Read Online Free Ransom by Julie Garwood
Praise for Julie Garwood's splendid New York Times bestsellers
RANSOM
"AN ENTHRALLING TALE . . . . In this powerful story, passion, loyalty, friendship, and mystery superbly blend with realistic, iii-dimensional characters."
—Romantic Times
"PURE Amusement . . . . TRULY UNFORGETTABLE. Romance never felt so good."
—Rendezvous
"A KEEPER . . . . Anyone who has had the pleasure of reading Julie Garwood's classic tale The Clandestine volition recollect the two lovable rogues Brodick Buchanan and Ramsey Sinclair. At present they star in their ain story . . . . The plot is crisp, entertaining, and makes Medieval England seem real."
—Nether the Covers Book Reviews
"THRILLING."
—Amazon.com
"A RIP-ROARING ROMP, total of humor, romance, sword fights, and crisp dialogue . . . . Then much fun, it begs to exist read in one sitting . . . . Characters experience like sometime friends, and readers will regret to come across the story end."
—The Cedar Rapids Gazette (IA)
"WONDERFUL . . . . RANSOM provides suspense, passion, and humor."
—All About Romance
"Julie Garwood'south stories happen in a different world, and she makes that globe palpable. Readers . . . appreciate the fragility of life in a fourth dimension when death was omnipresent."
—The Kansas Metropolis Star
COME THE Leap
"Heartwarming . . . . Wonderful . . . Garwood does her usual superb job . . . . [A] fascinating tale of western romance and adventure."
—Abilene Reporter News (TX)
"What began so beautifully in For the Roses and connected with the Clayborne Brides series comes to a truly lovely determination in Come the Spring . . . . Humour, sensuality and mystery alloy perfectly in this tale. You'll notice information technology as hard as I did to say farewell to a family unit yous have come to love similar your own. Cheers, Ms. Garwood, for Mama Rose and her children."
—Kathe Robin, Romantic Times
"The 5 novels that make up the Rose series are considered some of the best books written in the nineties. Julie Garwood'southward latest offer from that tremendous drove, Come the Spring, is as good if non amend than the previous novels. The 'proficient guys' are all charming . . . and the villains are cold-bloodedly efficient and exciting . . . . The story line, with its tremendous prose and building suspense, turns this book into . . . a long-term literary classic."
—Harriet Klausner, America Online
FOR THE ROSES
"Lively and charming . . . . Filled with humor and appealing characters . . . ."
—Library Periodical
"An enchanting tale with a happy ending . . . ."
—Abilene Reporter-News (TX)
"[A] brilliant achievement . . . . With a chief's pen, Julie Garwood explores the heart and soul of a family whose dear and loyalty will truly inspire."
—Romantic Times
Praise for the #1 New York Times bestselling trilogy of the Clayborne Brides
ONE Pinkish ROSE
"[An] utterly mannerly lilliputian book . . . ."
—Philadelphia Inquirer
"Garwood hits her mark with a feisty, sassy, and capable heroine."
—BookPage
"Great dialogue and wonderful characters make this a express joy-out-loud book."
—Rocky Mountain News (CO)
1 WHITE ROSE
"A very special and moving read . . . . Ms. Garwood succeeds big-time with this novel."
—Amazon.com
"Vintage Garwood, funny and tender, familiar all the same new."
—BookPage
"As charming every bit For the Roses, every bit sweetness and funny and sensual as anything Ms. Garwood has written . . . . A must-accept volume if you dearest the Claybornes . . . ."
—Romantic Times
ONE Blood-red ROSE
"As Charming and heartwarming as the rest of the series. Ms. Garwood has a gift for sending our hearts soaring . . . ."
—Romantic Times
"An exquisite care for for the senses."
—Amazon.com
"Absolute dynamite story. As usual, Ms. Garwood never fails to deliver a scrumptious romance, nonstop activity, and delightful dialogue."
—Rendezvous
Books by Julie Garwood
Gentle Warrior
Rebellious Desire
Laurels's Splendour
The Lion'due south Lady
The Bride
Guardian Angel
The Gift
The Prize
The Surreptitious
Castles
Saving Grace
Prince Mannerly
For the Roses
The Wedding
The Rose Trilogy
Ane Pink Rose
One White Rose
One Scarlet Rose
Come the Spring
Ransom
Published by POCKET BOOKS
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Contents
Prologue
Affiliate Ane
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Iv
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter 8
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Affiliate Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter 14
Affiliate Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter 19
Chapter Xx
Chapter Twenty-1
Chapter Xx-2
Affiliate Twenty-Three
Chapter Xx-Four
Chapter Twenty-Five
Chapter Xx-Six
Chapter 20-Seven
Chapter Xx-Viii
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Chapter Thirty
Chapter 30-1
Chapter Thirty-Ii
Chapter Thirty-Iii
Affiliate Xxx-4
Chapter Thirty-Five
Chapter Thirty-6
Chapter Thirty-Seven
Chapter Thirty-Eight
Chapter 30-Ix
For Bryan Michael Garwood, concern and law graduate extraordinaire—
With your corking mind, your passionate soul, and your merciful heart, there's no stopping y'all.
As yous embark on this most noble career, remember: "Justice is a auto that, when someone has given it a starting push, rolls of itself." Galsworthy, Justice 2
Start pushing, Bryan
PROLOGUE
England, in the reign of King Richard I
Bad things e'er happen during the nighttime.
In the dark hours of the night Gillian's female parent died struggling to bring a new life into the world, and a young, unthinking servant, wishing to be the first to impart the sorrowful news, awakened the two little girls to tell them their love mama was dead. Two nights afterwards, they were once again shaken awake to hear that their infant brother, Ranulf, named in laurels of their father, had also passed on. His frail body hadn't been able to take the strain of existence built-in a full ii months early.
Gillian was afraid of the dark. She waited until the servant had left her bedroom, then slid down from the large bed on her stomach to the cold stone floor. Barefoot, she ran to the forbidden passage, a s
ecret hallway that led to her sister'south chamber and too to the steep steps that ended in the tunnels below the kitchens. She barely squeezed behind the chest her papa had placed in front of the narrow door in the wall to discourage his daughters from going back and forth. He had warned over and over again that it was a underground, for the love of God, only to be used under the nigh dire of circumstances, and certainly not for play. Why, even his loyal servants didn't know nearly the passageways built into three of the bedchambers, and he was determined to go on it that way. He was also extremely concerned that his daughters would fall down the steps and break their pretty little necks, and he oftentimes threatened to paddle their backsides if he ever caught them there. It was dangerous, and it was forbidden.
Merely on that terrible nighttime of loss and sorrow, Gillian didn't care if she got into problem. She was scared, and whenever she got scared, she ran to her older sister, Christen, for condolement. Managing to get the door open simply a crack, Gillian cried out for Christen and waited for her to come. Her sister reached in, latched onto Gillian'south hand and pulled her through, then helped her climb upwardly into her bed. The niggling girls clung to each other under the thick blankets and cried while their papa's tormented screams of anguish and pathos echoed throughout the halls. They could hear him shouting their mama'southward name over and over and over over again. Death had entered their peaceful home and filled it with grief.
The family wasn't given time to heal, for the monsters of the nighttime weren't through preying on them. It was in the dead of night that the infidels invaded their dwelling and Gillian's family was destroyed.
Papa woke her up when he came rushing into her chamber carrying Christen in his artillery. His faithful soldiers William—Gillian's favorite because he gave her honeyed treats when her papa wasn't watching—and Lawrence and Tom and Spencer followed behind him. Their expressions were grim. Gillian sat upwards in bed and rubbed her eyes with the backs of her hands as her father handed Christen to Lawrence and hurried to her. He placed the glowing candle on the chest next to her bed, and so sat down abreast her and with a trembling hand gently brushed her hair out of her eyes.
Her father looked terribly sad, and Gillian thought she knew the reason why.
"Did Mama die again, Papa?" she asked worriedly.
"For the dear of . . . no, Gillian," he answered, his vox weary.
"Did she come up back abode, then?"
"Ah, my sweetness lamb, we've been over this again and again. Your mama isn't always going to come up home. The dead tin't come back. She's in heaven now. Endeavor to empathize."
"Yes, Papa," she whispered.
She heard the faint echo of shouts coming from the floor below and then noticed that her father was wearing his chain mail service.
"Are you going to boxing now, for the love of God, Papa?"
"Yes," he answered. "But beginning I must get yous and your sis to condom."
He reached for the clothes Gillian's maid, Liese, had laid out for tomorrow and hastily dressed his daughter. William moved frontwards and knelt on one knee joint to put Gillian's shoes on her.
Her papa had never dressed her before, and she didn't know what to make of it. "Papa, I got to take my sleeping gown off before I put my clothes on, and I got to let Liese brush my hair."
"We won't worry nigh your hair tonight."
"Papa, is information technology dark exterior?" she asked every bit he slipped the bliaut over her head.
"Yeah, Gillian, it's nighttime."
"Exercise I got to become outside in the night?"
He could hear the fright in her vocalism and tried to at-home her. "At that place volition be torches to light the way and y'all won't be alone."
"Are you lot going with Christen and me?"
Her sister answered. "No, Gillian," she shouted from across the room. "'Cause Papa has to stay hither and fight the battle, for the love of God," she said, repeating her male parent's often used expression. "Don't you, Papa?"
Lawrence told Christen to hush. "We don't desire anyone to know you're leaving," he explained in a whisper. "Tin you be existent tranquillity now?"
Christen eagerly nodded. "I can," she whispered back. "I can be awful quiet when I got to, and when I . . ."
Lawrence put his hand over her rima oris. "Hush, golden girl."
William lifted Gillian into his arms and carried her out of the sleeping room and down the dark hallway to her father'south room. Spencer and Tom guided the way, carrying brilliant candles to low-cal the corridor. Giant shadows danced along the stone walls keeping pace with them, the only sound the hard clicking of their boots confronting the cobbled floor. Gillian became fearful and put her artillery around the soldier'southward cervix, then tucked her caput under his chin.
"I don't like the shadows," she whimpered.
"They won't damage you," he soothed.
"I desire my mama, William."
"I know yous do, honey bear."
His dizzy nickname for her always fabricated her smile, and she suddenly wasn't afraid whatever longer. She saw her papa rush past her to lead the way into his chamber, and she would accept called out to him, but William put his finger to his lips, reminding her that she was to be tranquility.
As before long as they were all inside the bedroom, Tom and Spencer began to slide a low chest along the wall and then that they could open the secret door. The rusty hinges groaned and squealed like an angry boar whose mouth was being pried open.
Lawrence and William had to put the little girls down in gild to soak and low-cal the torches. The second their backs were turned, both Christen and Gillian ran to their father who was downwardly on his knees leaning over another breast at the human foot of the bed and sorting through his holding. They flanked his sides and stretched up on tiptoes, their easily on the rim of the chest so they too could peer within.
"What are y'all looking for, Papa?" Christen asked.
"This," he answered as he lifted the sparkling jeweled box.
"It's atrocious pretty, Papa," Christen said. "Tin can I have information technology?"
"Can I accept it besides?" Gillian chimed in.
"No," he answered. "The box belongs to Prince John, and I hateful to see that he gets it dorsum."
Even so down on his knees, their father turned toward Christen and grabbed her arm, pulling her close as she tried to jerk away.
"You lot're pain me, Papa."
"I'yard pitiful, dear," he said, immediately lessening his grip. "I didn't mean to hurt yous, simply I do need you to pay attention to what I'm going to tell y'all. Can you exercise that, Christen?"
"Yes, Papa, I can pay attention."
"That's adept," he praised. "I want you lot to take this box with you when you lot leave. Lawrence will protect you lot from damage and have you lot to a safety place far abroad from hither, and he'll help you hide this evil treasure until the fourth dimension is right and I can come for you and have the box to Prince John. You mustn't tell anyone nearly this treasure, Christen."
Gillian ran effectually her begetter to stand next to Christen. "Can she tell me, Papa?"
Her father ignored her question and waited for Christen to respond.
"I won't tell," she promised.
"I won't tell no one neither." Gillian vehemently nodded to prove she meant what she said.
Their male parent continued to ignore his younger girl for the moment because he was intent on making Christen understand the importance of what he was telling her. "No one must ever know you have the box, child. Now lookout what I'm doing," he ordered. "I'm going to wrap the box in this tunic."
"And so no one will see it?" Christen asked.
"That's right," he whispered. "So no one volition see it."
"But I already seen it, Papa," Gillian blurted out.
"I know you did," he agreed. He looked upwards at Lawrence then. "She's too young . . . I'm asking as well much of her. Dear God, how can I let my babies go?"
Lawrence stepped forward. "I'm going to protect Christen with my life, and I'll make certain no one sees the box."
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br /> William as well rushed to offering his pledge. "No harm will come up to Lady Gillian," he vowed. "I give yous my word, Baron Ranulf. My life to keep her safe."
The vehemence in his phonation was a comfort to the baron and he nodded to permit both soldiers know that his trust in them was absolute.
Gillian tugged on her male parent'south elbow to get his attention. She wasn't almost to be left out. When her papa wrapped the pretty box in one of his tunics and gave information technology to Christen, Gillian clasped her easily together in apprehension, for she assumed that since her sister had been given a present, she would be getting i as well. Even though Christen was the firstborn and three years older than Gillian, their father had never shown favoritism for one over the other.
Information technology was hard for her to be patient, only Gillian tried. She watched as her father pulled Christen into his arms and kissed her forehead and hugged her tight. "Don't forget your papa," he whispered. "Don't forget me."
He reached for Gillian next. She threw herself into his arms and kissed him soundly on his whiskered cheek.
"Papa, don't you lot accept a pretty box for me?"
"No, my sweetness. You're going to go with William now. Have agree of his hand—"
"Simply Papa, I got to have a box likewise. Don't y'all take i for me to carry?"
"The box isn't a present, Gillian."
"But, Papa—"
"I dear you lot," he said, blinking back the tears every bit he fiercely clasped her against the cold concatenation mail of his hauberk. "God go on you safe."
"Y'all're squishing me, Papa. Can I have a turn holding the box? Please, Papa?"
Ector, her father's chief reeve, barged into the room. His shout so startled Christen she dropped the treasure. The box rolled out of the tunic onto the floor and clattered across the stones. In the firelight from the flaming torches, the rubies and sapphires and emeralds imbedded in the case came to life, glistening and twinkling brightly like sparkling stars that had fallen from the sky.
Ector stopped short, startled by the dazzling dazzler that tumbled before him.
"What is information technology, Ector?" her father said.
Intent on giving his baron the urgent message from Bryant, the baron's commander in artillery, Ector seemed barely to be paying attention to what he was doing every bit he scooped up the box and handed it to Lawrence. His focus returned to his leader. "Milord, Bryant bade me to come and tell y'all that young Alford the Carmine and his soldiers have breached the inner bailey."
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