Read A Lesson in Forgiveness for Free Online

It wasn't like she always knew who was going to get it on with whom. Still enjoying the gentle breeze and captivating gardens, Ginny would have to keep an open mind.

Chapter 4
     
     
    The afternoon was spent playing silly games that the unmarried, pure girls came up with. Outdoor pursuits included lawn bowling and archery. Indoor games featured charades and cards. All in all, Ginny kept to herself to avoid the giggles and sighs of those trying to make good matches.
    Late in the afternoon, she found herself in the library, looking over the books Lord Whitmore and his family had collected over the past decades. The room smelled like an old used bookstore: glue, leather and dust. Walking past the volumes on every possible subject: horticulture, farming, seamanship, etc..., she came upon some fiction.
    Selecting a book based solely on the title, she found a big, leather armchair located near the window. Ginny sat down and opened the book, only to find herself preoccupied by the view out the window. It was moments like this that Ginny was lost to the surrealness of the moment. She was in 1802, with relative strangers, trying to flirt her way into a marriage that she didn't want. It was these quiet times, when she wanted to go home, visit her parents house and have her mom's pot roast.
    So involved in her own thoughts, Ginny didn't hear him enter. “What has your attention so completely, Miss Hamilton?” His beautiful eyes and his perfect smile stared at her while she continued to stare out the window.
    “Head in the clouds, I guess, Lord Clarendon. What brings you to the library, when there are so many activities to be enjoyed?”
    “You.” His frankness finally drew her out of her reverie. “I had hoped you would take a turn around the gardens with me. Your mother has agreed to walk with us.”
    “My mother agreed to allow you to walk with me? Really?”
    “I may have an over-exaggerated reputation, Miss Hamilton, but I am still quite rich and quite titled. It does have a tendency to open certain avenues that might have once been thought closed.”
    He really was too cute for his own good. “I would be delighted to walk with you, my lord.” Ginny stood and placed the book back where it belonged. Clarendon looked as if he was going to say something, but then refrained. Ginny wondered if he was curious as to why she would clean up after herself.
    Offering his arm, Ginny placed her hand, once again, into the crook. His muscled were taunt, as if he were nervous. They walked to the terrace in silence, stopping in front of Bethany's mother. Her mother was so engaged in a conversation of gossip, that she didn't even notice them walk up.
    “Mrs. Hamilton, I beg your pardon,” Clarendon said, smiling and charming. “Perhaps we could take that turn now?”
    Turning her head, she looked put out. Turning back to her friends, she said over her shoulder, “Stay where we can see you. I shall stay here.”
    Raising an eyebrow to Ginny, Lord Clarendon simply replied, “Of course.”
    Ginny and Clarendon walked down the same staircase Whitmore and she had used earlier. Keeping to the path, they wandered silently past the flower beds. Is something wrong? she wondered as they continued their walk. Is he nervous? Did I do something wrong?
    Ginny now wondered if Lord Whitmore had taken her advice and had a little discussion with Clarendon about his inappropriate topics. “It is a lovely day, is it not, my lord?” Aaahh, the small talk of the English aristocracy... so entertaining.
    “It is, quite lovely. Did I say something to offend you last evening?”
    It would seem, Ginny realized, that Lord Whitmore did have a talk with him. “Absolutely not. I enjoyed our conversation. I was in no way offended. Frankly, I don't see the reason to be so roundabout with what I want to say.”
    “I got the impression from Whitmore that perhaps we should restrict our discussions to the weather.”
    Ginny stopped and faced him. “He seems to be