Read Online Saving Grace by Michele Paige Holmes - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Michele Paige Holmes
Ads: Link
of the room. She’d scarcely lain back when her eyes closed and sleep claimed her. This time she did not dream.
Nicholas kept his head bent to the papers in front of him for a good minute after noticing both Mrs. James and Mr. Kingsley hovering in the study doorway. He had not summoned either, so the two of them coming to see him did not bode well.
Are they both here to give their notices? Each would be justified in doing so. Perhaps they’d come together as moral support while facing the ogre. It was a term he’d chanced to overhear some months ago, from one of the few maids still in his employ. After the incident, one less maid worked at Sutherland Hall.
Still, he didn’t like that the staff considered him a tyrant. He hadn’t always been one — a dour, gruff-around-the edges sort of employer — but it seemed that was the only way he knew how to be anymore. Nicholas used to tell himself that as soon as he’d finished with Preston, he would be better.
Life would be better. But lately, he wasn’t sure it ever would.
He set his work aside, looking up at the pair waiting patiently in the doorway. No doubt he’d tried their patience with the way he’d railed at them two nights past, when he’d discovered that woman in his bed. He’d hardly spoken to anyone since. She and her servants had been gone before he’d risen the next day, and now he wished only to put the incident behind him.
He shouldn’t have been so hard on Kingsley. Nicholas’s conscience pricked, telling him he would never have found the woman in his bed had he employed enough servants to keep up the house — a spare room or two, at least.
“Yes?” he said to his two most trusted servants, inwardly cringing at his brusque tone.
“We have some news that may be of interest to you,” Kingsley said. His expression was guarded, as usual, but Nicholas sensed something beneath the blank mask, some worry or concern.
“Has it to do with Preston?” Nicholas asked. Almost anything else didn’t interest or concern him these days — even things that ought to.
“Yes,” Kingsley said.
“And Miss Thatcher as well,” Mrs. James added.
“Who?”
Kingsley and Mrs. James exchanged wary looks. Nicholas propped his elbows on the desk and leaned forward, indeed interested in what his servants had to say.
Had his former brother-in-law become involved with another woman? Nicholas had long suspected it would happen one of these days; Preston was the sort of man possessed with a charming air women seemed to adore.
Elizabeth certainly did. She’d been gone from this earth a scant three years, and it seemed like both yesterday and forever since Nicholas had last seen his sister. Those years had passed slowly. Not a day went by that he didn’t miss her. He’d felt the same way — the whole house had — when she’d married Samuel Preston and moved to his neighboring estate. Life at Sutherland Hall had changed then, no longer graced with Elizabeth’s presence and the touch of joy she’d brought to everyone and everything around her.
All hope of that joy ever returning had been lost just a year and a half later with her passing, but the echo of her laughter still rang in the halls. Nicholas imagined that he could still hear her playing the pianoforte in the music room. Her garden of roses, though neglected, still carried the sweet, heady scent he would always associate with her.
He hadn’t forgotten, or recovered from, the loss. The thought that her husband might be moving on with life only fueled the hatred burning bright in Nicholas’s soul. “Who is Miss Thatcher?” he repeated.
Kingsley cleared his throat and tugged at his collar. “The woman who stayed here two nights ago.”
That pale, wild-haired thing? Nicholas could not imagine Preston, or any other man, being attracted to her.“What has she to do with Preston?”
“She was headed there the night her carriage broke down,” Mrs. James said. “And she is there now. Mr. Preston
Nicholas kept his head bent to the papers in front of him for a good minute after noticing both Mrs. James and Mr. Kingsley hovering in the study doorway. He had not summoned either, so the two of them coming to see him did not bode well.
Are they both here to give their notices? Each would be justified in doing so. Perhaps they’d come together as moral support while facing the ogre. It was a term he’d chanced to overhear some months ago, from one of the few maids still in his employ. After the incident, one less maid worked at Sutherland Hall.
Still, he didn’t like that the staff considered him a tyrant. He hadn’t always been one — a dour, gruff-around-the edges sort of employer — but it seemed that was the only way he knew how to be anymore. Nicholas used to tell himself that as soon as he’d finished with Preston, he would be better.
Life would be better. But lately, he wasn’t sure it ever would.
He set his work aside, looking up at the pair waiting patiently in the doorway. No doubt he’d tried their patience with the way he’d railed at them two nights past, when he’d discovered that woman in his bed. He’d hardly spoken to anyone since. She and her servants had been gone before he’d risen the next day, and now he wished only to put the incident behind him.
He shouldn’t have been so hard on Kingsley. Nicholas’s conscience pricked, telling him he would never have found the woman in his bed had he employed enough servants to keep up the house — a spare room or two, at least.
“Yes?” he said to his two most trusted servants, inwardly cringing at his brusque tone.
“We have some news that may be of interest to you,” Kingsley said. His expression was guarded, as usual, but Nicholas sensed something beneath the blank mask, some worry or concern.
“Has it to do with Preston?” Nicholas asked. Almost anything else didn’t interest or concern him these days — even things that ought to.
“Yes,” Kingsley said.
“And Miss Thatcher as well,” Mrs. James added.
“Who?”
Kingsley and Mrs. James exchanged wary looks. Nicholas propped his elbows on the desk and leaned forward, indeed interested in what his servants had to say.
Had his former brother-in-law become involved with another woman? Nicholas had long suspected it would happen one of these days; Preston was the sort of man possessed with a charming air women seemed to adore.
Elizabeth certainly did. She’d been gone from this earth a scant three years, and it seemed like both yesterday and forever since Nicholas had last seen his sister. Those years had passed slowly. Not a day went by that he didn’t miss her. He’d felt the same way — the whole house had — when she’d married Samuel Preston and moved to his neighboring estate. Life at Sutherland Hall had changed then, no longer graced with Elizabeth’s presence and the touch of joy she’d brought to everyone and everything around her.
All hope of that joy ever returning had been lost just a year and a half later with her passing, but the echo of her laughter still rang in the halls. Nicholas imagined that he could still hear her playing the pianoforte in the music room. Her garden of roses, though neglected, still carried the sweet, heady scent he would always associate with her.
He hadn’t forgotten, or recovered from, the loss. The thought that her husband might be moving on with life only fueled the hatred burning bright in Nicholas’s soul. “Who is Miss Thatcher?” he repeated.
Kingsley cleared his throat and tugged at his collar. “The woman who stayed here two nights ago.”
That pale, wild-haired thing? Nicholas could not imagine Preston, or any other man, being attracted to her.“What has she to do with Preston?”
“She was headed there the night her carriage broke down,” Mrs. James said. “And she is there now. Mr. Preston
Similar Books
