Silent Surrender Read Online Free PDF Page A

but everything was there, with one notable exception. She took a deep breath through her nose and stamped her foot. Jude startled and rose from his chair. “Sorry. I not hear you,” he signed, as if his breach of etiquette were all that troubled her.
    “Esau where?” she demanded, her fury growing without confirmation of Jude’s machinations. Of course he wouldn’t have her guest dining with them. It would be unseemly. It would be uncomfortable for Jude. The man was a mere dock worker, and Jude was trying so pathetically hard to keep up the illusion that Honoria was an honorable woman of means, not some poor wretch being banished to an asylum.
    “He downstairs. Kitchen. Why?” A vertical wrinkle appeared over Jude’s nose as he frowned. She used to find that endearing, now it just seemed irritating. She shook her head and turned away. He followed her, she knew it just as she knew breathing. If there were an opportunity for argument, for chastisement, then Jude would not be far from it.
    She blinked back tears. This was not the way she had imagined the arrangement. She didn’t need to be reminded that she was doing something unacceptable, she already knew it well enough. And though she hated to admit it, she had looked forward to seeing Esau. She’d wanted to see his expression when she entered the room. She wanted to see if he would smile at her. He had smiled in the bedroom, and the expression had looked unused. It flattered her that he bestowed something rare upon her, even when they did not know each other well.
    The back hall opened to the kitchen, and a short flight of wide stairs led down to the main floor, where the long wooden preparation table had been set for the servants’ evening meal. Each of the six chairs was filled, despite the lone footman waiting upstairs to serve them at dinner. Esau sat in the footman’s place, laughing and nudging Parker, the butler. Each member of the household staff hurried to stand, looking guiltily away from Honoria. They always did that whenever Honoria took a moment to watch them. It was as if they were ashamed to be caught carrying on with their lives. Their timidity and propriety caused Honoria no small amount of frustration, as she did dearly love to watch people.
    Esau was the last to look up, his gray eyes still sparkling with merriment over whatever jest he’d subjected the poor butler to. Honoria put a hand over her mouth to hide her smile, but it retreated of its own accord when Esau’s expression turned serious.
    “You eat here?” she signed, raising one eyebrow. She waited only long enough for Jude to translate that before she continued. “I pay you. Five days, five nights, all. Understand?”
    Esau did not look away from her as Jude translated. Impressive, as most people did their best not to acknowledge her in conversation, even when she was the one speaking. Wordlessly, Esau nodded and pushed his chair back.
    Dinner had been destined from the start to be an uncomfortable affair, but Honoria would not give Jude the satisfaction of admitting it. She made pleasant conversation with Esau, letting Jude facilitate their communication, and she soldiered ahead even when Esau seemed unable to give her anything but a few simple words in reply. It seemed he was a man less used to talking than he was to smiling, and he hunched over his plate as though someone might come up and snatch it from him. He looked all the more strange slumped that way in his fine clothes, his dark tailcoat stretched tight over his shoulders.
    Only when Honoria asked him if he’d ever been to sea did he seem genuinely engaged. He spoke faster than before, and it was more difficult to follow his words. With Jude’s help, she learned that Esau had traveled once, only a short trip across the channel, and found the crossing so perilous that he’d sworn off ever attempting it again. He told a story, laughing as he did, of wealthy Frenchmen falling over in their own sick during the storm, and