The Unexpected Bride (Montana Born Brides) (9 page)

“Will you kill the bear, Daddy?” Evie asked.

“No,” Laurent replied patiently. “The bear’s fine as he is. He’s up there on the mountain, just hanging out and minding his own business.”

Evie thought about that for a few seconds, then she piped up, “But what if he’s lonely?”

“Oh, I’m sure he isn’t,” Laurent mussed her hair affectionately. “There will be plenty of other animals around to keep him company.”

Evie squirmed and pushed his hands from her head, and persisted with her concern for the grizzly. “Do you think he’s married?”

Laurent smiled indulgently. “I don’t think bears get married, sweetheart.”

“So he’ll be very lonely then,” Evie insisted, “because he hasn’t got a wife.”

Emma thought she saw a shadow pass over Laurent’s face, and knew it was time that she intervened. She carefully pushed Bobo off her lap and launched herself off the couch. “Come on, guys. It’s nearly supper time. We need to clear up now.”

To her surprise, Laurent joined them for the meal, supervising the awarding of marbles for good table manners. Then he played with the children for a while, before offering to take them upstairs, bathe them and put them to bed.
Emma busied herself tidying up the kitchen and took the opportunity to put in another load of laundry, while Bobo settled into his basket. She found a couple of Laurent’s shirts in the utility room which Linda had left to be included in the next wash. Picking them up to put them in the machine, she caught the scent of him—male, and the faint whiff of cologne mixed with wood shavings and fresh air—and lingered with the garments in her hands. Then she heard him coming downstairs and hastily dropped them in the top-loader and started the program.

He appeared around the door.

Emma gave him a sunny smile. “Did you get them to settle down?”

“Yeah. Had to tell them a story about the bear, though,” he said wryly.

That made Emma laugh.
“I’m afraid he’s flavor of the week.”

“Well, he’s a party animal now, hanging out with his buddies on the mountain: the bald eagle, the deer, the wolf and the lion.”

“Hey, that’s brilliant! I’ll look those animals up online, so that I can find out more about them for the children, and then maybe we can order some picture books, too. Make a fun, learning experience out of it for them.”

Laurent leant against the doorframe, put his hands in the pockets of his jeans, and surveyed her thoughtfully.
Emma fought with herself to stop her eyes being drawn to how the denim pulled tight across his thighs. “There’s a great bookstore in Marietta, with a good kids’ section. I’ll take you down there sometime. And we could have dinner,” he suggested casually.

This offer caught her off-guard, and suddenly she felt hot and bothered.
“It’s very warm in here with the washing machine running.” She blew a damp strand of hair away from the front of her face.

“If you’re free, I can arrange for the kids to go to my parents’ tomorrow afternoon, and ask if they can give them supper.
We can go into town and I can show you around properly, visit the bookstore and then I can book a table for an early dinner at Rocco’s.”

This was such a turnaround, Emma didn’t know what to say.
“Oh! Um…”

“Since we’re friends, I thought it might be nice to spend some downtime together. And I think we need to talk some more.”

There was a determination in his voice that brooked no argument, and anyway, Emma was grateful for the invitation. She knew enough to realize that his solitariness was a coping strategy, but it wasn’t good for his family; without knowing it, he was confusing his children by blowing hot and cold. So, whatever she felt about him, she should try and accept his olive branch; if she wanted to carry on working here, and be happy, she needed to put her feelings in a box and bury them. And she still had a lot of work to do help this family unit to mend.

“Okay. I’d like that,” she said, and wiped the beads of sweat from her brow.

“Here’s a good book for kids about Montana wildlife,” Emma said, catching Laurent’s attention as they browsed in the bookstore on Main Street. “It’s got lots of illustrations and a simple text.”

“Is there an extensive section on bears?” Laurent asked dryly.

Emma gave a little grin. “Not extensive, but enough. And plenty about other animals to give the big picture. I never knew there were so many.”

“Yup. Montana is the last of the lower forty-eight states to have more animals than people.”

“Wow, Professor Fletcher!” Emma couldn’t help slipping into cheeky mode. “That’s quite a fact. Anything more you want to teach me?”

Laurent raised an eyebrow and smiled lazily.
Emma felt butterflies dance in her stomach.

“How about that the grizzly bear is the official state animal?”

“So the bear on the mountain is a VIP?”

“Sure is.”
He held up a children’s picture book. “Here’s a great bear story and it says it’s suitable for ages three to four. Maybe something I can read to Evie.”

Emma gave him a wide smile. “That would be terrific. Is there anything that you can share with Jerome?” She knew she had to keep pushing him to strike a balance with his kids and to search for anything that would help him forge a bond with his boy.
“Here…” She pounced on a section of bookshelves for the under-threes, and soon discovered a suitable book that she knew Jerome would enjoy.

The volumes purchased, they made their way to the bookstore’s exit.
“We’ve got half an hour until our table is ready at Rocco’s. Fancy a drink at Grey’s Saloon?” Laurent suggested.

Emma nodded.

They made their way down the street and into Grey’s, which Emma was delighted to find was a traditional western-style saloon bar. It was quite busy, but she spotted a free table with two chairs. “Is here okay?”

“Suits me.
What would you like to drink?”

“I’d like to try a beer,” Emma decided, taking off her beanie and unwrapping her scarf from around her neck.
“Is there a local one you can recommend?”

Laurent looked visibly pleased at her choice.
“There’s a full-strength beer produced here in town by Jasper Flint’s microbrewery. My brother Ren’s a beer connoisseur and he rates it. I’ll go fetch us a couple of bottles.”

Unbuttoning her padded coat, Emma sat down and watched as Laurent went over to the bar to order their beers.
He stood out amongst the other men drinking in the establishment, with his height and broad-shouldered physique. She looked at the way his dark hair spiked on the stop of his head and at his chiselled linear profile, which reminded her so much of a classical statue. Her breath caught in her lungs. She found him so attractive it hurt.
Stop it, Emma!
She exhaled, in an effort to shut down her mind on her traitorous feelings.

Laurent brought back two chilled bottles of the micro-brewed beer and sat down, shrugging off his jacket. He raised his bottle, shiny with condensation, and clinked it against Emma’s.
“Friends?”

“Friends.”

Laurent took a swig, then put his beer down on the table. “So, friend. Assuming that we’re okay, are you okay?”

“Yes, I’m fine,” Emma was aware that her voice sounded unconvincingly high and brittle as she fought to get her senses back under control.

Laurent gave her a shrewd look. “Sure?”

She forced a smile.
“I’m sure.”

Laurent leaned in over the table.
His voice was low and rich. “I don’t want to push you, but I’d kind of like to hear the end of the story about what happened to you in England. That stuff with your last employer. It sounded rough.”

Emma swallowed and grimaced. “It was. I was with the family for nearly four years.” She took a deep breath.
She’d already revealed the worst of it to him, so she might as well tell him the rest. “The Fortescues have four children, and I started looking after them immediately after the third was born. Lady Sarah is a lovely woman and, Sir Giles—her husband—he’s…well, at first, I thought he was just a bit pompous and pleased with himself. He loves his children, so that’s what I focused on.” She paused and took a mouthful of her beer, aware that Laurent’s golden-brown eyes were fixed intently upon her.

“I’d been working for them quite happily when Lady Sarah became pregnant with their fourth baby last year.
The birth was difficult—she had a placental tear—she lost a lot of blood and it took her some months to fully recover…Laurent, are you all right?”

Laurent had leaned back sharply and was rubbing his hand over his face. Then he folded his arms over his chest.
“I’m all right. Go on.”

But Emma could see that something had changed his demeanor.
“No, you’re not. What is it? Have I said something to annoy or upset you? Please tell me what it is.”

He sighed heavily, then reached out a hand for his beer bottle and pushed it reflectively around the table for a while.
“My wife’s stroke resulted from complications caused by a placental tear.”

Emma felt stricken.
“Oh, Laurent, I’m so sorry. I had no idea—“

“It’s okay.
It’s fine. Go on.”

She could see he was dealing with some deep, personal emotion, but she carried on as he’d
requested.

“Anyway, I think the marriage ran into difficulties, if you know what I mean.” She paused and looked at Laurent.
He seemed composed now, and gave her a knowing look which told her that he understood what she meant. “Sir Giles decided to turn his…um…attention to me and started…um…trying to force himself on to me. I told him I wasn’t interested, but he didn’t take any notice. He just kept on harassing me.”

“Did he threaten you?” Laurent looked directly at her.

“Yes.” Emma laid her hands flat on the top of the table and looked at them. “He warned me against doing anything that would let his wife know, and threatened to sack me and give me a bad reference if I told anybody else. I didn’t want Lady Sarah to be troubled by it, as she’d been so weak after her daughter’s birth and unable to care for her. She’d been through enough. I thought he’d get tired of it, tired of me, and eventually leave me alone.”

“And did he?”

“Yes.”

“But you didn’t stay?”

“No.” Emma flexed her fingers, as if exorcizing herself of her bad memories. “It got complicated. I…I was engaged to the Fortescues’ chauffeur, Tom. Of course I confided in Tom about what was happening with Sir Giles and, at first, he seemed sympathetic and supportive. But then he got jealous and accused me of flirting with Sir Giles, of leading him on.” She stopped, as she recalled Tom’s increasing suspicion and anger. “By then, we’d moved in together, into a little cottage in the village below Fortescue Hall. Tom became convinced that I was flirting with just about every man we met. Which I wasn’t.” She shuddered. “He watched me like a hawk, tried to stop me going out. I couldn’t even shop at the supermarket without him questioning me, and if I was away more than half an hour, he’d go crazy. Then, just before Christmas, we were invited to a party at the village pub. I wore a new dress that I’d bought. It was pretty: quite short, sleeveless and it had a scoop neck. But Tom thought it showed too much skin and demanded I take it off and wear something else. I refused. We went to the party and Tom got more and more angry, and he accused me of putting myself about. He said we had to leave. We were in the pub car park when he just lost it, said I was dressed like a whore, and he ripped the front of my dress.”

Emma’s vision blurred with moisture, as she felt warmth and firmness against her fingers. She looked down to see Laurent’s hand encircling hers.
She lifted her teary gaze.

“Did he hurt you, Emma?” Laurent’s thumb caressed her palm.

“No. But he frightened me enough that I knew I had to leave as quickly as I could. I gave my notice in the next day to Lady Sarah. It was then that I found out that she knew about how her husband had been bothering me. She thought I was resigning because of that. She apologized profusely and promised she’d give me a great reference, and that nobody would ever get to know about what she called ‘that nasty business’ with Sir Giles. She was so nice, and I felt so awful. I didn’t tell her about Tom, though I expect she found out about his behavior from village gossip soon enough.”