The Haunting of Grey Cliffs by Nina Coombs Pykare Read Free Book Online Page A

Though my appetite had deserted me, I forced myself to chew and swallow. When her plate was half empty,  Cousin Julia turned to me. "I suppose he didn't tell you about her either."
    I swallowed a furious retort. Cousin Julia seemed the sort who liked to make people angry at each other. I didn't intend to give her that satisfaction. "If you mean the former countess, you are wrong. Edward told me about her."
    Cousin Julia licked her lips, her eyes gleaming. "She was the talk of all London. You must have heard of her."
    I looked Cousin Julia right in the eye. "I'm afraid I was too busy with the marquis of Carolington's children to be listening to gossip."
    Cousin Julia's mouth formed a round 0. "You mean—"
    I laughed. "You mean, Edward didn't tell you ? Before he married me, I was a governess."
    "A—a governess?"
    "Yes. And proud of it."
    That should keep her quiet for a while, I thought, and finding my appetite quite gone, I repaired to my room to consider the happenings of this extraordinary day.
     
    Chapter Five
     
    Though my room was nicely appointed and relatively cheerful because large windows had been set into the thick stone walls, I was not able to enjoy the pleasantness of the room or the lovely view of the sea below it, now sparkling in the midday sun.
    Murdered! The old earl had been murdered! Or so Cousin Julia believed.
    Angrily I paced the length of the rug and back again, my temper flaring higher than the flames on the hearth. Another thing my fine new husband had neglected to tell me!
    But who could have done such a horrible thing? If, indeed, it had been murder. I tried to calm myself, to think sensibly. After all, Cousin Julia was hardly the most reputable source of information. Imagine the woman believing she could speak with the dead!
    And this haunting she insisted upon—I was a person who prided herself on using reason. Certainly I did not believe in the existence of ghosts. The servants were probably imagining things.
    I sighed. Given this old gloomy castle, a man found hanged by his own cravat— I shivered at the awful picture thus presented to me. No wonder the servants were seeing things.
    Why had I let my desire for a child of my own override my usual good sense? Why had I contracted this loveless marriage and come to this godforsaken place?
    I had no answers to my questions, of course. I threw myself into a chair in front of the fire and stared into the flames. There was little point in continuing to ask myself rhetorical questions. I had come to Grey Cliffs. I had married the earl. And now I could not in good conscience leave.
    After all, three young lives depended on me. At least three.
    My hands crept to my flat stomach, curling over it protectively. Should I even consider bringing a child into this place?
    I sighed and swallowed over the lump in my throat. I wanted the child. I wanted it so badly that tears welled up in my eyes at the mere thought. But given my new husband's anger over that very desire, and the temper I had not known he possessed, could I expect, should I hope—
    The door from the corridor creaked open. I hurried to my feet and turned, half expecting Ned with some new prank. But it was not Ned who stood there, it was my husband.
    Edward smiled at me, but his eyes were clouded and dark. I suppressed a shudder. He seemed so different from the pleasant, reserved man I had married.
    "I have come to take you for a walk," he said. 'To show you your new home."
    I kept my tongue between my teeth. He could at least have made it a request. But no. Not so much as a by-your-leave. Just a calm statement of fact. He was a man obviously used to giving orders—my new husband—and to having them obeyed.
    Perhaps he detected my distemper from my expression. At any rate, his smile vanished. "Unless you have made other plans, of course."
    I had no other plans. How should I? And such a walk would allow me to talk to him about the boy's dog. There was also Cousin Julia's disconcerting