What a Woman Desires by Rachel Brimble Read Free Book Online

into his. The touch ran through his nerves and knotted his stomach. The girl who dreamed of escape, who spoke of forging her own life with her own rules, had come home . . . albeit for a matter of days. The fact filled him with trepidation rather than hope; loss instead of gain.
    She lowered onto the seat beside him and slid her hand from his to clasp her fingers together in her lap. “Tell me about Mama.”
    He curled the hand she briefly touched into a fist as though wanting to retain the feel of her skin. God, how did he tell her that whether she stayed or went, sold or leased the estate, her life would never be the same? There would be no chance of her returning to Bath the same woman she was when she’d left. He swiped his hand over his face before looking deep into her eyes. “The woman your mother was has gone and will never come back. Jane needs you. She has my support, Mrs. Seton’s, and Jeannie’s, but we’re not enough. She needs her kin. You’re all she has left to help her.” He smiled softly. “Just like Stephanie, Jane isn’t as hardened as you. She needs you to tell her what to do.”
    Her eyes gleamed with unshed tears and unmistakable fear. “What do you—”
    “What Jane implied is true. Your mother is losing her mind, which means it’s up to you what happens next. It’s up to you what happens with the estate, and it’s up to you whether I continue to work here. Everything now falls to you to decide.” His dread of losing what he’d worked so hard for and the fight to keep it simmered on a low heat deep in his gut. “So what happens next? What do you plan to happen to the house, the estate . . . and to me?”
    Monica turned from his intense gaze and stared at the table. “No matter what you might think of me, I didn’t come here with a plan.”
    “You always had plans.”
    She snapped her head up. “Do you have to sound so accusatory? What’s wrong with having plans? I wanted more than to stay here and play the dutiful daughter. Is that so wrong?”
    “No, but the way you never came back from time to time to make sure things were all right with your parents isn’t right either.”
    “You have your own life away from this house. I was within these walls twenty-four hours a day whether I wanted to be here or not. You have no idea what that was like. No idea at all.” She glared at him, her body trembling from his insult. “Well? Have you nothing to else to say? No other words of unfounded condemnation to throw at me?”
    He remained silent, and his accusation continued to burn in her soul beneath the intensity of his blue-green stare. Rugged and handsome, strong and reliable, Monica realized Thomas was her most dangerous adversary at Marksville. Her mother and father were hostile enemies, lingering on the opposite side of the battle line. Thomas leaned closer to her side, yet they would always be separated by upbringing and circumstances. Their lives were wholly different, despite the similarities that had always bound them.
    The tense atmosphere pressed down on her and frustration stung Monica’s eyes. She snatched her gaze from his and glared across the kitchen at the huge open fireplace. “You hurt me by not understanding why I escaped when I could.”
    “I understood. I wasn’t even surprised by it, but that doesn’t mean I wasn’t disappointed.”
    She snapped her head around. “Disappointed? Why should you be disappointed? Did I ever hide my unhappiness from you? Tell you I longed to run the house like mistress of the manor when Mama and Papa had passed? No, I did not.”
    “I’m sorry if my reaction to your return causes you hurt.” He clenched his jaw. “I don’t wish that any more than I want us to argue.”
    “Good. Then stop judging me and help me go forward with what needs to be done.” She squeezed her eyes shut. It was clear in the years she’d been gone she wasn’t the only person who had changed . . . or been changed.
    She opened her eyes and forced