Ollie Morgan [Seven Brothers for McBride 3] (Siren Publishing Everlasting Classic ManLove) by Anitra Lynn McLeod Page B

matter of time until that happens. And when it does, no matter what you say or how you try to claim that I didn’t know, the fact is I did. I will lose everything.” Besides, he didn’t believe they were in love at all. Jonas had taken advantage of Ollie, and now Ollie had some kind of fixation on Jonas. As soon as there was time and distance between them, the infatuation would fade. McBride felt the same way about him and Caleb. If he had a companion and Caleb had a thrall, they would have someone else to focus their lust on. Taking that step would put an end to the dangerous dance they were doing now. The same would be true for Ollie and Jonas.
    “I have nothing.” Jonas’s voice was very low and breathless. He would have been impossible to hear but for the fact the house was dreadfully quiet. It was almost as if the house stood waiting with its breath held to hear what everyone within had to say.
    Baffled as to why Jonas was telling him this, McBride said, “I don’t see what that has to do with anything.”
    “I gave up everything I owned so that I could be with Ollie.”
    McBride recalled Ollie telling him about how everything in the house started disappearing. When McBride had taken over his father’s holdings, he’d been surprised at how empty the house was. The furniture and fixtures were there, but there weren’t all the usual accoutrements and trappings of a grand home. Rather than plush furniture, what was left behind was serviceable. There were no decorative paintings or art of any kind. Even the dishes and flatware were more utilitarian than decadent. It wasn’t a poor home by any means, but it wasn’t a rich one, either.
    McBride had just assumed that his father’s companion had taken the bulk of the expensive items with him when he disappeared, but now it seemed the items had never existed at all. When he asked Jonas, he stated that what he left in the house were the things owned by McBride’s father.
    “I didn’t take anything that wasn’t mine,” Jonas said. “I’m not a thief.”
    “I wasn’t accusing you.”
    Jonas looked away, but it was clear he felt that in some way McBride was pointing an accusatory finger at him. “Your father was terribly tightfisted with his money. I don’t know why he refused to spend it, but he did. All that he had came to you when he passed.”
    McBride remembered getting the notice and seeing the amount. It was modest to say the least. Since he’d been running the farm, profits had increased dramatically. McBride wondered if his father had simply mismanaged the funds, but grilling Jonas in this moment seemed unfair. He had to get him gone and restore order to his lands. After Caleb’s shocking confession last night, McBride had to do something drastic to put a block between them. They couldn’t take another step down that dangerous path, or they would end up like Ollie and Jonas.
    “Why would you sell or give away all your worldly possessions?” McBride was baffled as to why Jonas would do such a thing.
    “Because I wanted to turn myself into a thrall and give myself to Ollie.”
    In that moment, McBride understood just how desperate Jonas was. He did indeed love Ollie. He wanted to be with him so much he made himself a pauper under the misguided notion that was all it would take. It was going to crush him when he found out he’d destroyed his life for nothing.

Chapter 8
     
    “You can’t change your status that way, Jonas, and you know it. You were born a landed gentryman, and you’ll die a landed gentryman. You can’t transform yourself into a thrall by shaving off all your body hair and getting rid of all your money and holdings.” McBride’s hands were on his hips, indicating just how frustrated and angry he was.
    Ollie wished he could say something to make the situation work, but there wasn’t much he could do. Before they even got involved, Jonas had told Ollie their love was forbidden. At the time, they had contented themselves with