The Baron's Quest by Margaret Moore

Author:Margaret Moore [Moore, Margaret]
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: Romance, Historical Romance, Medieval
ISBN: 9780373289288
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 1995-12-31T16:00:00+00:00

A few nights later, Gabriella lay awake on her cot in the long, narrow room above the storerooms where all the maidservants slept. Around her, others stirred and murmured in their sleep, but rest would not come to Gabriella Frechette.

To watch the baron during the first meal after his return and during the past few days, one would never guess he was in any pain, unless you happened to catch a fleeting expression in his blue eyes when he moved suddenly. She saw it, of course, because she knew to look for it.

Apparently, however, she was the only one who did. Josephine de Chaney carried on as if nothing were amiss, and made no effort to persuade the baron to retire early or to lessen his work. Neither did Sir George, or any of his other men.

Once more she told herself that it should not please her that she seemed to possess knowledge that Etienne DeGuerre had not shared with his mistress, or George, or his steward, or anyone else. After all, he would not have told her had she not surprised him.

What kind of life had the baron had, what kind of childhood, to make him so determined to keep even a relatively minor injury so secret? Certainly nothing like her own. She had been loved and had lacked for nothing, whether affection or material possessions. In fact, she had to admit, she had been somewhat spoiled.

Apparently Etienne DeGuerre had been raised in a bleak and hostile world, a world of mistrust and loneliness, of poverty and need. Perhaps, for him, happiness and an end to loneliness had come only recently, and he was not yet used to the security of his wealth and power, or such security as wealth and power could provide, which he seemed to think was very little indeed. He was not as confident as he pretended to be, nor did she believe that he was happy, or even content. She guessed that it was loneliness she had seen in him that first day when he stood in the courtyard, alone and apart.

He was right, too, that she truly knew nothing about being poor. Even now, she had food and warmth. And he had been correct, at least partly, about the tenants’ relationship with her father. Perhaps he was also right that she had erred taking Mary’s money, if he knew far better than she how Mary’s gift might cause her to suffer.

The feelings of guilt she had managed to subdue suddenly seemed overwhelming. Surely she could endure the work better than Mary could spare any extra coins she might have saved. She was far younger than Mary and the other women who were willing to help pay her debt. She should give the money back.

But Mary had been so keen to offer it! To refuse it would have been an insult to the widow’s good intentions, wouldn’t it? And she would pay Mary and the others back just as soon as she could.

On the other hand, the baron had raised the rents.

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