The Baron's Governess Bride by Hale Deborah

Author:Hale, Deborah
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2012-10-17T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter Ten

He could not bear to see Miss Ellerby so upset.

The sight of her hunched over, fighting back tears, tore at Rupert with an intense mixture of pity, helplessness and a jagged shard of guilt. It was his fault she had felt compelled to dredge up all those wrenching memories.

He ached to comfort her, but the nature of their connection made that improper, even if she had not cowered from his sudden approach.

“Do not fret,” he pleaded, offering her a handkerchief. “I am sorry for all you suffered during your youth.”

“You need not pity me!” She snatched the handkerchief from him and tipped up her spectacles to press the cloth to her eyes. “Save your pity for your children if you go ahead with your plan to remarry.”

Deeply as her distress moved him, Rupert refused to believe Barbara Cadmore would behave toward his daughters as Grace Ellerby’s stepmother had toward her. Mrs. Cadmore was a devoted mother to her son as she surely would be to his girls and any future children. It was one of the qualities that had most recommended her to him. Besides, he had no intention of letting any harm come to him until his daughters were grown and he had sired a son to carry on at Nethercross.

Perhaps sensing his resistance, Miss Ellerby gathered her composure and continued. “My father was barely in his grave before my stepmother shipped me off to the Pendergast School. It is a wonder I did not die from grief and homesickness and the wretched conditions there.”

As she told him about the scarce, bad food; the cold and dampness; the harsh teachers and bullying older girls, Rupert’s jaw tensed and his face began to burn. He wished he could go back and whisk her away from that miserable institution. At the same time, he could not help admiring the strength with which she had carried on in the face of such unrelenting adversity. That must have been when she had developed her severe facade to protect the wounded child beneath. Yet everything she’d endured seemed only to have strengthened her character and faith.

“Did you never blame God for what happened to you?” he asked when she finished speaking and slumped in the chair, spent from the effort it had cost her. “Did you never feel He had abandoned you?”

It was an intrusive question, but he knew she might never be willing to confide in him so fully again. And he had an urgent need to hear her answer.

She thought for a moment, perhaps searching her heart for the feelings he had mentioned. Then Grace Ellerby shook her head. “Faith and friendship were all that sustained me during those dark days. I took great comfort from the certainty that our Heavenly Father does not judge by outward appearances, as others do, but can see past that to beauty of the spirit.”

Rupert did not believe she was referring to him when she spoke of people judging by appearance.

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