Free Tuesday's Child (Heroines Born on Each Day of the Week Book 3) by Rosemary Morris Page B

her fairy like quality. Such a dainty, perfectly proportioned lady, the mere sight of whom aroused his chivalric impulses, should be cherished and protected, not schemed against by an unscrupulous father-in-law.
    Lady Castleton indicated a chair, while asking Jarvis to fetch wine.
    Dominic waited for her to sit on a chair near the window before he sat opposite her.
    Her glance strayed to the lawns. “Arthur is well, thank you, sir. In fact, my son is in the best of health. At the moment, he is riding with his grandfather. Please forgive me for staring out of the window. I looked out to see if I could catch sight of them. I don’t want Papa to force Arthur to ride towards the lake.”
    After the footmen served wine and withdrew, Lady Castleton continued. “Arthur is mettlesome, although Papa believes he is a coward because he is now frightened of the lake. He thinks Arthur should overcome his fear through force.” She looked towards the pair of footmen, who stood on either side of the double doors. “You may go, and so may you, Jarvis.”
    After they left, her eyes troubled, Lady Castleton regarded him. “I hope they will not repeat my words. Servants are such notorious gossips. If Papa –” she broke off.
    “They are shocking tittle-tattlers.” he agreed. Dominic wanted to comfort her with a brotherly hug. He almost laughed at himself, for he did not feel in the least like Lady Castleton’s brother. “Perhaps you should take Lord Arthur to Worthing or Brighton. Sea-bathing might remove his understandable fear of water. Before I was breeched, I rode my older brother’s horse without permission. It reared. I fell off. Afterward I was too frightened to go to the stables. Papa bought the smallest pony with the sweetest temper you can imagine. Before long I was feeding him carrots or apples. Later, when Papa encouraged me not to be afraid to ride him. After a few minutes in the saddle, my nervousness disappeared.”
    Her ladyship’s dimples appeared when she smiled at him. “It seems both of us were fortunate to have admirable fathers.” The dimples disappeared. “I doubt the earl would allow me to take Arthur to the coast and, unfortunately, I cannot have a small pond excavated for Arthur to overcome his fear.” She dabbed her eyes with a delicate handkerchief edged with lace.
    All his senses alert to a lady in obvious distress, Dominic leant forward. “Lady Castleton, you are overset. I am a minister of the church, so please feel free to tell me what troubles you.” He smiled to reassure her. “You may be certain I will never betray a confidence.”
    Wordless, she crushed her handkerchief in her hand. “You are kind, but I am not completely ‘overset’. Tears often fill my eyes when I remember my father.”
    “Tell me about yourself,” he invited her. “I know little other about you other than that you followed the drum.”
    “Yes, though I was born in Brighton, I cannot remember a time when I did not.” For a fleeting moment, her entrancing dimples appeared again. “Mamma could not bear to be parted from my father. She followed him to Portugal when I was nearly two years old. Perhaps it was an unwise decision. Her health was never equalled her determined spirit. In England, maybe she would have lived longer.”
    Dominic reached out his arm to express his sympathy by clasping her hand, thought better of it and withdrew his arm. He did not want her ladyship to consider him impertinent. “I am so sorry for your losses. I can imagine your grief when your husband died. Sometimes, it is almost impossible to accept God’s will.”
    She regarded him with a heart-breaking expression in her speedwell blue eyes. “Yes, it is, and when my dear papa-” She broke off and blew her nose. “Forgive me, I don’t care to recall the time in my life when Arthur and I were almost destitute, because the bank my husband invested his money in crashed before I could claim it.” She sighed. “Unfortunately, although I