Free Breaking the Governess’s Rules by Michelle Styles Page A

creased piece of paper. The ink was blotched in a few places as if she had cried over it. His heart twisted and he knew the image of her crying would haunt his dreams.
    He took the stained piece of paper in silence and rapidly perused it. Four months on from his accident, he had been recovering at the Newtons’, practising his first steps with Clarissa hovering at his elbow. His stepmother had paid for Louisa’s passage out to Italy and had asked Louisa to contact her when she arrived. She had also informed her to be careful as fallen women never fully recovered. At the end Venetia had wished her a happy twenty-first birthday. Spiteful and cruel words.
    He folded the letter and put it in his pocket, refusing to think how they had planned to spend that birthday compared to how she must have actually spent it. ‘I believe you, Louisa, but this changes nothing between us.’
    Unshed tears shimmered in her eyes. ‘Do you know what it is like, Jonathon, to be made to feel like you are a piece of dirt on the bottom of a shoe? To have everyone see the shame on your cheek?’
    ‘You exaggerate.’ He touched her soft cheek, but she turned her face away.
    ‘It is in my past.’ Louisa’s knuckles shone white against the blackness of her reticule. ‘I have another future, far different from the one your stepmother had planned for me. Nightly I go on my knees and thank God for Miss Mattie and her offer when I was at my lowest ebb. Trust me, Jonathon, the girl I once was has long since vanished.’
    A cold fury filled Jonathon. He had promised to protect Louisa and she had not even believed in him enough to demand to hear the words from his lips. She had believed Venetia. His late uncle had been right when he’d said that there could be no love without trust. Louisa had not trusted him. She had not loved him. It changed nothing, but it still hurt. ‘Why did you believe my stepmother rather than my promises to you?’
    Louisa’s face became mutinous as her tawny eyes darkened to rich amber. ‘You accepted her story without questioning.’
    Jonathon winced as the barb hit home. He had accepted the story of Louisa’s death, because who would be wicked enough to lie about such a thing? He had made his feelings about Louisa quite clear. He had wept for days after he had been told, wept in a way that he had never done before or since. Venetia had made noises, but she had known the depth of his feeling for Louisa.
    ‘I will be interested to hear the explanation.’ Jonathon inclined his head.
    ‘Our business is satisfactorily concluded.’ Louisa began to close the various drawers. ‘That particular episode may now be once again consigned to the past andyouthful folly. We may both continue with our lives.’ She gave a perfunctory nod. ‘Good day to you, Lord Chesterholm. May your future be a pleasant one. For me, Sorrento beckons.’
    Anger surged through Jonathon. If she thought she would be rid of him this easily, Louisa had another think coming. He would confront his stepmother. Venetia would never be able to play that sort of trick again, but that had nothing to do with his relationship with Louisa.
    Love might have fled, but passion and desire remained. They were not finished until he said so. He hated to think of another man looking at Louisa, let alone touching her. Somewhere beneath that bravado and polished veneer lurked his Louisa, the woman he had dreamt about spending the rest of his life with, the one whom he had sworn to protect. She would go to Chesterholm and she would confess her untruths.
    ‘You remain intent on marrying your baronet.’ Jonathon’s muscles tensed.
    ‘As much as I ever was.’ Louisa’s laugh rang out, high and shrill. ‘My future is none of your concern, Lord Chesterholm. Our connection is over, severed. You have no claim.’
    ‘I looked his name up in Debrett’s. It was most enlightening.’
    ‘You obviously have more time than I do.’ Her smile wavered slightly. ‘Did you find it