Free The Secret Desires of a Governess by Tiffany Clare

enough to make his feet move forward instead of retreat to the house.
    Then when he’d made her fall from the ladder and had put his arms around her . . . he couldn’t keep himself from touching her, if only to reassure himself that she’d caused no lasting damage.
    For more years than he cared to remember, he’d awoken early in the morning, broken his fast alone in his study, headed out to some part of the castle that needed to be repaired, and had spent his days out of doors, rain or shine. The evening didn’t fare much better. He dined alone in his study as he went over grain counts and the investments he’d made in the early days of his marriage.
    Without that money, the castle would still lie in ruins around him. His father had squandered the Wright fortune on bad investments.
    But with Miss Hallaway . . .his whole routine had changed. She was a welcome distraction from the monotony of his daily life. He watched for her first thing in the morning. She liked to walk the grounds before taking a quick breakfast in the kitchen. By lunch, he had done at least one round of the castle in search of her, hoping to catch a glimpse. At night, dining alone in his study held little appeal. He craved more.
    The idea that she might feel the same desire he did was far- fetched. Once she better knew him, and understood that his son was not by any means a normal child where his learning was concerned, she’d grow to despise him as all others eventually had— even his dead wife.
    The smartest thing he could do, for her, would be to cut her loose. Let her find a more fitting path. She was young and had a long road ahead of her in life. Yet that voice of indecency whispered temptingly: A small hiccup in her path now would not hurt her future employment.
    And he did not want to let her go. If she left, his life would follow the same boring path it had for years. Selfishness was what this was. Utter foolishness. Four days with her living here and he couldn’t fathom letting her go.
    With a sigh filled with too much longing for his liking, he ran his knuckle down her neck and stopped at the froth of silk tucked into her bosom. Tempted wasn’t a strong enough word for the emotion roaring through him right now. Beguiled or bewitched seemed about right.
    Fair would be showing her only the side everyone else saw and assumed about him. Fair was not taking advantage of a woman who had to be at least a decade his junior and under his employ. Fair was scaring her off, because the things he was feeling for her would do neither of them any good in the long run. No, not when the last two women he’d loved had killed themselves for being shackled to a Wright.
    He had no desire to drive one woman mad after another as his father had done. Madeline had been a decent woman when he’d married her. Then she’d grown paranoid, claim-ing ill will toward her right up to the time she’d had Jacob.
    That was when the madness had completely consumed her mind. She’d not been a fit wife. Nor a fit mother when she’d tried to claim Jacob’s life with her own. His son would never be put in a life- threatening position again.
    “Are you playing games with me, Miss Hallaway?”
    “What do you mean?”
    “I don’t know what arrangement you had with your previous employer, but I can well imagine how you spent your time.”
    Because there wasn’t a man sane enough to not notice the finer wares of Miss Hallaway. Elliott could envision exactly how he wanted to spend time with her.
    Her mouth dropped open in shock and he groaned to himself. He hadn’t meant to accuse her of any such indecency.
    “How dare you! I have done nothing except come into the stable to find your son.”
    An idea struck him then. If he angered her, made such a bold accusation against her character . . . she’d go out of her way to avoid him, stop his advances, and disallow him from touching her. Prove to him that he harbored hopeless fantasies. Though he doubted he’d stop