Maggie Robinson Bundle by Maggie Robinson

Author:Maggie Robinson
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Kensington
Published: 2011-07-19T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 14

Once they finished breakfast, they rambled outside, Bea telling a comprehensive tale about her stay in the country so far. They climbed a hill and Laurette found herself short of breath. Too much city living had definitely spoiled her. They sat under a lone tree, spreading their skirts on the shade-dappled grass.

“You’re getting on with James, then?”

Beatrix gave a long-suffering sigh. “He’s all right. For a boy.”

“And Lord Conover says he’s all boy. I understand he gets into quite a bit of trouble at school.”

Her daughter’s face turned serious. “I think he wants to be bad enough so his father will have to come and get him. I don’t know who James wants to cause more trouble for—his masters or his father.”

Laurette’s eyes widened in shock. “But he loves school! He’s so bright and has always had high marks!”

Beatrix shrugged. “He’d rather displease his father just now. James is angry, you know. He wants to know why his father left him.”

“Oh, dear.” It was one thing to be resentful, but if James ruined his chances at an education, he’d hurt himself the most.

“You know, don’t you? Why he went away when James was born. You’ve known Lord Conover since he was a boy himself. He told me all about that when he came to visit me at school, how you were the best of friends.”

Laurette studied her daughter’s earnest little face. Her bronze-gold lashes framed hazel eyes that seemed older than her years. There were a few new freckles from the week spent out-of-doors with an active boy. Her half-brother.

A fact which she must never find out.

Oh, lord. What if Beatrix was forming a childish tendre for James? Now that they had been thrown together, what if it turned into something dangerous in the years to come? An unprecedented level of panic rose in Laurette’s chest and she looked away.

“It’s very complicated.”

“James knows Lord Conover made a marriage of convenience. Most people in the ton do. But they don’t abandon their babies.” Bea looked disapproving, as well she should. Con had run away.

But so had Laurette. She’d felt she had no choice but to give Bea a better future, but what if she’d been wrong?

“Sometimes people do things that seem terrible, but they think it for the best. When they are very young—” Laurette’s voice cracked, and she swallowed hard. This was territory that was far too dangerous. She wasn’t sure she could excuse Con’s behavior herself. And her own was beyond excuse.

Damn Con for throwing her into this and forcing her to pick at the scabs of her worst wounds. She was not ready to tell Beatrix anything. But Con was right. The child was smart. Laurette cleared her throat and began again.

“Lord Conover cares very much for James, and is sad that in the past he was not the parent he should have been. More than sad. Guilty. It’s left him—a little unhinged, I think. Not—not in a dangerous way,” she added, seeing Bea’s look of alarm. “This holiday is a start meant to make up for the years he wasted.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.