Prelude to Heaven Read Online Free PDF

walking and sat down, resting his forearms on his bent knees. He stared at the sea, thinking of her. He thought of the way her hands rested protectively on her roundness, the way her eyes looked to him for understanding and help. She needed him.
    He didn't want to be needed. Frustrated, he picked up a pebble and threw it into the sea. He didn't want the responsibility. He didn't want painful reminders of the past.
    It might be best if he sent her to the village and found someone to take her in. Some peasant family who had eight children and needed the money. Why should he be the one responsible for her? And besides, a peasant woman with a brood of children would know how to care for her until her baby was born.
    He lowered his head to rest in his hands. He certainly didn't know how to do that. He thought of Anne-Marie, of her pain and her death. His fault.
    He couldn't take care of this woman. She’d made the choice to run away from her home and her family. She was not his problem.
    I have nowhere else to go .
    Alexandre wondered what would happen to her after she left here, and that speculation made him uneasy. Abruptly, he rose to his feet and started for the road. He was supposed to be on his way to the village for food and painting supplies, not starting out to the sea and contemplating the fate of a woman he didn’t even know. She could solve her own problems. He wasn't her father or her brother or her lover. He wasn't responsible for her. But even as he reminded himself of that fact, he could not shut out her voice. It continued to echo through his mind all the way into the village.
     
    ***
     
    Tess wandered into another unused room of the castle. This was the dining room. As in all the other rooms, the furnishings were covered with dust, and cobwebs hung in the corners. She ran her finger over the heavy walnut dining table and idly stared at the grime on her finger, wondering how such a beautiful home could be allowed to fall into disrepair. Built during the Middle Ages, it had been modified over the centuries and many amenities had been added. The furnishings spoke of wealth and excellent taste. The gardens and grounds had once been lovely. So why was everything in this shameful condition?
    Perhaps Monsieur Dumond's family had lost their money during the upheaval of the Revolution. Perhaps painting didn't earn him much blunt, and he could not afford to maintain his home. That would explain many things, but nothing could explain the beautiful dress she wore that was only a few years out of fashion.
    She tried to keep her mind on Monsieur Dumond to that she would not dwell on her own future, but soon her mind turned inevitably to her own problems. Dumond had told her she couldn't stay here, but she hadn't given up hope. She had to keep that. Hope was all she had.
    She tried to reassure herself. He wouldn't just turn her out, would he? If he were the kind of man who would do that, it made no sense that he would have taken her in to begin with. And yet, what sort of man lived in a huge castle all alone? What sort of man shut himself off from the world?
    Although puzzled as to why he lived this way, and concerned for her own safety, she was grateful for the isolation. If he let her stay here, no one was likely to find her. Ignorant of the finer points of the law, Tess wasn't exactly sure whether the English authorities would follow her to France, but if they did, she was sure they would take her back to England to stand trial. She had no idea what the penalty was for killing your husband, but she knew her story of how it had happened would never be believed. No one in England, man or woman, would ever believe Lord Aubry capable of beating his wife so severely that she shot him in self-defense. Besides, Tess reflected bitterly, it was both acceptable and legal for a man to beat his wife. He only had to use a rod no thicker than his thumb.
    And no one knew. Everyone believed that Lord and Lady Aubry had an idyllic