Read Online Saving Grace by Michele Paige Holmes - Free Book Online
Authors: Michele Paige Holmes
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fodder for gossip than actual evidence of the deed?”
Miranda began folding the garment, a distinct frown of disapproval written on her creased lips.
Grace spoke for her, waving her hand in the air as she did. “I know. You still say I haven’t the slightest notion of what I am getting myself into.”
Miranda gave a tight-lipped nod as she packed the nightgown with Grace’s other things.
“Harrison thought my plan brilliant,” Grace said.
“Harrison keeps company in the barn,” was Miranda’s retort. “’Course he’d think well of your idea.”
“I imagine the animals might be better company than some I’ve been forced to suffer lately.” Grace recalled Lord Crosby’s demeaning comments as she looked out at the garden again. Her eyes strained to follow what she guessed used to be a garden path. Now it was little more than a narrow space winding between thorny bushes and overgrown trees. What had happened to cause Lord Sutherland to let his staff go? And why did he spend so much time away?
She thought of him as he’d been last night — at first savagely demanding to know who she was, then promptly forgetting her name minutes later. He’d been angry, but he’d not tossed her out or even insisted upon knowing why she’d been on a lonely country road in the middle of the night and a storm with just a driver and her maid.
He did not press me at all , Grace realized. And felt immense gratitude for that, and for the role Lord Sutherland was about to play — unknowingly — in her effort to gain her freedom.
I must only endure two days at Mr. Preston’s. She reasoned that two days was not so very long. “What do you suppose Mr. Preston will be like?” she asked Miranda, not really expecting an answer.
“Before or after he learns that the woman he’d hoped to court recently spent time in another man’s bed?” Miranda had finished packing and stood near the door with Grace’s belongings.
“Both.” Grace spoke with more courage than she felt. She held her head high and stood a little straighter as she walked past her maid and into the hall. “Let us go then, and see for ourselves.”
Grace peered out the carriage at the towering mansion drawing ever closer. The horses turned onto the long, curved drive lined with stately poplars. A hedge of brilliant yellow rosebushes grew along the drive, and beyond these, a lush, green lawn spread endlessly, dotted by an occasional outbuilding and numerous oaks ablaze with fall color.
“Goodness,” she said. “Father has outdone himself this time.”
As they approached the house, numerous servants exited the front doors to greet them.
All beauty and order here. It was the very antithesis of Lord Sutherland’s estate just a short distance away.
“Had we only known we were so close, we could have ridden a little farther last night,” Grace said.
“You were in no condition to ride.” Miranda sat stiffly in the seat across from Grace, hands folded primly on her lap, and she stared straight ahead at the carriage wall instead of at the scenery.
“True,” Grace agreed. “And we shouldn’t have had our means of escape so clearly in front of us,” she added, again trying to shore up her courage for the damage that was soon to be done to her reputation.
They rolled to a stop, and Grace leaned back into her seat, not wanting to appear over-eager to greet her next would-be suitor. “I cannot imagine how Papa came to know Mr. Preston. And more, how he was able to solicit an invitation for me.”
“He didn’t.” Miranda took up the bag on the seat beside her.
“What?” Grace asked. Outside a footman approached, and the carriage rocked slightly as Harrison climbed down. “Is Mr. Preston not expecting me?” It was one thing to purposely set herself up as fodder for the gossips, but it remained quite another to show up uninvited.
“Oh, he’s expecting you, all right.” Miranda looked away, but not before Grace caught an abashed
Miranda began folding the garment, a distinct frown of disapproval written on her creased lips.
Grace spoke for her, waving her hand in the air as she did. “I know. You still say I haven’t the slightest notion of what I am getting myself into.”
Miranda gave a tight-lipped nod as she packed the nightgown with Grace’s other things.
“Harrison thought my plan brilliant,” Grace said.
“Harrison keeps company in the barn,” was Miranda’s retort. “’Course he’d think well of your idea.”
“I imagine the animals might be better company than some I’ve been forced to suffer lately.” Grace recalled Lord Crosby’s demeaning comments as she looked out at the garden again. Her eyes strained to follow what she guessed used to be a garden path. Now it was little more than a narrow space winding between thorny bushes and overgrown trees. What had happened to cause Lord Sutherland to let his staff go? And why did he spend so much time away?
She thought of him as he’d been last night — at first savagely demanding to know who she was, then promptly forgetting her name minutes later. He’d been angry, but he’d not tossed her out or even insisted upon knowing why she’d been on a lonely country road in the middle of the night and a storm with just a driver and her maid.
He did not press me at all , Grace realized. And felt immense gratitude for that, and for the role Lord Sutherland was about to play — unknowingly — in her effort to gain her freedom.
I must only endure two days at Mr. Preston’s. She reasoned that two days was not so very long. “What do you suppose Mr. Preston will be like?” she asked Miranda, not really expecting an answer.
“Before or after he learns that the woman he’d hoped to court recently spent time in another man’s bed?” Miranda had finished packing and stood near the door with Grace’s belongings.
“Both.” Grace spoke with more courage than she felt. She held her head high and stood a little straighter as she walked past her maid and into the hall. “Let us go then, and see for ourselves.”
Grace peered out the carriage at the towering mansion drawing ever closer. The horses turned onto the long, curved drive lined with stately poplars. A hedge of brilliant yellow rosebushes grew along the drive, and beyond these, a lush, green lawn spread endlessly, dotted by an occasional outbuilding and numerous oaks ablaze with fall color.
“Goodness,” she said. “Father has outdone himself this time.”
As they approached the house, numerous servants exited the front doors to greet them.
All beauty and order here. It was the very antithesis of Lord Sutherland’s estate just a short distance away.
“Had we only known we were so close, we could have ridden a little farther last night,” Grace said.
“You were in no condition to ride.” Miranda sat stiffly in the seat across from Grace, hands folded primly on her lap, and she stared straight ahead at the carriage wall instead of at the scenery.
“True,” Grace agreed. “And we shouldn’t have had our means of escape so clearly in front of us,” she added, again trying to shore up her courage for the damage that was soon to be done to her reputation.
They rolled to a stop, and Grace leaned back into her seat, not wanting to appear over-eager to greet her next would-be suitor. “I cannot imagine how Papa came to know Mr. Preston. And more, how he was able to solicit an invitation for me.”
“He didn’t.” Miranda took up the bag on the seat beside her.
“What?” Grace asked. Outside a footman approached, and the carriage rocked slightly as Harrison climbed down. “Is Mr. Preston not expecting me?” It was one thing to purposely set herself up as fodder for the gossips, but it remained quite another to show up uninvited.
“Oh, he’s expecting you, all right.” Miranda looked away, but not before Grace caught an abashed
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