A Family for the Reclusive Baron by Carol Arens

Author:Carol Arens
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2022-09-07T13:42:45+00:00

* * *

Later that night, when the rest of his family was in bed, Harrison went to the conservatory. Although it might not be the best place to go, given his mood.

Seeing that man with Minerva had been unsettling. The shock of it had shot him back in time to similar scenes. Some of which had taken place here, in this very room.

He would go somewhere else, but the whole manor was riddled with such memories.

At least the conservatory had also been the place where he and Minerva had played with the children.

This was where he needed to be in order to get his perspective back.

Just because Minerva had been too close to Billery, it didn’t mean she had encouraged him.

He knew her better than to think so.

And yet his fears sat heavily upon him in that moment. Some of them reasonable and some not.

He ought to take heart that, faced with temptation, Minerva had not succumbed to it. He’d felt a flash of pride in her for threatening Billery with her fish knife. And there had been a great deal of satisfaction in tossing him into the fountain.

He wondered if he had been reacting to more than that one moment. Perhaps he had been tossing the shadows of his past into the water along with Billery.

While it had been satisfying, seeing the look in Minerva’s eyes had been even more so. No one had ever gazed at him as if he were a hero—except maybe Abby, when he’d rescued the kitten out of that hole in the ground.

This was different from that. Minerva had made him feel that he could slay a dragon.

There was a large dragon breathing fire at him right now—and he didn’t mean the men who’d gazed so longingly at his wife.

It was society—the lure of it.

What he had to offer Minerva couldn’t compare. There was no reason for her to put on an elegant gown at Cockleshell Cottage. No occasion when she might feel like the lady she was. Her father wasn’t there. Her brothers were not there. Nor her sisters-in-law either. Earlier tonight he’d seen just how many people had gathered about her. She had left many friends behind when she’d come to the seaside.

She had no friends in Cornwall. No society.

Only now did he truly appreciate how much she’d given up for the three of them.

Had it been too much?

When they returned to the seaside cottage he feared she wouldn’t be fully content.

Had she married a man of society she’d have a husband far more suited to her. A man who’d freely give all of himself to her. Not even in his dreams could he risk doing that, because then he’d put his marriage at risk.

But he couldn’t know what would happen tomorrow, or how Minerva would feel about leaving now that she had experienced society so briefly again.

Rising, he returned to his chamber. Where he was greeted with the memory of holding his wife.

He would strive to forget, but he wasn’t sure it was possible.

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