Read Online Simply Love by Mary Balogh - Free Book Online Page B

treated as a
guest
.”
    From his short silence, she realized that she had just told him volumes about herself. And perhaps now it was
his
turn to run from her or to show some unmistakable sign of revulsion.
    â€œI teach and live at a girls’ school in Bath,” she said. “I like it extremely well, and David has always been happy there. But he is getting older. I suppose I ought to have let him come with Joshua—David worships him.”
    â€œChildren do need other children,” he said. “They also need a father figure, especially perhaps if they are boys. But most of all, Miss Jewell, they need a mother. I daresay you did the right thing in coming here with him.”
    â€œOh.” She drew unexpected comfort from his words. “That is very obliging of you.”
    â€œI hope,” he said, “Bewcastle has not intimidated you. But if he has, you may be consoled to know that he intimidates almost everyone. He was removed abruptly from a wild childhood when his father knew he was dying, and he was carefully, even ruthlessly trained to take over all the vast responsibilities of the dukedom, which he inherited when he was only seventeen or eighteen. He learned his lessons consummately well—too well, some would say. But he is not unfeeling. He has been remarkably good to me.”
    â€œI met him for the first time this evening,” Anne told him. “He was very gracious, though I must confess I was ready to sink through the floor with fear.”
    They both laughed again.
    â€œThe duchess is exceedingly amiable,” she said.
    â€œAccording to Lauren, my sister-in-law,” he told her, “it was a love match. It was the sensation of last year. No one would have predicted that Bewcastle would marry for love. But perhaps he did.”
    The tea tray was being brought in, and two of the card games were coming to an end.
    â€œI must be going home,” Mr. Butler said. “I am pleased to have made your acquaintance, Miss Jewell.”
    She set both hands on the arms of her chair and got to her feet. She noticed that he got up a little more slowly from his low chair, and it occurred to her that being without one arm and one eye must shift the natural balance of the body that she took so very much for granted. How long had it taken him to adjust to the change? Had he ever adjusted completely?
    â€œI shall go and convey my thanks to the duchess,” he said, holding out his hand to her. “Good night.”
    â€œGood night, Mr. Butler.”
    She held out her own hand and he shook it before releasing it and turning away.
    Anne was left biting her lip. She should, of course, have given him her
left
hand as she remembered the duchess had done earlier. Their handshake had been horribly awkward—as if they had been holding hands and swinging them. It had felt almost intimate. Embarrassingly so.
    He was bowing to the Duchess of Bewcastle, who smiled warmly at him and set one hand on his arm while she leaned a little toward him to say something. Lord Rannulf came up behind him and slapped a hand on his right shoulder. The two men left the room together.
    Where did he live? Anne wondered.
    Would she see him again?
    But it would not matter too much if she did. She had got past the awkwardness of what had happened last night. She was vastly relieved about that. It would be easier to meet him next time.
    But how tragic for him to have lost a limb and an eye and to have had his looks so marred.
    Was he lonely? she wondered.
    Did he have friends?
    Outcasts were frequently both lonely and friendless. Her mind touched upon her years in the Cornish village of Lydmere, living on the very fringes of local society.
    She had never ceased to give thanks for the fact that she finally had found friends at the school in Bath and that three of those friends—Claudia herself, Susanna, and Frances—had come to be as close as sisters to her. It was so much more than she had