Lord St Claire's Angel by Donna Simpson

Author:Donna Simpson [Donna Simpson]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Nov. Rom
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

The air sparkled with a crystalline brightness Celestine had never seen before. Lottie and Gwen raced down the path ahead of her, through the light covering of snow, laughing and screaming at the momentum that they built up. Lady St. Claire would go into strong hysterics if she could see her girls acting like such hoydens, but Celestine believed children must be allowed to be children, with all the attendant noise and occasional scraped knees.

She knew she was beaming—grinning in fact—and the sparkling weather and childish laughter could not be the only reason. After a quiet half-hour's reflection over the morning's events, she had decided there was nothing at all wrong with admitting she had tumbled headlong in love with Justin St. Claire. She felt joyous and free, youthful and energized just saying it out loud. "I have fallen in love with Lord Justin St. Claire!" She laughed at the silliness of it.

Where was the harm? He would never know about it. No one would ever know about it. She would keep her full heart concealed from everyone and hug her secret knowledge to herself. Pain was inevitable, but right now she was going to enjoy his company when she had it and not feel ashamed of loving.

But she must not allow such trespasses on her person again. That could lead to trouble, and she felt it unfair to engage in actions that would lead to unrealistic expectations on his side—not that he would expect to court her as he would a lady he was considering marriage with, but he certainly might think she would be amenable to a liaison of a less moral kind.

She acquitted him of any serious intentions. He did not conduct himself like a man who would be considering marriage or wooing. It was just his way, and how could he help that? Many girls must have fallen in love with a man so gifted, handsome, and engaging as he was. She was not the first and would not be the last. She could do nothing about it now the damage was done, so she must just relax and let time settle things.

She strolled down the snowy hill after the girls, feeling better than she had for ages. They were walking along a path that led to the edge of the St. Claire property, though the property line was not even in sight yet and wouldn't be for a while. It was a large estate, and the St. Claires were the principal landowners of the area, employing hundreds of people in addition to the household staff: shepherds, dairymaids, gardeners, farmers, ostlers, a blacksmith, and many more.

But the technical part of running the estate was behind Ladymead. Celestine was walking with the girls in the pleasure park, a landscaped area with copses, rolling lawns and a small stream, frozen now in places, gurgling bright and silver in others.

"Miss Simons!"

A voice carried on the wind reached her as she approached the wooden bridge over the small stream on the Ladymead property.

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