LoverforRansom Read Online Free Page A

the steps.
    Cathleen blew out a breath. She hadn’t anticipated a battle
of wills. Her hands found her hips. “Take it to the dining room please, Merry.”
    For a moment, Merry looked indecisive then she turned and
headed down the stairs.
    Jenny would not submit. “I’ll tell Aunt Chloe on you!”
    At that, Merry stopped, turned and ascended the stairs. “I’m
sorry, Miss Ryan. Aunt Chloe would take a hickory switch to me.”
    Cathleen wasn’t about to give in. “I’ll take that,” she said
and forcibly removed the tray from Merry’s hands.
    “She done gone and took it from me!” Merry cried to Jenny.
“I’m sorry.”
    Jenny began shrieking insults. Still apologizing, Merry
covered her ears and ran. Exasperated, Cathleen placed the tray on a side table
across the hall.
    “Calm down,” she said to Jenny.
    “I won’t! You can go straight back up North! I don’t want
you here,” Jenny said. The child was spitting mad. Her uncombed hair and
unseeing eyes made her look wild. Her head twisted in the direction of any
noise.
    “There’s no need for this nonsense,” Cathleen said and
crossed her arms over her chest. “Let me help you brush your hair and we’ll go
downstairs together.”
    “You can go to the devil.”
    “Jenny Byrne!” Cathleen scolded. “That is uncalled for and
unbecoming of a girl as pretty as you.”
    Jenny jerked her chin in Cathleen’s direction before bolting
clumsily back into her room. Cathleen started toward her but the girl slammed
the door shut and turned the key in the lock.
    Cathleen rattled the knob to no avail. “Unlock this door.
Don’t be silly.”
    “Go away.”
    Cathleen knew how to solve this. “You’ll not get one bite
until you brush your hair, tidy your clothes and come downstairs to eat with
the rest of your family like a civilized human being.”
    No answer came from within.
    Cathleen sat on the velvet-upholstered settee in the hall
and waited.
    “Everything all right up there?” Mr. Byrne called as he
climbed the stairs.
    A hot blush infused Cathleen’s cheeks. She didn’t want them
to disapprove, but she needed to establish her authority. “Perfectly fine.”
    He eyed the tray and then the closed door. “She won’t come
out.” It wasn’t a question.
    “There’s no reason she can’t dine with the family in the
dining room.”
    “There’s one.”
    “What would that be, pray tell.”
    “She doesn’t want to,” Mr. Byrne said. As he neared,
Cathleen detected the earthy scent of horses and leather. The men to whom she’d
been exposed smelled of fancy pomade, books and ink, or stank of liquor and fish.
This fragrance Mr. Byrne possessed wasn’t unpleasant at all.
    She huffed, trying to dislodge the distracting scent.
“Really, if she is to be coddled so, then I’ll never be able to teach her a
thing.”
    He started toward the tray, drawing Cathleen’s attention to
the way his trousers molded to his thick thighs with every step. “Just for
tonight. I’ll talk to her tomorrow.”
    Tearing her gaze from his legs, she shot to her feet. “I
stand firm. You hired me to provide instruction and that’s what I intend to do.”
    His features darkened. Black brows lowered over ice-colored
eyes. “I hired you to teach her, not starve her, Miss Ryan.”
    She stepped closer and tilted her head up to look at him.
Lord, how had the North ever won the war with giants like this fighting against
them? “Part of teaching her, Mr. Byrne, includes educating her on how to adapt
to tasks the seeing take for granted. Do you want her to be a recluse? A
shut-in? Do you want to cripple her for the rest of her life?”
    He blew an audible breath through his nose. The gentle force
of it fanned her cheeks.
    She hugged her arms to keep him from seeing how she
trembled. “The blind can live full, meaningful lives. Don’t hold her back out
of a sense of…of guilt.”
    His eyes narrowed and a muscle in his jaw flexed, delineating
strong, unyielding lines that were