Read Online Sari Robins - [Andersen Hall Orphanage 05] by The Governess Wears Scarlet - Free Book Online Page B

dinner.”
    She stepped alongside him. “Ah, will you be joining us?”
    “Regrettably, no. Lord Benbrook and I have some matters to discuss.”
    “Of course.” Somehow she felt rejected. But that was ludicrous.
    At the foot of the stairs to his house, he stopped and turned to her, as if wanting to say something. His mouth opened and then closed.
    She stared up at him, realizing once more how elegantly handsome he was and how insane she’d been to have thought that he might want to bed her.
    The footman opened the door, spilling light down the steps like a golden path.
    Still Lord Steele hesitated, and she waited expectantly for his words.
    “I…well…I suppose you’ve never quite had a first day like this one.”
    “No.” Ruefully she shook her head. “Today certainly was unique. I’m sure that none of us will be quick to forget it, although I’d certainly like to try.”
    “Not me. I found it quite…refreshing.”
    Refreshing . An unexpected little thrill flashed inside her chest, but she dampened it, not understanding why it would matter.
    Together they walked inside.

Chapter 7
    F or the next week Abigail tried not to think about how intimately her and Lord Steele’s hands had fit together after their stroll in the park. She attempted not to recall the astonishing thrill that had rocketed up her arm and into her chest when they’d touched. She tried exceedingly hard not to analyze the exhilarating flash in her middle when their eyes had met. She did her best not to dwell on Steele’s stonily handsome features and how they softened when he’d laughed. But most importantly, she’d done everything in her power not to think about the mortifying fact that she’d boldly declared that she would not sleep with him.
    As if bedding him were even an option!
    But this afternoon as she sat idly watching the boys as they attempted to fly a kite across the grassy knoll of Coleridge Square Park, it was very hard not to think upon such things.
    Lord Steele had been quite nice about the whole bedding misunderstanding, actually. He hadn’t mentioned it once, since. He hadn’t said much of anything else, either. Abigail tried to pretend that she wasn’t disappointed.
    He’d been closeted in his study for much of those seven days, and she’d hardly had a glimpse of him. The man seemed to live for work, not the other way around. He certainly wasn’t like the other gentlemen she’d known. But then again, he’d climbed so high because of his work. Now that he’d achieved so much, shouldn’t he enjoy the fruits of his labor?
    Abigail sighed, chiding herself to count her lucky stars that she had an employer who knew how to leave her alone to do her job. Still, he should at least be spending some time with the lads. They needed to know him and love him—he was to be their closest family.
    A familiar longing speared her gut. She sighed. “Where are you, Reggie?” she whispered to her wayward brother.
    Was he involved with brigands? Deeply in debt? His letter had been so vague. Yet alarming in the extreme, begging her to come to London and bring any money she might have.
    “If you ask me to come to London, you could at least have told me where you were,” she muttered, frustration and anger soothing her fears. Her brother was so inconsiderate at times. He’d told her to ask around Charing Cross, covertly , no less, to find him.
    “Who does he think I am, a Bow Street Runner?”
    But the day was too lovely to focus on such a frustrating state of affairs, she told herself. Abigail pushed it all from her mind, trying to force herself to enjoy the beauty around her and not allow herself to be haunted by fears that could not be assuaged.
    Even though it was only spring, the afternoon air was thick with a heat that seemed to come down from the sun and swell up from the earth in a shimmer of humidity. Many of the governesses sitting on the benches lining the outskirts of the grasses fanned themselves with vigor. Abigail