Teena Thyme Read Online Free Page B

a small bottle of something reviving in my handbag.
    Two double cognac's later:
    'Teen, you're rich!' dad exclaimed. Not slow, my dad. You can see where I get it from.
    'Very rich,' mum said. She had gone very quiet, even though the colour had come back to her cheeks.
    'I'm still getting used to the idea,' I admitted. I paused, thinking. 'Will you both come over with me and see this cottage?' I asked eventually. 'Dad?' Dad still drove regularly, though his battered Wolseley saloon had of late been wearing far worse than he was. He nodded.
    'Of course,' he said. 'I'll drive us all over tomorrow, if you like.'
    'And I'll buy us all lunch at my new pub,' I said. 'Well, my third of it, anyway. We'll have to stop at the bank in Havant, though,' I added. 'I need to give them my signature and then I can draw some money out.'
    Oh, that sounded good. I was warming to the idea of being an heiress. Me, an heiress - and with a part share in a pub. Ye gods, I was every man's dream girl and blonde into the bargain.
    Suddenly I started laughing and I couldn't stop, not for ages, not until the tears were running down my cheeks and dripping all over the front of my new top and soaking it through to my new bra, the one that matched the new knickers that nearly met an untimely end in Mr Swann's office.
    Okay, okay! I only said I've had plenty of practise at being a lady. I never claimed I was ever any good at it!
     
     
    2 .
     
    Silk ripped easily in his hands and Angelina gasped as her body was jerked backwards under the onslaught, but his attack upon her beautiful dress was remorseless and he did not stop until it lay in a ruined pool about her feet, leaving her standing in just her corset and chemise, with her stocking clad legs exposed to his view, complete with the rosette garters she had received from Philip Lothwell only the day before.
    Hacklebury's keen eye missed nothing and suddenly Angelina felt something hard press into her thigh, just where the garter held her left stocking. She started and looked down before she could stop herself and a small gasp forced its way past her lips, as she saw the whip handle.
    'And where might these have come from, my lady?' Hacklebury demanded. 'I'll wager you never brought these pretty fripperies with you when you came here.' Angelina swallowed and took a breath as deep as the strictures of her corset would permit.
    'Sir,' she replied, as steadily as she could, 'no gentleman would ever comment upon a lady's personal things in this way, but then I think you have already proven that you are no true gentleman, despite your title and all your wealth.'
    'And you, my sweet little Angelina, are no lady, of that I am sure. Cuckolding me in my own house and with that idiot boy Lothwell, indeed. Rest easy, madame, that I shall deal with him, too, in good time. Would that he were here now, to bear witness to your punishment, but the scoundrel has gone up to London.
    'However,' Hacklebury continued, with an air of relish and anticipation that brought a new edge to his voice, 'there will be plenty of opportunity for me to demonstrate the error of his ways and you two lovebirds can bear witness mutually.'
    Angelina screwed her eyes tight shut and shook her head in barely controlled anger, but she had little time to consider Hacklebury's threat, for even as he finished speaking she heard the slapping sound as he paid his whip out across the stone floor and, a moment later, there came the most dreadful hiss and a line of fire exploded across her shoulders.
    Instantly she opened her mouth to scream, but so terrible was the pain that all that emerged was a strangled gasp, followed by a terrible groan as she was hurled against the racking and then rebounded in her agony, so that now she swung with almost all her weight hanging from her already tortured wrists, her feet kicking in an attempt to regain some purchase on the floor.
    He allowed her several seconds, perhaps half a minute, to regain her balance as best she