Read Grace for Free Online Page B

remembering the way she had shrewishly raged at him at the Assembly Rooms, Grace felt, at the very least, she owed him an apology. After all, the accident truly had not been his fault, and he
had
merely tried to help.
    One brow raised in amusement, Trevor watched her surreptitiously glance in his direction and hesitate, biting her lower lip as if in indecision. He could easily read the direction of her thoughts, for the changing expressions on her candid face revealed nearly everything. She knew she owed him an apology for the way she had spoken to him, yet she remained angry with him for not letting her know right away the reason he had come to the dance, so she therefore felt that
he
also owed
her
an apology. Apparently she managed to sort it all out in her mind. She excused herself to her father and Sebastian, squared her shoulders as if to bolster herself for an unpleasant encounter, and began to walk toward Trevor, the former cloudy look on her face replaced with a gracious, apologetic smile.
    When she reached Trevor, she curtsied prettily, then extended him her hand, her face tilted up to his, her blue eyes sincere. “Please, my lord, can you forgive my earlier behavior? Mercy and I are very close, you see . . .” She left the sentence incomplete, her eyes turning grave at the thought of what might have happened to her young sister.He watched her swallow hard. “I just wanted to thank you for getting her home so quickly,” she finished with a small catch in her voice.
    The unshed tears that brimmed without shame in Grace Ackerly’s enormous eyes turned them from glittering sapphire to a startling, luminous turquoise. Usually a woman’s tears made Trevor feel one of two ways: annoyed when they were used as a manipulative tool by one of his mistresses, or very uncomfortable. Oddly, Grace’s tears inspired a far different reaction. He had the urge to gather her into his arms to try to soothe them away for her.
    “It was really Sebastian’s doing,” he said, checking the impulse. Instead, he smiled down at her tenderly. In his mind he bent his head over hers and took her troubled, upturned face between his hands, gently kissing her slightly parted lips until she trembled in his arms and forgot her worries. Grace looked suddenly uncomfortable, and the vision vanished. Trevor ruefully realized that, while he had fantasized about kissing her, he had kept her small hand warmly imprisoned within both of his. Reluctantly he released it, watching her reaction closely, as though observing some sort of wild, exotic bird he had just released, one that might flit fearfully away at any moment. Without removing his eyes from hers, he gestured toward the two large chairs near the fireplace in the room behind him. “Would you care to sit and talk with me for a moment?”
    Grace hesitated. She looked down at his burgundy-clad arm, then nodded slowly and placed her hand gingerly in the crook of his elbow.
    Such a distrustful little creature, Trevor thought as he escorted her to one of the comfortable chairs. He made certain she was properly settled before seating himself in the chair opposite. As he sat, he noticed, for the first time, the portrait that hung on the wall directly opposite the picture of Grace. He had not seen this one before because he hadbeen so engrossed in Grace’s picture while Amity had described the rest to him. What he saw in that portrait made him grin widely, a sudden lazy smile that swept across his lips, making the rugged planes of his face almost boyishly charming.
    Grace saw him smile. Puzzled, she looked over her shoulder in the direction of his gaze, then back at Trevor quizzically. He gestured at the portrait of two identical girls with the now familiar curly red hair and laughing blue eyes. “That portrait answers quite a few questions,” he said, shaking his head with a low chuckle.
    “The portrait of Amity and Charity?” She raised a dubious eyebrow. “Whatever have they done now?” Amused