Read Online A Countess by Christmas by Annie Burrows - Free Book Online Page B

conventional, and had meekly married to please her family, Helen shuddered to think where she would be. From that moment on she had never questioned the older woman’s decision to remain single again. And as she had grown she had found that she too was rather strong-willed, and would likely find it just as difficult as Aunt Bella to have to defer to a man, whether he was right or wrong, simply because convention decreed it.
    ‘Aunt Bella said she saw no reason to hand her fortune over into the hands of some man who would fritter it away.’
    Instead she had managed to lose it all on her own. Helen blinked and hung her head. Her poor aunt’shumiliation was complete. After a lifetime of striving for independence, she was reduced to begging a man—this man, the head of her extended family—for her daily bread.
    ‘Did she formally adopt you?’ Lord Bridgemere asked sharply.
    Helen nodded.
    ‘Which is why you go by the name of Forrest now. Although you were born Helen de Bois de St Pierre?’
    ‘Helène, to be precise,’ she informed him. ‘But, since there is so much prejudice against the French on account of the war, my aunt thought it better to Anglicise me as much as possible.’
    He nodded, as though accepting the wisdom of that, and then said casually, ‘Did she by any chance make you her sole heir as well?’
    She nodded again.
    Well, that explained the General’s antipathy to this young woman. He would still have had hope, whilst his sister remained unmarried, that some part of her fortune might revert to him upon her demise. Until she had adopted Helen and made her the sole beneficiary of her will.
    It always came down to money in the end.
    A cynical expression swept over his face as he clasped his hands together on the desktop, leaned forward and said, ‘Speaking of which, perhaps now you would be good enough to get to the real reason why you requested this private interview with me?’
    Helen frowned. ‘I do not understand.’
    He made a gesture of impatience. ‘Do not take me for a fool, Miss Forrest. You all come here each Christmasfor one reason and one reason only.’ He got to his feet and strode to the window.
    ‘I came with my aunt because I felt she needed my support. That is all.’
    ‘You expect me to believe you want nothing from me?’ he sneered, whirling round.
    ‘Nothing at all. Except…’
    ‘Yes, now we come down to it,’ he said, his face a tight mask of fury. ‘Think very carefully before you make your petition known to me. Because once you leave this room you will not get another chance to speak to me in private! I grant each of you one interview and only one.’
    It was imperative he put her back with the rest of them. He should never have singled her out for special treatment simply because she had not known who he was when she first came here, and had made the mistake of letting him see her true self.
    ‘My decision,’ he warned her, ‘whatever it may be, is irrevocable! Do not think you will be able to sway me from it!’
    Helen got slowly to her feet. ‘I do not know what suspicions you harbour where I am concerned, but I repeat: the only reason I came to you today was to clear the air between us and beg you to put any animosity you may feel for me to one side when you consider Aunt Bella’s future. Neither of her brothers is likely to show her any mercy after the stand she took against them in her youth. She has nobody but you to depend on now. And if you will not take pity on her—’
    ‘Do you not want me to take pity on you, too? Is your need not as desperate as hers?’
    ‘No,’ she replied calmly. ‘My case is not at all desperate. I am young and strong and quite capable of looking after myself.’
    ‘You expect me to believe you want nothing from me?’
    His implication that she was not only dishonest but also incapable of looking after herself was really beginning to grate. ‘Nor any man!’ she flashed. No wonder Aunt Bella had taken the almost unheard