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

the fever hit and held for nearly two days. He nearly died with her when she started struggling for breath, more as a panic reaction than any sign of congestion in her lungs the doctor assured him. When the fever finally broke, she was too weak to be moved. It was nearly a week before she was strong enough to go anywhere. He sent a runner for the carriage and was bringing in a breakfast tray when he saw her stirring. He moved to the side of the bed and smiled down at her fondly. “Elis,” he said softly as she tried not to cry, “if you wanted to go swimming; there are better ways to go about it.” “Pip!” Elis sobbed and threw her arms around his neck. She saw the ugly bruise on the side of his face and touched it gently. “You’re alive!” “Of course I’m alive, monkey,” Philip laughed at her. The other people left and closed the door. “Why would you think otherwise?” “I remember something flying past my face and saw you fall,” Elis said weakly; even the act of speaking tiring her out. “I sent Titan home at a gallop so the stable hands would know something had happened. “You were bleeding, Pip, and I couldn’t wake you. Two men with handkerchiefs over their faces came out at me and I picked up a branch and told them not to hurt you.” She saw his look of disbelief and color flooded her cheeks at her indignation. “You would have done the same for me!” “But I’m a grown man, monkey,” Philip said tenderly. “Do you remember what happened after that?” “They started coming at me,” Elis frowned, “and I remember backing away; but then …” She struggled to remember and it was eluding her. “I woke up in the river, Pip, and all I could think about then was getting to shore.” She shuddered and he held her close. “I’m glad Uncle Percival insisted I learn how to swim or I’d be…” She looked up at him and he saw how lost and terrified she had felt; how she was still feeling. “I’ve never been so frightened in my life,” she whimpered. “I didn’t like it one bit!” “That’s my monkey!” Philip smiled and kissed her on the forehead. “Once you’ve eaten your breakfast, we’ll go home. The carriage is waiting outside for us.” He saw her frown. “What’s wrong, monkey?” “This has something to do with Alexei, doesn’t it?” she asked bluntly. “I don’t know how I know that, but it seems true somehow.” “We’ll talk about it at home,” Philip told her; “when you are safe in your own bed. Nicholas has brought four of his friends home with him. They are going to be watching over you when you go to London with my father.” “He’s really going to let Aunt Patricia make me have a season?” Elis cried out in dismay. “I don’t want to be put on display, Pip.” “Eat,” he said in response to her complaint. He had heard it all before and her arguments had not changed his father’s or his aunt’s mind one bit. Patricia was determined to give her niece every advantage in life. It was as if she were feeling responsible somehow for the deaths of the girl’s parents, Philip thought. But that was ridiculous. None of them could have known Janos would be targeted for assassination. He was just a concert violinist; there was no reason for it. He was only glad that Alexei had managed to keep them from taking Elis’ life as well as their father’s. He sat back to enjoy his own share of the breakfast and opened the paper. He hissed and closed it fast. “Bad news?” “Eat,” Philip said to her. She did not need to know that her brother was going to be in London the same time she was. There was something very unnerving about the timing. If he had his way, she would never see that cold-hearted bastard again. He didn’t deserve to have a sister like Elis. Philip knew Alexei was distancing himself on purpose to keep her safe; but Alexei didn’t have to see the hurt she suffered every time her brother made some excuse that kept them apart. Elis made a face at him and did as she was told. When she had finally finished, the innkeepers’ daughters came in to help her dress in a gown Huntley had sent up from the house. She joined him outside, shaking from the effort of walking downstairs on her own. He settled her on the seat and wrapped a blanket around her. His look warned her not to argue and she settled back and closed her eyes. As the horses trotted out smartly, she fell asleep; her dogs curled up at her feet. Nicholas was waiting at the doors with the other members of his squad. His four ‘friends’ were all tall powerful looking young men with stern faces. He picked her up out of the carriage and held her as she let the men introduce themselves to her dogs. Andrew, Braden, Connor, and Douglas MacGregor were four brothers Nicholas had befriended when they had all joined the military. They had become fast friends over the past five years and were well known to Elis and the rest of the family. There wasn’t anything these five men would not do for each other, and she realized that babysitting Nicholas’ young cousin was now on their list. “How am I supposed to meet an eligible man,” she teased her cousins later at dinner, “if I have these four gargoyles hanging around?” “You’ll meet the right sort of man,” Andrew tweaked her nose from where he sat next to her. “If they can get past us, they have the kind of courage that will be a match for yours and the determination to see you safe.” “What if I’d rather have a milksop?” I asked him bluntly. He laughed then and I was struck by the way his delight made his deep green eyes sparkle. There wasn’t an ugly one among the lot, Elis thought as she smiled at them fondly, in appearance or in manner. “You’d eat a boy like that alive,” Braden spoke up from across the table. “You are a fierce bairn, little Elis. You need a warrior, not a poet.” “I see you’ve all put your heads together,” Elis laughed, “and drawn up the qualities you think I need in a mate. What else? I suppose you’ll want him to be able to beat you all at swordplay and fisticuffs?” “Elis,” Patricia said sharply. “You are being quite ridiculous.” “Am I, Aunt?” Elis asked her. “I’m sure you have some qualities you wouldn’t mind seeing in a man deemed worthy to woo me.” “Someone who could keep you quiet for longer than a minute at a time,” an amused voice sounded from the doorway, “might not go amiss.” “Daniel!” Elis squealed and launched herself from her seat. She threw her arms around her cousin’s neck. “Aunt Patricia didn’t tell me you were coming home.” “That’s because I didn’t know,” Patricia said stiffly. “Elis, please quit strangling my son and return to your seat. Such behavior is unbecoming in a young lady.” She looked at her eldest son and saw his smile dim at her censure. “I suppose Everett stayed back in London?” “He had some finals he needed to take, Mother,” Daniel Kensington smiled as he kissed her on the cheek and looked around the table. “Are we at war, cousin?” he asked his same-aged cousin with a twinkle in his eye. “You’ve brought the entire squad with you.” “Your cousin Elis is leaving tomorrow to begin her first season in London,” Patricia informed him. “You are exposing the ton to our monkey? They won’t know what hit them!” Daniel said as he got a stricken look on his face. Elis giggled and he smiled at his young cousin. “Don’t encourage her, Daniel,” Patricia sighed. “We’re having enough trouble with her attitude without you making light…” “Oh never that, Mother dear,” Daniel broke in as he sat down in an empty seat. “Elis is about to go to war.” He smiled then as he realized why the MacGregor brothers were really here at the house. “I see why they’re here now. These esteemable soldiers are meant to keep the riff raff away from our darling El.” He laughed and met his mother’s stern expression easily. “Oh Mother! I do applaud you. I would love to be there to see these five in action.” “You will be,” Patricia told him bluntly and watched his face fall. “It is high time we found you a wife, Daniel Kensington. A suitable young woman from a good family who will make you want to behave and take up your responsibilities.” Daniel rolled his eyes and she was livid. “You are twenty two, son. It’s past time you started paying attention to your duties and let your cousin Philip resume his own.” “Good old Pip,” Daniel sighed dramatically. “Why isn’t he here among the virgin guard?” “He is interrogating a man we think tried to kill me,” Elis said matter-of-factly. She saw Daniel choke on his wine and frowned. “You didn’t know?” “Someone tried to kill El?” Daniel turned to his mother. “You didn’t think I might want to know that?” He was on his feet. “Oh right! Good old Pip is handling it. Why should we bother to let Daniel and Everett know their angel is in peril?” He came over to kiss Elis on the forehead and looked over at the Butler. “I’ll be in my room, Jenkins. Please have a tray sent up.” “Elissa,” Patricia said stiffly, her tone freezing Elis in mid-rise. “Sit down and finish your supper. Let your cousin alone for a while.” Elis did as she was told, and wondered yet again why her cousins had to be angry at each other. Philip was just as condescending to Daniel as Daniel was jealous of Philip. There was no need for it that she could see. So the minute she finished her dessert, she excused herself from the after dinner entertainments and went to find her cousin. She found him out on the balcony of his room training his telescope on the stars. He stepped back to let her look. “So tell me, my little damsel,” Daniel said as he poured himself another glass of wine, “how you were in peril.” He was ashen by the time she finished. “They dumped you in the river! If I could get my hands on them…” He choked. “Oh wait! I don’t have to. Good old Pip is handling all of that!” “Why do you hate him, Daniel,” Elis asked him bluntly. “He’s your cousin.” “He is the family paragon, Elis,” Daniel replied as he leaned against the railing and watched her lovely face bathed in moonlight. It wasn’t the first time he wished that they were not blood relatives. As it was, she was the person he held all other females up against. When he married, it would be to a young woman who was as full of life as his beloved little cousin. “All my life I have heard nothing but ‘Pip did that better’ and ‘Why can’t you be more like Pip. He would never…” He ran his hand through his hair. “I don’t hate him, El. I adore my cousin, but trying to live up to his example is taxing on a mere mortal.” “Then quit trying,” Philip said from behind them. “Because I am as tired of being set up as a paragon as you are of being reminded you aren’t one.” He held out his hand. “Hello cousin. It’s good to see you home.” They shook hands and he went to the wine bottle. He held it up. “Mind?” “Go right ahead,” Elis said before Daniel could.