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    The Wager
    The Wager
    The Wager
    Ebook63 pages57 minutes

    The Wager

    By Raven McAllan

    2.5/5

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    About this ebook

    Catherine is in despair. Her brother has lost a wager and the prize is her. The winner is the one person she dare not be in thrall to. How will she cope?

    Brook suggests they wager on the outcome of the previous bet, but he intends to win.

    What happens is more than either of them anticipates.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherEvernight Publishing
    Release dateApr 26, 2013
    ISBN9781771303743
    The Wager
    Author

    Raven McAllan

    After 30 plus years in Scotland, Raven now lives near the east Yorkshire coast, with her long-suffering husband, who is used to rescuing the dinner, when she gets immersed in her writing, keeping her coffee pot warm and making sure the wine is chilled. With a new home to decorate and a garden to plan, she’s never short of things to do, but writing is always at the top of her list. Her other hobbies include walking along the coast and spotting the wildlife, reading, researching, cros stitch and trying not to drop stitches as she endeavours to knit. Being left-handed, and knitting right-handed, that’s not always easy.

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      Book preview

      The Wager - Raven McAllan

      Published by Evernight Publishing at Smashwords

      www.evernightpublishing.com

      Copyright© 2013 Raven McAllan

      ISBN: 978-1-77130-374-3

      Cover Artist: Sour Cherry Designs

      Editor: JS Cook

      ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

      WARNING: The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal. No part of this book may be used or reproduced electronically or in print without written permission, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in reviews.

      This is a work of fiction. All names, characters, and places are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

      DEDICATION

      To Doris, who pushes, prods and gets me on track.

      Paul for not minding my laptop attached to my arm everywhere we go.

      The Evernight team for all their hard work, including my great editor JoAnne, and the brilliant cover artist Sour Cherry Designs.

      My fabulous crit group, UCW, for their continued support.

      And…

      You the readers. Without you all I wouldn't be doing what I love.

      Thank you.

      THE WAGER

      Raven McAllan

      Copyright © 2013

      Chapter One

      London 1818

      You did what? Catherine's voice was so shrill, it was lucky there were no fishwives around or they would have thought there was a new member in their midst. She realized and tried to continue in a more ladylike manner. Whether she succeeded would be up for debate.

      Jermyn looked at her, shame in his eyes.

      For one moment, her heart melted before she thought over his words and with a strength she had not known she possessed she hardened it. He may be her younger brother, albeit by ten minutes, but he was no longer a child. He was five and twenty, and the head of the family.

      I lost a wager, he said again.

      Catherine tapped her foot. Her bosom swelled, and it seemed a thousand ants marched over her skin, making it prickle in something akin to horror. Her heart raced, and she thought her pulse might jump out of her wrist with its irregular beat. I heard and understood that part. Though knowing our father and the repercussions his predilection for gaming had on our family, I wonder how you have the temerity. She shook her head. To her, his stupidity defied all description. No, it was the next part of the sentence I have difficulty with.

      Jermyn flung her a sulky look and paced across the snug sitting room where until his entrance she had been sitting and reading. Outside it was raining and the autumn afternoon was chilly. Inside it was, or had been, until her brother's pronouncement, warm and cozy.

      He stood by the hearth and stared at her, defiance in his eyes.

      I lost a wager, the prize was you.

      With a silent and unladylike oath, Catherine dug her nails into the palms of her hands to stop herself screaming…or hitting him. How could he? Did she not have enough of a dark and murky past, without him adding to it?

      "That is what I thought you said. I had prayed my hearing was at fault. How could you do such a thing? It can not of course be legal. Tell me, with whom did you make this asinine bet?" She was proud how level her voice was.

      Brook Fredericks.

      I might have guessed. Lord Fredericks. Her nemesis. Images of him; sitting beside her, kissing her neck, parting her legs and sliding inside her bombarded Catherine. His voice murmuring My own, for ever, filled her mind, and made her shiver.

      He made me. Jermyn's petulant voice broke into her reverie. She shook herself and brought her thoughts back to the unpleasant present. Typical Jermyn. Anything unpleasant, or that presented him in a bad light, was, according to him, never his fault.

      Why and where?

      For heaven's sake Caty, one might think you were my mother, don't nag, Jermyn burst out. It was at White's, it's legal, and it's in the book. We bet on a game of dice, he won. That is the be all and end all of it. Do not go on.

      That was the last straw. Almost without conscious thought, Catherine dropped the romance she had been reading and flung it at him. It hit his jaw with a loud, satisfying, and hard thump before dropping to the floor, its pages bent. Catherine spared a swift thought of remorse—the book deserved better, Jermyn in her opinion did not—before returning her gaze to her brother. He rocked back on his feet, before he put his hand to his face, and groaned.

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