The Willing Mrs. Talbot
Unknown
Chapter 1
They would not be received until eight o'clock. That was typical, she thought. She lay on the bed, gazing at the ornate ceiling above her head, wondering, idly, when the old bastard would install mirrors over the bed.
She knew the son of a bitch peeked in on his guests now and then, for she had discovered, on their last visit, the small hole beside the portrait on the far wall. It had amused her then, but she was growing more irritated, these days.
She sighed and shifted her position, impatiently, on the huge, soft mattress. She could dream of putting it to good use, but knew, grimly, that such an enticing experience as she might imagine was more than likely not to come about.
She could hear the water running in the shower, where her husband was bathing himself, and she wondered for perhaps the hundredth time, why she could not talk him out of skipping this weekend with the clan.
God, she thought, it's going to be unendurable. It was bad enough to have married into the Talbot family, but to have to put up with them over a long weekend, was just to much to ask of a woman.
She smiled to herself, crookedly, then, shaking her head. Now, Maggie, she scolded herself, you didn't try all that hard to talk him out of it, did you? She knew, in her heart, that she hadn't.
Big things were happening, not the least of which, was the fact that E.G. was drawing up his will. She wasn't all that greedy, and could depend on her own wealth if she had to, but she was determined that Dash wasn't going to get cut out of the will by his brother and her scheming sister-in-law.
E.G. looked fondly upon her, she knew. Hell, a lot more than just fondly, she thought with an inner chuckle. The old bastard would like to get into my pants, if he could. Would probably like to do more than that, she added to herself, with a cold shudder.
She was suddenly remembering the dark stories that Dash hinted at now and then. He would not tell her anything more than the fact that the old man had been a harsh disciplinarian.
"He didn't believe in sparing the rod," Dash had told her grimly. "That was about the only thing he didn't believe in."