Page 36 of Brazen
Chapter Ten
Magnus swam upward through murk, each stroke keeping rhythm with the pounding in his head. He reached for a sense of comprehension. The pounding intensified. An unrecognizable noise pierced his consciousness and a faraway light came into view.
Slowly, eyesight began to focus. He sat in a chair in a small unfurnished room—an antechamber of some kind, perhaps—with wood paneled walls. His hands were tied behind his back, left and right ankles tied to the corresponding chair legs. The light, a single taper, flickered on a bare shelf directly ahead.
Movement in the corner of his eye drew his attention. With great care, he shifted his head and a figure stepped from the shadows into view. Joshua? Someone else, a lad of about fifteen, stood near the wall beyond Joshua.
“Is this a dream or am I in Hell?” Magnus croaked. Even the small effort to speak made his head ache like the devil. He placed his money on Hell.
“You will wish it was Hell,” Joshua said.
Magnus gritted his teeth and demanded, “What did you hit me with? My head feels like someone is beating the inside of my skull with an anvil.”
“What are you doing here?” Joshua said.
“Where is here?” Magnus asked.
Joshua shook his head. “Nae. What I mean is, why did you purchase Barkely Hall?”
“To farm and ranch.”
Joshua scoffed. “A man like you does not become a farmer.”
Magnus frowned. “A man like me?”
The boy’s expression hardened. “A man who owns an Edinburgh brothel and gaming hell.”
Magnus’s mind cleared. He locked gazes with the boy. “What would you know of brothels and gaming hells?”
“I know you owned The Honeydrop.”
How the bloody hell did a country boy know that?
Magnus kept his expression neutral. “Then you must know I shut down the hell.”
“I will not allow you to hurt my sister,” he snapped.
Ah, now so this is the boy’s concern.
“I assume you are referring to Lady Mia?” Magnus said.
Joshua didn’t reply.
“Why would I want to hurt your sister?”
“You are damned good at playing innocent. Well, I am not fooled.”
“Maybe he really doesn’t know what you are talking about,” the younger boy said.
“Shut up, Robert,” Joshua snapped, then to Magnus, “I am a gentleman. I will pay my debt. But, if you hurt Mia, I will kill you.”
Debt? Did this have something to do with Mr. Barton?
“What debt?”
“Don’t think that you can force me to sell our property in order to honor my marker. I will not do that to my family.”
Mr. Barton had mentioned a bill, not a marker. Christ, his head throbbed.
