Free Laurie's Painter (sweet Regency romance) by Alice M. Roelke Page A

other!"
    Was it?
    If he had thought their
debt was something that could reasonably be repaid, would Henry have refrained
from working himself so hard? Would his health have fared better?
    The bank was at fault. It
must be run by truly evil men if they could allow such an error to go
uncorrected for so long, tacitly allowing a young man to work himself toward
the grave. It was wickedness!
    Henry sank into a chair
and flung his arms over his head, taking a deep breath and letting it out in a
huge sigh. "Lord, to think we might soon be free of it, finally free! I
can't tell you how good it feels!"
    "You needn't,"
said Jenny in a clipped, abrupt voice. She rose quickly and walked to the
kitchen with hard, angry steps. She did not let tears slip before reaching the
safety of her smoky haven and beginning to scrub angrily at the table to
relieve her feelings. But her eyes were clouded and her throat choked.
    Such wicked men, to allow
her brother to suffer so. And her as well.
    If they had known the debt
was more manageable, how might their lives have differed? Help in the kitchen
for Jenny perhaps, considering it an investment to keep her hands soft? New
dresses once in a while, and opportunities to be around eligible young
men—perhaps not of the first water, but better than the young men in the
marketplace who called rude things at her whilst she shopped.
    She wanted that life. A
life of poverty not without hope. Instead of—this. It wasn't fair, a cheat. The
life she had been cheerfully making the best of until now suddenly seemed to
have been a cruel joke.
    She didn't hear Henry
until he came in the kitchen and wrapped his arms around her shoulders. He
pressed his forehead against the back of her hair. "It will be all right,
Jen," he said quietly. "Everything will be all right now."
     
     
    Chapter six
    Laurie put a stack of blunt
in Henry's hands, and gave him a defiant look. "It's not for you. It's for
your sister."
    "What?" demanded
Henry, blinking.
    They had been calmly
discussing the Wilkensons' visit to Laurie's family manor in two weeks time,
when Laurie steeled his nerve and handed over the money. He'd been trying to
for days. Unusually for him, he couldn't find the right words ahead of time. Perhaps
because this meant a lot to him, and he couldn't bluff his way through it. It
was serious, and he needed Henry to understand.
    "And why would you be
giving my sister money?" asked Henry, beginning to bristle.
    Laurie sighed. "Because,
your sister is very humble and not the least proud, but she is bound to feel
the blush if you make her attend my country home without better clothes. It
would be unkind. So accept this money and encourage her to deck herself out in
something suitable. She needn't know it is another advance."
    "Oh." Henry
stared at the pile of cash, deflated. "It has been a long time since she
had a new dress. She doesn't complain, but I'm afraid you're right." He
raised a guilty gaze to meet Laurie's. He swallowed hard, and spoke unwillingly.
"I shall give it to her, as you say. But you must remember to take it out
of the price at the end, along with your other advance."
    It was so difficult for
the young man to accept either, Laurie knew, that he assented readily. "I
shall, of course, do so."
    In the months since
meeting the siblings, Laurie had grown fonder still of them. His visits—teasing
or serious—had drawn the three closer together. Even Henry seemed to benefit
from the teasing and feel less defensive and more cheerful when Laurie visited lately.
    Laurie's plans regarding
the debt had also gone well. He could afford to cancel some debts which they
would be hard pressed to earn their way out of on a painter's salary—or through
the mending and washing that Jenny took in, as Henry had confided once to
Laurie after a glass of sherry.
    These words had surprised
him enough that he nearly choked on his drink. The thought of those slender
hands doing such rough work, cracked and bleeding from scrubbing