When the Night Closes In by Chasity Bowlin

Author:Chasity Bowlin [Bowlin, Chasity]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fiction, romance, Historical
Publisher: Dragonblade Publishing, Inc.
Published: 2023-10-13T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Seven

Betrothed.

After a long and sleepless night, one filled with anxious thoughts and jumping at every creak and groan of the ancient house, Tess was bleary-eyed and suffering a terrible headache when she rose.

That word—betrothed—kept running through her mind. Over and over again, she heard him making that announcement as he squeezed her hand to urge her cooperation. What could she have done but cooperate? To deny his claim would be to invite the utter destruction of her reputation. She’d be cast out—a fallen woman. The simple truth of the matter was, though it goaded her to admit it, she should be grateful to him. Very few men of his standing, a peer, would have done something so rash and heroic. Ruining a governess or companion for gentlemen was seen as a matter of course in most cases. It was both expected and accepted, to some degree.

After seeing to her morning ablutions, even while she brooded over her current situation, Tess left her room and made her way to the dowager’s chamber. Though it was well past the dawn, and the day outside was bright and clear, the hallway was still dim and dark. But it was much less frightening than it had been the night before. The scent of smoke still lingered though the bucket with its burned rags had been disposed of.

Entering the dowager’s room, she didn’t knock. If her ladyship was still sleeping after the upsetting events of the night before, the last thing she wished to do was wake her. As Tess eased into the room, she heard a masculine voice—a very familiar one. He was there.

“What did you do, Grandmother?” he demanded. There was anger in his tone, but no heat. Whatever she’d done to incur his wrath, he’d clearly had some time to come to grips with it.

“I don’t know what you mean, Maxim. Really. Stop being so cryptic,” she answered breezily.

“I saw Dawson’s hand,” he said. “A fire was set in the corridor last night, very near your chamber and, this morning, your maid has her hand bandaged because she supposedly injured herself while helping in the kitchen? I’m many things, but foolish is not one of them.”

“Dawson is a maid, Maxim. It’s quite possible—”

“She’s a lady’s maid,” he interrupted. “And servants are far greater snobs than any member of the nobility could ever hope to be. A woman who has reached the heights of being a lady’s maid does not do the work of a kitchen girl, no matter the circumstances. Why? Why did you do it?”

“Because you need a wife and if left to your own devices, you would never get one,” she replied.

Tess covered her mouth with her hand to keep in the squeak of surprise. She hadn’t believed it at first. Why in Heaven’s name would the dowager choose her to be his wife?

The old woman continued, “You spend too much time alone, Maxim. And I will not live forever. I am the last member of your family—the last. When I am gone, you will be entirely alone.

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