Free The Unexpected Bride (Montana Born Brides) by Joanne Walsh

sure.”
    Laurent leaned in over the table. His voice was low and rich. “I don’t want to push you, but I’d kind of like to hear the end of the story about what happened to you in England. That stuff with your last employer. It sounded rough.”
    Emma swallowed and grimaced. “It was. I was with the family for nearly four years.” She took a deep breath. She’d already revealed the worst of it to him, so she might as well tell him the rest. “The Fortescues have four children, and I started looking after them immediately after the third was born. Lady Sarah is a lovely woman and, Sir Giles—her husband—he’s…well, at first, I thought he was just a bit pompous and pleased with himself. He loves his children, so that’s what I focused on.” She paused and took a mouthful of her beer, aware that Laurent’s golden-brown eyes were fixed intently upon her.
    “I’d been working for them quite happily when Lady Sarah became pregnant with their fourth baby last year. The birth was difficult—she had a placental tear—she lost a lot of blood and it took her some months to fully recover…Laurent, are you all right?”
    Laurent had leaned back sharply and was rubbing his hand over his face. Then he folded his arms over his chest. “I’m all right. Go on.”
    But Emma could see that something had changed his demeanor. “No, you’re not. What is it? Have I said something to annoy or upset you? Please tell me what it is.”
    He sighed heavily, then reached out a hand for his beer bottle and pushed it reflectively around the table for a while. “My wife’s stroke resulted from complications caused by a placental tear.”
    Emma felt stricken. “Oh, Laurent, I’m so sorry. I had no idea—“
    “It’s okay. It’s fine. Go on.”
    She could see he was dealing with some deep, personal emotion, but she carried on as he’d requested.
    “Anyway, I think the marriage ran into difficulties, if you know what I mean.” She paused and looked at Laurent. He seemed composed now, and gave her a knowing look which told her that he understood what she meant. “Sir Giles decided to turn his…um…attention to me and started…um…trying to force himself on to me. I told him I wasn’t interested, but he didn’t take any notice. He just kept on harassing me.”
    “Did he threaten you?” Laurent looked directly at her.
    “Yes.” Emma laid her hands flat on the top of the table and looked at them. “He warned me against doing anything that would let his wife know, and threatened to sack me and give me a bad reference if I told anybody else. I didn’t want Lady Sarah to be troubled by it, as she’d been so weak after her daughter’s birth and unable to care for her. She’d been through enough. I thought he’d get tired of it, tired of me, and eventually leave me alone.”
    “And did he?”
    “Yes.”
    “But you didn’t stay?”
    “No.” Emma flexed her fingers, as if exorcizing herself of her bad memories. “It got complicated. I…I was engaged to the Fortescues’ chauffeur, Tom. Of course I confided in Tom about what was happening with Sir Giles and, at first, he seemed sympathetic and supportive. But then he got jealous and accused me of flirting with Sir Giles, of leading him on.” She stopped, as she recalled Tom’s increasing suspicion and anger. “By then, we’d moved in together, into a little cottage in the village below Fortescue Hall. Tom became convinced that I was flirting with just about every man we met. Which I wasn’t.” She shuddered. “He watched me like a hawk, tried to stop me going out. I couldn’t even shop at the supermarket without him questioning me, and if I was away more than half an hour, he’d go crazy. Then, just before Christmas, we were invited to a party at the village pub. I wore a new dress that I’d bought. It was pretty: quite short, sleeveless and it had a scoop neck. But Tom thought it showed too much skin and demanded I take it off and wear something else.