Read To Protect and to Cherish for Free Online

yourself.”
                  “Allurements?” Slade did not sit.
                  The older man began to trip over his words, “I do not mean to say she has been touched. . . she has been under careful watch. I just mean that she is, after all, a woman. A beautiful woman, but just a woman.”
                  “And this is why you feel it necessary to strike her?” he stared the man down.
                  Horace cowered in fear, “If I had any idea that you would be seeking her attentions. . .”
                  “Then what!?” he could not believe the gall of the man, “You think it wrong simply because somebody saw what you did to her. Had I not happened by, you would have done worse.”
                  Horace’s pink-tinged cheeks paled to a sickly white, “Surely you are not suggesting I. . .my niece is. . .”
                  “Tell me,” Slade folded his arms across his broad chest, “would you still have tried to pass her off on another man once you had stolen her virtue. . . destroyed her soul?”
                  “Your grace,” Horace tried to stand upright.
                  “Never mind, Trent,” he shot back. “Let’s discuss the contract, so I can take leave of you.”
                  “She has a dowry of twenty-thousand pounds,” Trent’s words came out in a rush.
                  “And personal belongings?”
                  “Her mother’s family did not own much. There are some dishes, linens, not much.”
                  They determined the housekeeper would be able to supply that list.
                  “And now about the bride price,” Horace spoke up.
                  “She told me you would be unreasonable,” Slade decided to be honest, “but I told her I was determined to have her.”
                  “You won’t have her if you persist,” Trent smirked.
                  Slade could tell the man was posturing, hoping to stare the younger man down.
                  “I will have her,” Slade walked to the door, “and there will be no bride price.”
                  “I am not without connections,” Trent warned.
                  “I will grant you this much,” Slade stared the other man in the eye, “I am taking with me a lady’s maid and two kitchen hands. I realize you have invested in their training. I will allow five hundred pounds for the maid and three hundred for each of the other two.”
                  Trent’s brow lowered, “You’ll not take them at all.”
                  “I have no qualms about exposing you to the realm, Trent,” he began to leave but then turned back, “I almost forgot. Miss Trent will be joining my sister and her husband until the day of the wedding.”
                  “This is an outrage!” the man’s face had regained its natural color and then some. “You are kidnapping my niece. I will alert the constable.”
                  “Do,” Slade spoke as he walked away, “but be aware he is my steward’s son.”

CHAPTER 5
    “Madam,” Slade spoke to the woman who was clearly the housekeeper, “I would have a word with you.”
                  “Yes, your grace.”
                  He had a list for the woman, and he hoped she was equal to the task.
                  “I need an inventory of all the items that are to be included in Miss Trent’s dowry. My solicitor will be here tomorrow to write the contract. After your master signs the contract, I would desire you to gather those items and prepare them for removal to Blackbourne.”
                  She nodded, “And when shall they be ready?”
                  “As soon as the license is received. Today, I need you to use as much