Sweet Bargain Read Online Free Page A

lay.
    Inside gleamed four of the prettiest trout Nick had seen in a long time. He waded into the stream past the staring boys and the angry girl. As he passed her, he caught the scent of lavender.
    "Not poachers?" he said, snatching the dripping net from the boy. "Still, it's a wonder such an unruly lot managed to take these fish."
    The girl turned on him, and he found he couldn't move. He felt the stream's icy swirl at his knees, but his skin felt heated as if with a fever. 'Tell me, your lordship," she was asking, "precisely which portion of the river do you own?"
    He didn't think she realized how close they stood. The stream tangled her skirts about her calves, and Nick had a sudden recollection of white sheets tangled about his own limbs. He felt a queer sinking sensation in the pit of his stomach that made it hard to think.
    "All the river from one end of Courtland to the other," he managed.
    "So you own all the water in this pond?"
    "Yes, of course, and what's more, Miss Rag Manners, all the fish."
    "Though this morning this same water must have been Farmer Elworthy's, and this evening, perforce, it must become the squire's? Unless you can command the stream."
    "Your logic only makes you the more guilty, ma'am, since you must have realized what you were about when you brought these children here and led them in crime."
    "Crime! You accuse us of crime?"
    The girl's outraged hauteur only angered Nick more. She seemed to think he was the offending party. "It is my right and mine alone to take from these waters whatever luckless trout happen to swim in them, and I'll have these fish, wherever you claim to have taken them." He hefted the net with its gleaming catch and started back across the pond.
    Standing so close to the girl made his mind sluggish and his limbs weak.
    "I hardly think your lordship can claim proprietorship over every trout that swims in the Ashe, and you cannot say with certainty whether these four came from your portion of the river or from another."
    Nick stopped and looked at her. "Then perhaps you should take me to court, ma'am."
    Bel hardly knew what overcame her in that moment. It was unreasonable to expect a mere stranger to understand the insult he had offered her family, but then she supposed he was the sort of man who held himself above his neighbors whoever they were.
    "You provoking, rude, arrogant man! You're so puffed up in your own conceit that you cannot excuse a small trespass in the name of neighborliness. You might have welcomed these boys in friendship and let them in turn show you all they know of the river, for they know it well and can pull out a like catch any day they choose. Now—"
    "They'd better not," interrupted Nick. "This is my land now. Disturb my peace again, drop one line into this stretch of the Ashe again, and I will have you up before the magistrate that very day."
    "Very well," said the lady. She turned away and called to her charges, who came to her side in silence. While the boys pulled on shirts and jackets, the girl swung the child up onto a rock, dried his feet, and helped him into his shoes, heedless of her own damp gown. When the others had been attended to, she turned her back, squeezed out her skirts, and pulled on her own stockings and shoes.
    Nick found he could not look away from this procedure though he could see little more than her angry back and her frowning relations. A few quick motions and the girl stood. She took the child in her arms, and sent the others off along the far shore.
    Above the pond where the river narrowed, a great low branch looped across the stream, making a natural bridge. The tallest boy took charge helping them all across. When they reached Nick's side of the river, the girl turned back to him one last time.
    "My lord," she said, "we have been remiss in introductions. We are the Shaws, you see." She said it as if she were proclaiming them royalty. "It will certainly interest Mr. Augustus Shaw, the magistrate, to hear what you