The Marriage Bargain Read Online Free

panted up at him in response, his thick, pink tongue hanging out of his mouth.
    “What luck, Monty,” Alfred whispered. “Your master has found you another playmate!”
    “Hartley, we’ll need fresh linens and a bath for our wayward miss. She’ll sleep in my room tonight,”
    Beckett ordered.
    “Your room, my lord?” Hartley asked, an eyebrow raised.
    “Yes, my room. And don’t look at me like that. I’ll sleep next door in the sitting room. I want to keep an ear open if she awakens. She may be frightened by the unfamiliar surroundings.”
    The servant turned to go, but Beckett swung around and blocked him with the girl’s dangling legs. “The girl has nothing to fear. I promise to be a perfect gentleman. But I’m sure she thanks you for your concern.” He gave the older man a wicked grin.
    Hartley nodded his graying head, fighting a smile of his own. “This must certainly be the most interesting stray you’ve rescued, my lord. But I’m afraid she smells as bad as the rest of them put together.” He chuckled and moved down the dark hall with Caesar still on his shoulder, lighting the sconces as he went.
    Beckett looked at the unconscious girl in his arms and took another whiff, turning up his nose. “My word, I think he’s right.”

    Alfred nodded, stifling a yawn. “Why can’t you rescue sweet-smelling females?” He turned to go down the hallway toward Beckett’s bedchamber, then stopped abruptly. “But who shall bathe her, Beckett?”
    “I have no idea… but it certainly won’t be you.”
    “Oh, trying to keep her all to yourself, are you?”
    Beckett turned from him, adjusting the girl’s weight in his arms. Lord, but she was getting heavier by the second.
    With Monty at his side, he walked down the short hallway to his bedchamber. Once inside, he carefully laid the girl’s limp body on the huge bed, while Alfred followed him and lit the candles.
    The girl’s hair spread around her shoulders like a halo on the linen-covered pillow. Beckett pulled the covers around her and watched her for a moment. No, she certainly wasn’t a trollop, so what was she?
    Who was she?
    Hartley hurried into the room carrying linens, towels and blankets, then returned again with a pitcher of warm water. Crossing the room to the washstand, he poured the water into a blue porcelain basin.
    “Thank you, Hartley. That is all,” Beckett said, and the valet took his leave.
    Beckett set the linens on the edge of the bed. “I’m quite sure she won’t awaken this evening—we shall try to solve the mystery tomorrow. Now, Alfred, help me get her undressed.”
    “I didn’t think you needed any help undressing a woman, Beckett.”
    “I don’t, you fool! But I’m bloody tired and I want to go to bed, so give me a hand.”
    “No, Beckett, this was your idea. I’m not interested in playing nursemaid.” Alfred folded his arms in front of his chest, and leaned closer to the unconscious girl. “I’ll just have a look at her when you’ve cleaned her up.”
    “You know, Alfred, sometimes you can be a damned nuisance.”
    “Poor Beckett. Perhaps it’s being such a bloody good Samaritan that’s a damned nuisance.”
    Beckett gave Alfred a warning look, but his friend’s words gave him pause. Gads, was he doing the right thing? All he knew was that if they had left the girl there in the street, he wouldn’t have been able to sleep tonight.
    Beckett looked Alfred straight in the eye. “And if that had been me tonight, Alfred, and you didn’t know me… would you have come to my rescue?”
    “Of course not! I would have left you to rot.” Alfred rested his fists on his hips and sighed. After a moment he added, “You know what the streets are like these days. You never know who might be lurking ‘round a corner, especially in that area.”
    “But would you have helped this woman if I hadn’t forced you to?” Beckett prompted.
    “If I say yes, will you be quiet? Let us cease with these hypotheticals.