Free Bewitching Kisses (Bewitching Kisses Series) by RainyKirkland

tray and made his decision. “Miss Sarah . . .” He said her name gently “I have worked for Mr. Beaumont since before we came to this house, so you know my word is good. Trust me when I say that all is well with Mr. Beaumont’s grandmother.”
    Sarah shook her head and reached for the note, soothing it flat against the table. “But the letter says . . .”
    Wadsworth slowly picked up his tray. “Mr. Beaumont has received that note or one like it at least once a month for the past ten years.”
    Sarah flopped back down on her chair like a marionette with no strings. “Who would commit such a cruel act to say that a loved one was dying?” she shuttered. “Does his grandmother know of this horrible mischief?”
    For the briefest moment Wadsworth’s face sank into a sad smile. “Mrs. Beaumont is the culprit.”
    Sarah’s gasp echoed her disbelief. “Nick’s mother?”
    Wadsworth quickly shook his head. “Oh, no, miss, the master’s mother and father both passed on when he was just a little tyke.”
    “How horrible!”
    Wadsworth glanced toward the door that led to the hallway. “ ‘Twas no great loss, miss. The master’s parents had no time for him anyway. They were both killed in a carriage accident and that’s when the master went to live with Miss Agatha.”
    Sarah had no trouble picturing Nick a child, but when she tried to imagine her own childhood without the love and support of her father and stepmother, an aching void filled her chest. “Was she good to him?” she whispered, feeling the pain of Nick’s loss.
    The butler nodded enthusiastically. “The old lady loved him dearly. But Miss Agatha, well, she’s a tyrant of sorts and them being two cut from the same cloth, there was bound to be trouble. When the time came for the master to move out on his own, Miss Agatha, she wouldn’t hear of it. She tried holding the family business over his head to make him move back but, like I said, the master is just as stubborn. He took his half of Beaumont Shipping and has expanded it more than three times over.” Wadsworth looked at Sarah in wonder. “Do you know in all these years, I’ve never heard him complain that half of everything he makes goes directly to his grandmother. I think he’s pleased that he’s found a way to give her things without her realizing it.”
    “But the note . . . “ Sarah prompted.
    The smile faded completely from Wadsworth’s pale face. “Miss Agatha suffers greatly from old age and can no longer get about on her own. The first time she sent a note, why, the young master dropped everything and rushed right over. There he finds his grandmother, fit as a fiddle and sitting up in bed. She was lonesome, she said, and felt poorly. The master, he didn’t say anything until it happened again about a week later. Now he just doesn’t go at all.”
    “He never sees her at all?”
    Wadsworth picked up his tray and turned toward the door. “The master sees his grandmother several times a week. In fact, she was here just this morning.”
    Sarah rubbed her temples in confusion. “But if that is true, then why would she send such a note?”
    Wadsworth pushed open the door. “Control,” he said quietly. “Miss Agatha just can’t give up the control.
For several minutes, Sarah sat alone in the dining room trying to understand a woman who would go to such lengths. Her fingers smoothed over the delicate penmanship as she searched for her answers. You are making a mistake, Mrs. Agatha Beaumont , she whispered to the empty room. She remembered the story her father had once told her about a young shepherd boy tending his sheep. When the lad had grown lonely on his mountainside he had called wolf, and the townsfolk had rushed to his aid. But there had been no wolf and it hadn’t taken long before the villagers began to ignore the boy completely. Sarah shuddered, remembering the tragic ending to the tale.
    Quietly, she stood and smoothed her gown. On the morrow she would pay a visit