Total pages in book: 173
Estimated words: 174632 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 873(@200wpm)___ 699(@250wpm)___ 582(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 174632 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 873(@200wpm)___ 699(@250wpm)___ 582(@300wpm)
She took a few sips to appease him. “Uh, no. I just, um, walked down myself.”
“Sweetheart, you need to call out for one of us. What if you’d grown dizzy on the stairs?”
“I’m fine, really. I needed to talk to you.”
“To me? Why?”
“I’m trying to find the words. There’s so much in here.” She tapped at her head. “That sometimes I can’t deal and it makes me do crazy things.”
“Like what?”
She shrugged.
“What does it make you do, Maggie?” he asked firmly as he drew his chair around to face her and sat.
“Pull my hair out.”
“Bloody hell,” he muttered. “Have you told anyone?”
“I just told Ian. And now, um, you.”
“Thank you for trusting me. That’s not something to be ashamed of. Everyone needs help at some time.
“I guess so. So you see, I’m definitely not perfect. I’m a total nutjob.”
“Stop that right now. I’m serious.”
She took in a deep breath at the command in his voice.
He took her hand in his. “What did Ian say when you talked to him about all of this?”
“He’s going to talk to Jack for me. I just . . . I couldn’t tell Jack. And Ian said that he wants me to go to one of them when I feel everything boil up . . . when it all gets too much and I have to find a . . . a release.” Shame filled her. “But I wanted to tell you as well.”
“Good. I’m glad you did. And I want you to know that you can come to me too. I’m here if you need me.”
She nodded.
“That’s not the only thing you wanted to talk about, is it?”
Maggie shrugged. Then she realized that was a cop-out. “When I overheard you the other day when I was . . . taken. You said you were talking about your ex? About how she ruined your life?”
“You want me to tell you about Elizabeth?”
“Only if you want to,” she whispered. Part of her wasn’t sure she actually wanted to know.
Elizabeth was likely smart and well-educated. Maggie doubted that she’d ever had to get a job with a family member. She was probably put-together all the time. Elizabeth wouldn’t pull out all her hair or use a scream pillow.
Or hide in bath tubs.
“My parents had an arranged marriage. Things like that aren’t talked about much. But they both came from families of good breeding, as my mother said to me. Old wealth. But the problem is that when the money started to dry up, they didn’t know how to live within their means. I didn’t realize it until I was near the end of my residency, but they were completely broke. You have to understand, I grew up attending the best schools, living in a huge mansion with servants. There were expensive cars and parties where champagne flowed. Never one sign that the coffers were dry.”
“Wow. Your parents just ignored that they had no money?”
“Oh, they had a plan, though. An arranged marriage had brought an injection of funds before. So they just figured they’d do it again.”
“Holy crap. They wanted to make you marry someone. But they couldn’t do that, right?”
“I don’t get along with my parents. They’ve always been cold, unfeeling people who only thought of their reputation. My best friend was the son of the woman who cleaned for us. He and I were playing in the mud and my mother grew furious because I’d left my studies and went off to play with him.”
“Really?”
“Yes, but her anger wasn’t as bad as my father’s. He knew how to hit where it hurt the most. He fired my friend’s mum and I never saw him again. I ended up in boarding school a few weeks later. Which was actually the best thing to happen to me.”
“How old were you?”
“I’d just turned seven.”
“Oh, Jameson.” She covered his hand with hers. “I’m so sorry. What a terrible thing to do to a little boy.”
“You’ve got a kind heart, Maggie.” He flipped his hand so he could hold hers. “Your hand is too cold, though. Wait right there.” He got up. When he returned, he was carrying a fluffy blanket that he wrapped around her.
“Thanks.” Warmth filled her belly at his caring. “So they tried to force you into marriage?”
“Yes, they pulled a total guilt trip. How we would lose everything. Our reputation would be down the toilet. All of it. Ian, Jack, and I were close. They had just left the armed services and started working with MI6. We all wanted to share a woman. We were always better together than apart. I didn’t want anything to do with any woman my parents suggested so I gave them some money and told them no. Then three months later, my mother called to tell me that my father wasn’t well. That he’d had a heart attack.”