Harlequin Historical December 2017--Box Set 2 of 2 by Carol Arens

Author:Carol Arens
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781488021961
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2017-10-15T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

‘Mr Kavanagh still wants to speak to you. He said he’ll wait outside rather than come in, if you prefer.’

‘I shan’t receive him, Mrs Gideon. I have a headache. He can leave a message with you, if he wishes.’

Mrs Gideon blew a sigh. ‘Don’t reckon he believes you’ve got a headache any more than I do. He’s the look of a man sticking to his guns because he knows he’ll get what he wants in the end.’

‘Indeed…that sums him up,’ Faye muttered acerbically. ‘But today he’s to be disappointed and, actually, I do have a headache,’ she added, rubbing her throbbing brow.

Mrs Gideon sat down opposite Faye at the table, enclosing her mistress’s white fingers in her chapped hands. ‘You’ve had nobody to talk to about those things that confuse young women, have you, you poor lamb?’

‘I had my papa’s counsel till I was twenty-one,’ Faye pointed out with a wan smile.

‘It’s not the same as having your mother to guide you. I could see that governess of yours wouldn’t instruct you in anything that didn’t have a fraction or a verb attached to it.’

‘What are you trying to say, Mrs Gideon?’ Faye gently withdrew her hands from Nelly’s.

‘I know I was wrong about the Irish fellow. He’s been a boon to you. From the start you saw the good in him. But now something’s changed and I shan’t pry into what it is. I don’t suppose he’s perfect; none of us are, but he’s done things for you and your family that no other man has since your papa died.’

‘He has a motive, I assure you; you were right to warn me of that. Don’t think him a saint.’ Faye felt her cheeks growing warm. She stood up and went to the kitchen window, peeking out from behind the curtain. He was leaning on the front gate, gazing out over the fields as though he didn’t have a care in the world.

Yet her heart was breaking. She’d fallen in love with him. She wanted him, not her fiancé, and that was why she must avoid seeing him again. She’d been in love with Peter when still a child; she was now a woman and she loved Ryan Kavanagh. But for him it was different. He’d spoken of wanting her, but lust wasn’t love and wouldn’t last. She yearned to be with him, but she wouldn’t loiter in shadows waiting for the crumbs of his time and affection to be tossed her way.

He’d asked if she feared being lonely in the future…she would be if she agreed to his terms: sharing his bed and perhaps bearing his bastards until his eye landed on somebody else. Peter might not be rich and charismatic, but he was steadfast. And she would never reward his loyalty by choosing a philanderer over him.

‘A motive, has he?’ Mrs Gideon gave a wise nod. ‘Perhaps you ought to let him know that you’ve one, too, concerning a ring and a vicar.’ She stood up and comfortingly rubbed Faye’s shoulder.

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