Free A Lesson in Forgiveness by Jennifer Connors Page A

to somewhere more private. The surge of sexual emotion hit him like a ton of bricks. Before it could completely drown out his better sense, he rose to his feet and called to one of the servants who had arrived during the commotion.
    “Henry, please run to the house immediately for some blankets.” Before the words had left his mouth, the young footman was running at full tilt back to the house. Meanwhile, the large woman kept screaming for Miss Jones.
    The large woman, a guest named Mrs. Mary Rodendale, seemed near apoplexy by the time a slight woman in her thirties approached. Mrs. Rodendale began to scream anew at the sight of the woman. Meanwhile, Miss Jones said nothing, receiving each scream as if it were a physical blow, wincing at each word. Both Ginny and Whitmore watched in horror as the abuse continued.
    Whitmore walked over to Mrs. Rodendale and asked, “May I be of assistance, Madam?”
    Gaining some composure for her host, Mrs. Rodendale turned and answered, “This woman is Gerard's governess. It is obvious that she allowed the children out of her sight, which led to this... this debacle.”
    Before Whitmore could say another word, Mrs. Rodendale began to ream the poor governess once again. When she finally stopped, she simply said, “I cannot deal with this right now. I believe my headache is coming back. Please excuse me, Lord Whitmore.” And with that, she began to walk back to the house, her daughter in her wake trying to hold her arm. Never once did she spare her son a glance to make sure he was alright.
    Ginny felt her face flush, not from the embarrassment of sitting on the ground in see through clothing like some drunken college girl at a wet t-shirt contest. No, she wasn't embarrassed, she was pissed. How dare that woman. It may very well be the governess's fault for poorly supervising this child, but she didn't even bother to see if the child was alright. Acting as if the ordeal was worse for her than it had been for him. Her behavior was so grotesque that Ginny thought she just might run after the woman and start pounding her head into the ground.
    The thought of her half naked going all WWE on some fat, obnoxious woman made Ginny smirk. Thankfully, it also calmed her down enough to know that Lord Whitmore would probably be displeased by such a display. Not that Ginny could fathom why she would care so much what Lord Whitmore thought of her.
    The footman returned with several blankets. Whitmore immediately placed a blanket around Ginny, then turned and picked up the boy into another blanket. After transferring him to the arms of the same footman who fetched the blanket, he turned once again to help Ginny off the ground. “Henry, take the boy to the nursery. Have Pearce fetch the doctor to attend him.”
    “Yes, my lord.” The footman, who didn't even break a sweat to get the blankets, was now effortlessly carrying the sixty pound child up the hill to the house. Ginny was duly impressed.
    Walking with Lord Whitmore towards the governess, who was still standing in the same spot, Ginny felt sorry for the poor woman. There were still a number of guests milling around, including many of the bachelors she was there to impress. Judging by her appearance, she doubted she was doing a good job. Of course, seeing her practically naked may have helped her cause a great deal.
    “Miss Jones, is it?” Whitmore asked, sounding impatient.
    “Yes, my lord.” The woman was defeated, probably from years of verbal abuse at the hands of Mrs. Rodendale.
    “Please tell me what happened.” Whitmore's stare could be intense, so he glanced at the ground, looking as if he were fascinated with his boots.
    “The children tricked me. They asked me to fetch something from the closet and then locked me inside. I yelled until one of the maids let me out. By that time I went to look for them, I heard the screaming and came down here.” The governess was crying, but still holding it together enough to explain. “I never