A Widow's Vow by Rachel Brimble

Author:Rachel Brimble [Brimble, Rachel]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781838935238
Publisher: Head of Zeus

Twenty-Five

From Louisa Hill’s attic, Jacob stared through the window towards the small park and Pulteney Bridge beyond. How in God’s name had he got here? Worse, why had he allowed conversation between himself and Louisa – and his barely concealed care for her – to secure her confidence that he could protect her and the other women living here?

The woman must be half-blind if she could not see what was staring her straight in the face. Or rather who.

He was a man incapable of protecting anyone.

He fought for a living. Beat men black and blue and profited from their pain. Yet, Louisa had mentioned his loyalty, an incapability of fleeing from his problems. Well, guilt was his problem and he had been constantly running from that. Couldn’t she see that he possessed an insatiable need to prove his strength to himself? That she had provided yet another facilitating avenue that he would use to try to assuage the continual feeling of failure that resided inside of him? As for him accepting he was anything more than the son of a murderer, he couldn’t believe that would ever happen.

That it hadn’t been Louisa who came looking for him this morning, but the other way around relentlessly irked him. He had come to Carson Street of his own free will and was now living and working here. So he only had himself to blame for whatever happened next. As soon as he’d left the club – his stitches removed – his feet had found their way here of their own accord and there hadn’t been a damn thing he could do about it.

Jacob gripped the walls either side of the window until his fingers ached. What in God’s name would Louisa think of him if she knew he was the product of a man who had beaten his wife to death? That the same violent tendencies that were rife in his father were alive and well in Jacob? But God, he wanted to protect her. To not fail this time. He needed to believe that change in his life and in himself might one day be possible.

That was why the pull towards this house hadn’t waned. This job had the potential to prove his life could change. Prove himself worthy of Louisa’s interest and trust. So that she might look at him and believe she had found a man who would give his life to protect her and the women under her care.

She was the first woman who looked at him without fear in her eyes. Her instinct and trust in him made Jacob feel ten feet tall.

He was attracted to her spirit and the fire that burned in her violet eyes. Eyes that made him want her. Or maybe it would be her smile that would eventually be his undoing. She was more woman than any he had ever met and her kindness to others only made it more difficult to keep the ice around in his heart firmly in place.

The fact it was beginning to splinter was terrifying.

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