The Secret Desires of a Governess Read Online Free PDF Page B

and gave them a final wipe on her apron. Taking one of the warm loaves that had cooled by the window ledge, she cut fat wedges off the loaf of fresh bread.
    “I’ll prepare you some sandwiches to take. They’ll have worked up a fierce hunger by now.”
    Martha said nothing more, just went about her task of setting up a luncheon, while Abby finished her tea. Lydia came over to the long table and cut up some cold meat to put between the thick slabs of bread.
    Basket in hand, Abby stared up at the clear blue sky with its faint smatterings of clouds stretching across the horizon like bolls of cotton yet to be picked.
    The weather was decidedly better than it had been on her whole trip north. It had rained for most of the train ride and poured buckets when she’d been forced to walk to the castle. A shame it hadn’t warmed a great deal with the appearance of the sun.
    Her gait quickened with every cool slap of wind to her face. It was a relief to know her first day of employment didn’t seem nearly as dreary as it had only a day ago.
    Aside from the fact that she knew next to nothing about little boys, she would do her best to make this situation work for her. She hoped she wasn’t biting off more than she could chew in this instance.
    In the distance, the sea slapped noisily against the shore. She couldn’t get a glimpse of it from where she stood as there was a great sandy- white wall surrounding the bailey, but she tasted the salt on the air, heard the call of gulls in the distance, and fought to stand against the cool wind that swept over the wall and through the castle grounds.
    The grass around her was a cropped field of emerald green. Taller rushes of brown grass lined the inside wall.
    There were few flowers aside from vines of morning glories near a large square building a good hundred paces from the main house. She guessed the building to be the keep that the Harrow family lived in.
    There was a drive that went around that second structure and led into a section of the castle that seemed mostly in disrepair. Bits of stone lay crumbled, and littered the interior walls of the castle. Where stones had once filled the cobbled path, only pockets of sand and dirt remained.
    Half the stable was missing its roof, and what looked to be an old church lay in ruins, just a few walls still standing. The bell long fallen and rusted to a lime color lay dejectedly on the ground.
    The grass had not been cropped in the old churchyard; it grew like a wild field, swallowing its secrets beneath the tall rushes of dancing greens and weeds. Beyond that, at the farthest end of the castle grounds, she could see the men bending over and lifting a great square block waist-high and placed it onto the white ledge of the new wall.
    They did not immediately see her approach, so she slowed her pace to see how they went about mending the wall. There was a whole section of crumbled stones that had long ago fallen and tumbled down to the sand dunes surrounding the castle on the north side of the property.
    Where the wall should have been was an open view of the water. It was her first view of the North Sea. It was as dark as a night sky without stars to light the way. The water churned and rolled not far off in the distance. It made her dizzy staring at it. Made her feel as though she’d fall if she didn’t close her eyes and turn away from the rhythmic slap of waves against the shore.
    She focused on the men. Busy at their task, they still hadn’t noticed her.
    The weather might not be particularly warm— she did require a thick wool shawl— but it was obvious the men had been doing heavy labor for some time. Especially with the way Lord Brendall’s sweat- dampened shirt stuck to him at the shoulder blades and lower back. Outlining all the strength and sinew beneath.
    What would a fine layer of perspiration look like against his bare flesh? What would it feel like under her fingers as she explored the hard planes of his body?
    Abby snapped