it will not be unexpected.” He kissed her on the forehead as the couch started to slow down. His calm and loving demeanor vanished as if it had never been and Elis was impressed and a bit fearful of the hard-eyed man sitting across from her. “Ready, Ursa?” “Let’s face the snakes,” Elis said softly and nodded. She put on a petulant expression as he got out to open the door. “I don’t want to be here, Alexei,” her voice could be heard quite clearly. “Go to dinner with Marston, if you want, but I will not associate with him!” “I do not appreciate your attitude, little one,” he said as he reached in and pulled her out, setting her down on her feet. “You will hold your tongue or I will ask a friend of mine for drugs that will do this for you.” He shoved her back. “I trust we understand each other?” He handed her his handkerchief. “Don’t cry, Ursa,” he said cruelly. “People will think you’re not happy to be back with your loving brother. We can’t have that now, can we?” Elis dried her eyes and he looked her over. He reached over to straighten a curl and she flinched away from him. She was so brilliant in her performance of a petulant child that he wanted to hug her. Instead, he frowned and looked at her in annoyance. It would have been so much better if she had not remembered that he was not the bastard he appeared to be, but that was life. He would deal with this. If he hadn’t known how she truly felt, he would have been completely taken in by her. Add acting to her list of talents then, Alexei smiled to himself. He did not have to fake the pride he felt at having his sister on his arm. She had charm like all the Milosevic, but it was unconscious and innate; making it that much more potent. “Monsieur Alexei Milosevic,” the butler intoned as he clamped her hand on his arm and held it there tightly, “and his sister, the Lady Elissa Milosevic.” Elis saw the five men and their dinner companions rise from the lounges and turn. Predators, she saw in them. They looked stunned and then pleased to see her and her brother there. Marston came over and took her hand in his, smiling as he bowed over it. He looked at Alexei and smiled. “I am pleased to see you managed to convince your lovely sister to join us, Alexei,” he said to his friend. He led her into the lounge. For some odd reason, Elis felt like a virgin being led to sacrifice as he guided her into the room. “Come, my dear. Let me introduce you to your new best friends.” “Alexei,” she pleaded with her brother after an interminable hour listening to people she did not like talk on and on about things that made her skin crawl. “Please let me go home.” “And deny them the pleasure of hearing you perform, little one?” Alexei said coldly. He clamped his hand on her elbow and led her to the piano in the music room. “Sit. Play them something that shows your talent.” He stood behind her, arms crossed, and waited. “Now, Ursa,” he hissed as he leaned down cheek to cheek. “Or I will grow angry.” He turned her eyes to his. “You do not want to make me angry, do you?” “No,” Elis choked and hung her head, the very image of a frightened child. She began to play a sonata filled with pain and darkness as she struggled to hold back the tears she was producing for effect. When it was done, she sat there the very picture of dejection. “I see you have your sister trained, Milosevic,” lord Thaxton laughed as he looked at the pretty girl. “Women in my family learn their place,” Alexei stated. He pulled Elis to her feet now. “We go.” “But this was just starting to get interesting,” a lazy drawl from the doorway brought Elis’ head snapping up. “Hello there, my lady,” Peter Martin smiled at her hungrily. “I am so glad you decided to join us.” He came towards her and his expression was nasty. Elis backed away from him, instinctively seeking the protection of her older brother. But Alexei moved aside and let Martin approach. He brought his hand up to her cheek. “I have been dreaming of having you like this for a very long time.” “Take your filthy hand away from me,” Elis did not have to feign her anger. She slapped the man across the face and stormed out of the room. Alexei followed her and yanked her back. “You will apologize to Baron Everley for your behavior, sister,” he snarled at her. “I will not!” Elis snapped back. “I will have dinner with your nasty friends, Alexei, but I will not – NOT – allow them to paw me like I was a common slut!” She slapped him across the face and he let go in shock. She was really angry, he realized then. “I’m going home!” She went outside and started walking, tears flowing down her face. Martin was one of this pack of animals? How could she have misjudged him so completely? She had actually thought of him as a friend. Alexei caught up with her and they walked a while as she calmed down. “Is he really one of them, Ori?” He looked confused. “Everley?” she went on. “He – he can’t be like them. I can’t have been that wrong about him.” “You like Everley?” Alexei didn’t know whether to be pleased or angry. When had she met the man? He put her hand on his arm and stroked it absently. “Don’t let any of them see that, sister, or his life will be forfeit.” He saw a cab and hailed it. Once they were inside and alone he hugged her and laughed. “You were brilliant, Ursa! You had them completely fooled.” “I wasn’t acting, Ori,” Elis told him. He looked shocked. “I do not like those people. They are vain, selfish, and vapid individuals who think they can have whatever they want without consequences. Those type do far too much damage and should be stopped!” The cab started to slow down and the door opened. Martin stepped inside and sat down across from her, tipping his invisible hat to her. “Everley?” “I am asking you one last time, Alexei,” Martin said as he looked at her brother. “Don’t include her in this. She is too young!” “How did we leave it?” Alexei asked him, ignoring his pleas. “They were enchanted by her,” Martin sighed, knowing he was not going to be listened to. He turned to Elis then. “I will run interference as I can but they will not be put off long, little lady.” He put on his dark, hungry look and she moved closer to her brother. “Thankfully, they acknowledged that I have a priority claim on you.” “What does that mean?” Elis asked him, though she had a pretty good idea what he was talking about. “You will find out,” Martin said simply. “Unfortunately.” He knocked on the roof and the cab stopped. He kissed Elis on the hand, nodded to Alexei, and got out. Elis spent the rest of the cab ride home trying to figure out what he could have meant. She had a feeling she had just included herself in something that she might have been better off leaving alone. “I don’t care, Ori,” she said when they got home and were having tea in the sitting room together discussing the evening. “I have been out of your life too long because of this. If I am going to be in danger, I want to know why and be able to prepare myself for it.” Elis was in the dress shop with her aunts two days later when Martin came to find her. She was modeling a new ball gown and she looked up to see him leaning against a door frame eyeing her in a way that made her skin crawl. He was good at making her feel uncertain, she fumed as she went to change. When she came back, he was charming her aunts in his harmless manner.