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

“because Thomas and I are having a baby.” She looked around the room. “Where is Aunt Patricia? We wanted to give her the happy news.” “Your aunt is being held under lock and key,” Percival told his niece, “for her own protection.” Elis nodded and went to sit next to her sister. She smiled and played with her niece and they were all astounded. This was not a child who was locked into a loveless and unhappy marriage. Marston stood behind the couch and watched her with an expression of utter contentment and adoration. Something had happened to the man since he had married Elis. He was not the same person they all knew and abhorred. So, for Elis’ sake, they grudgingly welcomed him into the family. Elis turned to smile up at her husband and he left the room and returned with a basket. Inside were six squirming bundles of black and tan. “You will need to tell Prince Edward,” Elis laughed as she picked one up and held it to her cheek, “that his trainers should check their hounds’ sex better. Fritz turned out to be a Fritzie.” She held the puppy out for Elizabeth to touch and laughed as the child practically yanked the puppy out of her hands. “It appears rottweilers will be a favored breed for the next generation, as well.” “Elissa,” Edwina warned. “Be careful. That puppy is nearly as big as Elizabeth.” She came over and picked up the puppy and Elizabeth burst into tears. “You’re right, Elissa,” she laughed as the child only quieted when the puppy was put back where she could touch it. “See what you’ve done, Percy?” “The child is intelligent,” Percival shrugged and watched his great niece proudly. “All of our children are intelligent.” He looked at Marston. “Thomas, I would like a word with you.” Marston nodded and bent down to kiss Elis on the forehead as she looked up at him in fear. He leaned his cheek against hers and said something that calmed her. She nodded and watched him leave with her uncle, cousins, brother, and grandfather. Natasha laid her hand on her younger sister’s knee and smiled encouragingly. “If they were going to hurt him, Ursa,” she said gently; “they would have taken him out the moment you arrived.” She searched Elis’ face curiously. “You are content with him. He has been good for you.” “He has been very good for me, Meda,” Elis said softly. “He has shown me how to make the nightmares go away.” She put her hand on her abdomen. “And he has shown me how to accept a man’s love as a gift and not a punishment.” She smiled and nodded. “I am very content. He is not at all the man he presented himself to be.” There was a sharp noise from outside and Elis was on her feet. She knew that noise. It had killed Titan once. Fear was clutching her heart as she ran, she knew that it had taken someone she cared for again. Philip held her back as she approached the garden entrance. He looked as stricken as she felt and she was convinced someone was gone. “I’m sorry, Monkey,” he choked as he pulled her against his chest. “So sorry.” “No,” Elis wailed as she watched her family carry Marston out. One bullet wound to the center of his forehead said it all. She felt the darkness rise up to swallow her but she fought it. She followed them to the library where they set him down. She clung to her husband’s hand tightly and did not sob. She didn’t fight the tears either. They flowed down her face freely as she sat there with him, silent and unmoving. People tried to make her leave and she refused to be moved. He was her husband and he had loved her. He had not deserved this! She felt a hand on her shoulder and glanced up at her grandfather. “He mattered to me, Grandfather. He was my friend, my healer, and my comfort these past three months. I want to know who did this to him and I want them dead!” That was when the dam broke. She began to sob as she threw her arms around his neck and clung to him a moment. “I want to know how they could think they had the right to murder my husband, and then I want them dead!” The darkness rose up and claimed her then and Anton carried her upstairs to her old bedroom. He sat at her side as she slept, as she woke from nightmares screaming, and was the one who coaxed her to eat. For three days, as her husband was readied for burial, Anton was the only person she would allow near her. The day of the funeral found her once more silent and unresponsive. She clung to her grandfather’s arm and he supported her through the church service and the readings at the mausoleum in the church graveyard in the village on Marston’s estate. A reception had been planned at the estate house but she did not attend it. She went up to the room she had shared with her husband and sat on the bed, clasping his pillow to her chest and sobbing. She listened to them pounding on the door she had locked, heard their pleas for her to come out, but she ignored them. She wanted to be close to him just a little longer before she let him go forever. Geoffrey Marston had watched his older brother’s widow carefully during the funeral. She had obviously loved his brother and he was stunned at the thought. Thomas had not been the kind of person who would instill that kind of devotion in another person. He certainly had not loved his brother. Their entire life had been one of competition and hatred. But seeing the golden-haired girl standing still as a statue grief-stricken had altered his thinking slightly. Perhaps there had been more to his brother than he had ever seen. When she locked herself in Thomas’ room and refused to come out, he grew concerned. So he went through the hidden passages he and Thomas had used when they were children to torment their nannies and each other and entered the master bedroom. She was sitting in the middle of the bed with a pillow clutched to her slim frame, sobbing her beautiful blue eyes out. “He must have changed since I talked to him last,” he said softly. Her head snapped up and she looked at him warily. This girl had known abuse in her life, he realized and he hated to do anything to add to it. “I hear you are expecting a child, Elissa. You need to eat for their sake, if not your own.” He went to the door and unlocked it, holding his hands out to the maid. “Tell her family, Lady Marston will be down later,” he said to the stunned woman; “or not, as she chooses.” He locked the door again and carried the tray to the bed. “Finger foods, I’m afraid.” He nodded to the tray. “Eat.” “Are you always so bossy?” “What did Thomas tell you about me?” Geoffrey asked her as she took a seat away from her. She gave him the impression of a skittish horse, harshly treated and needing a gentle hand. He suddenly understood. Thomas had always been quite expert at handling wounded animals. “You used to torment each other,” Elis replied as she picked up a slice of apple and chewed on it, “and terrorize your nannies.” She looked at the wall. “There really are hidden passages in this house?” “I’ll show them to you when you’re feeling better,” Geoffrey said to her and saw her brief smile. It was like seeing the sun peek out from behind a cloud. He wanted to see it again. She fell silent and continued to eat the food he had asked the Cook to prepare for her. He wanted to hear her sweet voice again, but she was silent. “So, Elissa,” he said when he couldn’t stand the silence any longer. She looked up at him and waited politely. “Did you have my brother murdered?” “How dare you!” Elis hissed at him. “Why would you think such a horrible thing?” She shoved the tray aside. “Is that why you were kind to me? So you could accuse me of…of…” She suddenly went green and ran for the bathroom. He tried to follow, but she had locked the door. He could hear her being sick and then sobbing. Her grief, he now knew, was no act. This beautiful child had loved his brother. “Elissa,” he said as he tapped on the door, “I’m sorry. I needed to know the truth about how things stood between you and my brother.” “You could have asked,” Elis said stiffly as she came out. She looked up at him and saw his likeness to his brother. But Geoffrey was taller and broader chested and his eyes were a deeper green. She walked past him and went to stand at the windows. “Now that you’ve satisfied your morbid curiosity, you can leave.” He nodded and went to unlock the door. “No,” her voice stopped him and he turned. “Out the way you came. I’m not ready to talk to anyone yet.” She looked at the tray. “Thank you for thinking of the child, Geoffrey Marston.” Geoffrey slipped out through the passage and shook his head as he heard her moving things in the room behind him. He knew without seeing that she had now booby-trapped the passage. He would not be slipping through it without alerting her to his presence. He couldn’t blame her. She wanted to be alone and he had intruded on her privacy. He entered the sitting room where her family was gathered. “She ate,” he said simply. Their relief was very touching. Their family was very close-knit; unlike his own. “But she has locked herself in again and says she isn’t ready to talk to anyone yet.” “How did you get in?” Nicholas asked the man. “Hidden passage we used to take when we wanted to torment our father and mother,” Geoffrey told him. “She booby-trapped it as I was leaving.” He couldn’t help but smile. “Your cousin is a very determined young woman.” “She’s going to make herself ill being ‘determined’,” Natasha frowned. She turned to Alexei. “Ori, we can’t let her do this to herself. We need to take her home with us.” “She’s not ready for the clans yet, Meda,” Alexei shook his head. “Give her another couple of days. Ursa will rebound. She has a child to think of now.” “I will give her one,” Natasha replied, becoming the concerned older sister. “If she does not unlock that door by tomorrow afternoon, I am taking a ram to it.” She nodded to Geoffrey and left the room. “I see ‘determination’ runs in your family, Prince Alexei,” Geoffrey smiled. “Our women are not shrinking violets, Geoff,” Alexei nodded. “But you have spent time among the Rom; you know this.” He sipped at his drink. “So, do you have any idea who had your brother murdered and why?” “The ‘why’ is obvious,” Geoffrey answered him. “Someone did not approve of the marriage. The ‘who’,” he shrugged. “That’s a long list. My brother was not well-liked.” “So you find it surprising that my sister was in love with him,” Alexei spoke the man’s thoughts aloud for him. Geoffrey nodded. “We all were, Geoff. As you say,” he continued as Geoffrey looked at him in surprise; “he was not well-liked.” He took another sip of his drink. “Will they come after my sister?” “That depends a great deal on the ‘who’?” Geoffrey said honestly. “The Marston estates are quite extensive, and quite lucrative. If she inherits, she will be a very rich young widow. There are family