The Nobleman's Governess Bride by Deborah Hale

Author:Deborah Hale [Hale, Deborah]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Published: 2017-12-28T16:00:00+00:00

Had she won Sophie over? Grace perched on the edge of the child’s bed listening to her peaceful breathing, hoping the process had begun at least. The fact that Sophie had wanted to include her in the dream with the rest of the family boded well.

Grace shivered and yawned. Now that her small charge had fallen back to sleep, it was time she returned to her own bed. But something made her linger near the sleeping child, savoring the memory of holding Sophie in her arms. Even as it helped to fill a void within her heart, it reminded her that such emptiness existed—something she had tried very hard to deny.

With the latest upheaval in her life, it had been a long while since she’d heard from any of her friends. She had written to them all to tell them about her new position and where they could reach her. But it was still too soon to expect answers. Now she yearned for any scrap of news of their doings or fond greetings to let her know they still cared about her after so many years apart.

Gingerly, so as not to disturb her young pupil’s rest, Grace dropped a whisper-light kiss on Sophie’s forehead. Then she rose quietly from her perch to steal back to her own bed. She had only gone a few steps when a large, dark form reared up from the shadows in her path.

A strangled scream caught in her throat as she jumped back.

The other person started too and issued an urgent whisper. “Forgive me, Miss Ellerby! I did not mean to give you a fright.”

Whether he’d meant to or not, that was what Lord Steadwell had done. Grace’s heart beat at such a wild gallop, she feared it would run away with her. She gasped in shallow snatches of air that never seemed to be enough. She could spare no breath to speak, which was just as well perhaps, for she feared what words might spurt out.

His lordship seemed to feel obliged to fill the silence. “I just returned from London and wanted to check that all was well with the girls. I should have made my presence known right away, but I was afraid it would only prevent you from getting Sophie back to sleep.”

It probably would have done, Grace was forced to admit as her jangling nerves began to settle.

“I regret giving you such a shock. Are you feeling faint?” Lord Steadwell must be thinking of their interview at the coffeehouse in Reading. His hand reached out of the darkness, brushed against her arm and latched onto it. “Perhaps you should come downstairs and I will fetch a cup of warm milk to soothe your nerves.”

Go downstairs into the light, where he would see her without her spectacles, cap or any of her usual defenses? Perilous as that might be at any time, Grace could least afford to let it happen at this dark hour, in her vulnerable state of undress. “No! Er... thank you, sir.

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