Folding her arms across her chest, she said, “What do you want, Jeremy? Be quick about it.”
“’Ow’s that a way to greet your own dear brother?” He shook his head mournfully. “Forgotten, ’ave you, ’ow Ma’s deathbed wish was for you to be a good girl and look after your kin. Well, oi fault that dead ’usband o’ yours. Looked down ’is nose on us Goodes and taught you to be ’igh in the instep, too.”
Jeremy wasn’t wrong: Paulhaddespised her family. He’d refused to have anything to do with them and advised her to do the same. Yet she couldn’t bring herself to cut ties completely, even when faced with her brothers’ schemes and her sister’s dramatics. Thus, she’d found herself in a constant tug-of-war between her family and her husband.
Sighing, she repeated, “What do you want?”
“It’s not whatoiwant, Maggie, but what oi got to offeryou.”
Jeremy wanted something, all right. And that something was definitely not good.
“It’s like this.” He pitched his voice low. “Jacob, Jimmy, and me, we got a special shipment coming in Friday at midnight, and we need someone to keep watch. Easy job, ain’t nothing to do but keep your eyes peeled for any unwanted guests to the party. Seeing as ’ow your dead ’usband left you in dun territory, we thought we’d do you a favor and let you ’ave the job.”
“Letme have the job?” she said with rising ire. “I don’t want any part of a smuggling scheme. And if you had any brains, you wouldn’t either!”
“For God’s sakes, lower your voice.” His eyes darted to the curtain. “Are you wanting to bring the excise men down on our ’eads?”
“I’m wanting you to ’ave a lick ’o common sense.” Anger rubbed the polish off her speech, and she threw up her hands. “When Ma was alive, she ne’er approved of such goings-on. Not when Pa did it, not when you and the other boys joined in on it. Besides telling me to look after you sorry lot, do you know what else she said to me on ’er deathbed, Jeremy?”
“What?” he said warily.
“That you all put ’er there with your nonsense!”
For an instant, Jeremy looked shamefaced. Like the little brother who’d cried when Mr. Snelling had forced him to wear the dunce cap in front of the class for misspelling a word. And Maggie thought maybe, just maybe, she’d gotten through his thick skull.
Then his expression hardened. He stepped toward her, and she retreated, the back of her legs hitting the desk. Her brothers had never hurt her, but they were big men and could get intimidating when angered or in their cups.
“If you want to get down from your ’igh ’orse and lend a ’elping ’and to your own kin,” Jeremy sneered, leaning into her so that she had to bend back, “then we’ll be at Crip’s Cove, Friday night. But if you’re too hoity-toity, we’ll take care o’ the business ourselves.”
Before she could tell him to bugger off, a deep voice sliced through the room.
“Step away from the lady. Now.”
Her gaze bounced to the doorway. Rhys stood there, his face set in foreboding lines.
Jeremy pivoted, facing him. “Who the bloody ’ell are you?”
“I’m the fellow who’s going to teach you a lesson if you don’t leave Mrs. Foley be.” Rhys’s tones were quietly lethal, his big hands fisted at his sides.
“You and what army?” her brother unwisely taunted.
Regaining her senses, Maggie pushed past Jeremy to stand between the men. “Stop it. There will be no brawling in my shop.”
“You know this bastard, Maggie?” Jeremy said, eyes narrowed.
“He’s a customer.” She drew a breath. “Now I have a shop to run—”
“Oi won’t take up any more o’ your precious time,” Jeremy said mockingly. “Seeing as ’ow you care more for your old bones than your own blood.”
He stormed toward the exit, his path blocked by Rhys. Maggie’s breath held when Rhys paused a moment longer than necessary before stepping aside. Jeremy yanked aside the curtain with enough force to tear it (just what she needed, another thing to fix). Seconds later, the slam of the front door shook the walls.
“Blooming hell.” She massaged her pounding temples.
“Your brother’s a right sod, isn’t he?” Rhys remarked.
“He’s been…under duress of late.” She had no idea why she was defending Jeremy. Maybe it was because she was buffle-headed from skipping breakfast.
“Be that as it may, he doesn’t have the right to treat you that way. Are you all right?”
