Trouble With Harry by Katie MacAlister Read Free Book Online Page A

thought of the townspeople cackling over her past. That the news had spread like wildfire was not surprising, but what made her furious was the way Thom was made to suffer for her ignorance and Charles’s cruelty. She didn’t mind—much—them ostracizing her, but the drubbing Thom had taken the last few days was untenable. Her conscience rubbing her raw, she fought the desire to immediately pen a note to her intended, informing him of her history and breaking their betrothal. “What’s done is done. I will tell Mr. Haversham the truth after we’re married. It’s a matter of self-preservation, not selfishness. I simply have no other choice, and it’s not as if he will be losing out—I will be a devoted wife and mother.”
    â€œOf course you will,” Thom said, just as if Plum were making sense, which she sadly acknowledged to herself as not necessarily true. “You’ll be a wonderful wife and mother, and I completely agree with you that you’re not being selfish.”
    â€œMmm.” Plum firmly told her conscience to take a holiday for the next two days, and picked up her spoon. “What was the advice the beggar had for me?”
    â€œHe wasn’t a beggar; he seemed quite well-spoken, although he was rather dusty.”
    Plum glanced up and caught the look of curiosity her niece was bending upon her.
    â€œHe said that sometimes that which you’ve thought is lost, is found, and what you think you have, has vanished.”
    Plum blinked for a moment, wondering if it was the lack of food that made Thom’s words seem incomprehensible, or if the old man’s advice was supposed to have some meaning for her. “Well, that was very nice of him, although it doesn’t make the slightest bit of sense, but I do appreciate the fact that he didn’t say something in reference to his…er…cods.”
    They ate in companionable silence for a few minutes, the heavy drone of bees on the wisteria that hung next to the window the only noise. Plum wrestled with a variety of emotions—anger, fear, and a general all-purpose worry—as she spooned up the last of the soup.
    â€œAunt Plum?”
    Plum dragged her mind from the painful contemplation of just how she was going to explain to Harry about her past. “Hmm?”
    Thom stood with their soup bowls before the wash bucket, twisting a threadbare linen between her hands, her brow wrinkled in a frown. “You’re not marrying this Mr. Haversham on my behalf, are you? Because if you are, I wish you wouldn’t. I know I’m not of much use to you, but I—”
    Plum gave in to the need to hug the younger woman. “No,” she said, patting Thom’s cheek. “I’m not martyring myself for you, if that’s what you think. Mr. Haversham is a very nice man, I could tell that at once. He is a gentleman. He has a library. He wants children. And even if he isn’t wonderfully handsome, I like his face. His eyes are particularly nice, an attractive hazel that seems to change color. And the rest of him is”—a warmth tingled pleasantly within her as she remembered his large, strong hands with their long fingers. She had always had a fondness for a man’s hands, seeing in them a mixture of strength and gentleness that never failed to intrigue her—“just as pleasant. Does that put your mind at rest that I’m not marrying solely to put food in our bellies?”
    Thom smiled, then leaned forward to kiss Plum’s cheek. “I hope you will be very happy, Aunt. You deserve a good life. When do you marry?”
    â€œIn two days, if Mr. Haversham is able to obtain a special license.” Plum turned and surveyed the small room with its two cots, two chairs, one table, and a collection of broken baskets that Thom had fixed up as beds for her animals. “What do you say, Thom, are you willing to give up all this in order to live in a