Free The Baron's Quest by Elizabeth Rose

until your sister has paid off the debt.”
    “I have paid it off,” she spat, obviously still angry about the sheep. “Or did you forget about the ring you snatched from my finger?”
    “Mother’s ring?” asked Isaac, sounding horrified.
    “Yes,” she answered. “The baron demanded it from me.”
    He heard Cecily gasp. He had no doubt in his mind now how rumors got started from wagging tongues. The way she relayed the story was not how he remembered it at all.
    “I am only holding onto it until you manage to pay off the debt, if I must remind you. After that, the ring will belong to you again. Come along then, and we’ll get settled into the manor.”
    “I haven’t agreed to your offer yet, if I must remind you ,” she said, raising her chin in defiance.
    “Well, I suggest you decide quickly. After all, as I told you – I only make an offer once.”
    “I need time to talk to my brother and decide.”
    “Go ahead.” He held out his hand, expecting her to do it, but of course the girl didn’t do anything expected of her. He was starting to realize this quickly.
    “I’ll need time to decide.” Her eyes darted back to her brother. “I’ll consider your offer and let you know.”
    “I don’t like to be told what to do,” he growled.
    “Then what do you suggest, my lord?”
    He thought for a moment before he answered. If he was too harsh, he’d end up scaring her away, and he didn’t really want that. “You have two days to decide,” he told her. “On the third day I will come to your door and you will give me your answer. And if you decide not to take my – very generous offer – you will not only never see your ring again, but you will need to make your rent payments on time. If you miss one payment – I will take my marshlands back, and rent them to another merchant and you will never do business with me again.”
    She clenched her jaw tightly, and looked over to her brother and friend. They were both just staring at her with their eyes wide, waiting for her answer.
    “Fine. Then that is what we will do.”
    “I have your horse, my lord.” The squire appeared with the reins of his horse in hand. As Nicholas turned and mounted, he heard Cecily whispering to Muriel.
    “Oh, Muriel you are so lucky. The baron is very handsome You should take his offer.”
    He smiled, but did not let on that he had heard them.
    “Lucky? I’m not so sure,” she whispered back to her friend. Once again, Muriel was probably going to spin more than wool. She might be a proficient spinster, but he had the feeling she could spin a story better than even his bards.
    “Why do you say that?” asked Cecily. “Don’t you think he likes you?”
    “Wants me is more like it,” she answered smugly. “But when he tried to bed me, I turned him down cold.”
    Nicholas gripped the reins tightly at hearing this, causing his horse to turn a full circle. He almost said something to her, but the only reason he didn’t was because of her next words.
    “Turned him down cold I did, because I have no interest in him whatsoever. But next time I might just tease him a little and lead him on, to let him know what he’ll be missing out on.”
    Tease him, indeed, he thought to himself. If that’s the way she wanted to play the game, then next time he might not put himself through the misery of lying there aching for a girl who supposedly didn’t want him in return.
     

 
    Chapter 6
     
     
     
    Nicholas stood on the wharf two days later, accompanied by Richard, his Surveyor of Customs, and Paul, his Land Surveyor. The Surveyor of Customs’ job was to watch over the Collector and Controller of Customs who collected the taxes due from imports and exports. The Land Surveyor kept an eye on the Coast Waiter who supervised the unloading of cargo from home ports, as well as the Land Waiter who watched over the loading and unloading of goods from foreign ports.
    He studied the parchment with the tallies from his Searcher listing