Free The Governess Club: Bonnie by Ellie Macdonald Page B

family estate?”
    He cleared his throat. “It is a landless title.”
    “Oh. I didn’t realize.”
    He looked away, his mouth in an uncompromising line. Bonnie did not like the way this conversation was going. He had become remote, put a wall up between them, and she didn’t know why. Was he ashamed because he was landless? “It matters little if you do not have an estate.”
    Sir Stephen stood and strode around the table to stand at the fire. Bonnie watched him lean against the mantle, his coat stretching across his muscular back. She couldn’t help but stare. If his physical strength was so obvious when he was fully clothed, how much more powerful would he be when he disrobed?
    Heat flooded through her at the thought.
    “Just tell me what I am to do with Henry.”
    His voice triggered something unfamiliar in her. Unable to stop herself, Bonnie pushed herself up, the blanket falling to the floor, and moved to where he stood at the fire. Her hand hovered at his shoulder, aching to touch him, but she dropped it when he turned his head towards her.
    His brow lowered and he frowned. “You shouldn’t be standing.”
    “That is one of your faults, isn’t it?”
    “Excuse me?” He turned to face her completely.
    “You take on responsibility for others. You care for them.”
    “I do not.”
    Bonnie smiled. “Why do you deny it? There is nothing wrong with it.”
    “You called it a fault. That implies negativity.”
    “Only if you take on too much and neglect yourself.” She reached up and brushed a lock of hair off his forehead. “Who takes care of you?”
    Stephen stared at her. “One could say the same about you.”
    “I am a governess. It is my job to care for others.”
    He shook his head. “Not like this. Not staying when there’s no pay or seeing to traumatized children. Not being poisoned.”
    “That wasn’t your fault.”
    “Perhaps not, but I can make it better.”
    She smiled up at him. “How?”
    “By getting you back to bed.” Stephen easily lifted her again and made his way out of the study.
    She gasped when he lifted her. “But Henry—”
    “We can talk about Henry tomorrow, Miss Hodges. You need your rest.”
    “I can at least walk.” Not that she really wanted to. It was nice being tucked against his chest, her arm around his shoulders for support. She could experience his strength first hand instead of speculate what was under his coat. She resisted the urge to snuggle into his solid chest.
    “Take your own advice. Let me take care of you for the moment.”
    Well. When he put it like that, how could she refuse?

 

C HAPTER F OURTEEN
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    “I s there something I can help you with, sir? You seem perplexed.”
    Stephen glanced up at Renard. “No.” He turned his eyes back to the ledger. The numbers remained the same. The estate was bleeding money through bad investments, ineffective estate upgrades, and general mismanagement.
    It wasn’t too difficult for Stephen to recognize the mismanagement. It was well-hidden, but with his experience, Stephen knew what to look for; it had taken nearly three years after his father’s death to pay off creditors and bring the title back to solvency.
    How could George let things come to this? Had Roslyn known? For as long as he could remember, Stephen’s mother had known of his father’s monetary problems, but those had already been severe by the time he had become aware of them. It disgusted him to know that George was on the brink of doing to Roslyn and his sons the exact same thing Stephen’s father had done to him.
    How could he not have recognized this in his own friend? True, he hadn’t been to visit in more than four years; the responsibility left to him on his father’s death left little time and money to leave Scotland. Surely it hadn’t always been like this.
    A thought occurred to Stephen and it surprised him that he hadn’t thought of it before: He needed to see previous ledgers going back several years. That would give him