Taming the Beast Read Online Free

clasped her hands before her chest in a plea.
    â€œBefore all these people? They would devour me whole, Elizabeth. I haven’t the talent for—”
    â€œLady Michaela Fortune shall sing!”
    Michaela’s stomach dropped into her bottom as her mother’s warbly voice rang out through the hall.
    â€œMy daughter, where is she? Michaela?” Agatha’s calls sounded ever closer, and Michaela could already hear the snickers and whispers from the crowd. “Michaela?”
    Elizabeth gave her an unexpected—and surprisingly forceful—shove, and Michaela sprang from behind the curtain, stumbling, stumbling, catching herself with one outstretched hand, nearly standing, before at last sprawling facedown on the flagstones.
    â€œOh, Michaela, there you are, dear,” Agatha said in delight.
    The guests made no effort to quell their laughter.
    Then Agatha was at her side, pulling her daughter up by the arm. “Here we are, do get up, dear—and what has happened to your gown? No matter. Go on then, you have such a lovely voice.” Then she leaned in close to Michaela’s ear to whisper, “Think of the boon , Michaela! Mayhap a bit off the taxes….”
    â€œOh, yes, Pudding—give us a song!” someone from the crowd goaded.
    Michaela was very aware of her soiled dress, of Lady Juliette smirking in her direction, and of her mother’s reminder of the Fortunes’ growing poverty. Mayhap Lord Tornfield would grant a small reprieve, but…
    Meanwhile, the crowd egged each other on.
    â€œI dunno if we should have a verse from Miss Fortune—the devil might strike us all deaf!”
    Michaela flung her hair out of her eyes and spun on the heckler. “I vow that if you can still claim even a bit of your hearing after that monstrosity of sound”—she said, and glanced at the shocked Juliette—“your tender ears should be quite safe for the rest of your life, devil or nay.”
    â€œMichaela!” Agatha gasped and patted her daughter’s arm. “That was unkind.”
    Lady Juliette had regained her composure and now stepped from the crush with a malicious look. “Verily, Miss Fortune? ‘Monstrosity of sound,’ was it? Well, then, if the crowd judges your voice more worthy than mine, I shall grant you my own boon. Anything you wish.”
    Michaela raised her eyebrows. “Anything I wish?”
    Lady Juliette looked to Alan Tornfield. “Do you consent to this wager, my lord?”
    The lord was looking at Michaela as if he’d never seen her before, which was unlikely since she’d made such a scene of slippery pudding and broken pottery.
    â€œBy all means, ladies,” he said in an amused voice. “Please, proceed.”
    For a moment, Michaela was frozen in the quiet, expectant hall, the guests regarding her blatantly. All eyes were pinned to her, the center of attention—a situation that never, ever turned out to Miss Fortune’s advantage.
    Someone coughed. Agatha Fortune smiled encouragingly at her daughter.
    â€œWill you name a tune, m’lady?” the leader of the trio asked politely, if pointedly.
    Michaela looked back at Juliette and saw the woman’s smirk, as if she could sense how close Michaela was to forfeiting.
    Think of the boon, Michaela! Mayhap a bit off the taxes….
    â€œWe’re waiting, Miss Fortune,” Juliette taunted.
    Michaela took a deep breath. “No music,” she said to the lute player.
    â€œOh-ho!” Juliette laughed and clapped her hands.
    â€œThere was none written for this piece.”
    Juliette abruptly closed her mouth.
    Michaela took a deep, deep breath as her mother stepped away, leaving Michaela in a circle of expectant guests. Alone.
    Then she opened her mouth and sang as best as she could, her eyes closed, moving herself out of the smoky, humid hall of Tornfield Manor and imagining herself flying through the clouds, her