Awaiting the Moon Read Online Free Page B

tight breeches he wore for exercise.
    Elizabeth would have sunk down to sit on the step if she were alone, for she felt light-headed and ill. He was nothing she had expected, and her stomach twisted with combating sensations of attraction and repulsion. He was very handsome, but it was in an alarming way; he had dark eyes and hair, a sensuous full mouth, broad forehead, and muscular physique only too evident under his breeches and damp, clinging shirt, and the overt masculinity of him was not reassuring to someone who depended on his kindness for her living. In her experience, such vigorously vital men were not gentle, nor were they forgiving of even the slightest errors.
    And yet, his dark good looks and charismatic mien had enkindled a glow within her that she must conquer, for her own benefit. The last thing she needed was to be so attracted to her employer, for that could only mean trouble if he were a man like other men, willing to take advantage of a position of power. But she was stronger than such a weak feminine reaction to an attractive man, and she would maintain a distance. She had learned from the past and would never let herself be vulnerable again.
    Stiffening her backbone, she took a long, deep breath. “Shall we go on?” she said and mounted the step, placing her foot in the damp footprint left by her new employer.
    Her room, second from the stairs, was lovely, much more than she ever expected in such a large and ancient castle and for a woman in her position—tutor to a young lady of the house.
    Left alone by Gräfin von Wolfram and Frau Liebner, Elizabeth sank down on the partially canopied bed and gazed around her as she undid the ties of her bonnet and loosened her cloak, welcoming the warmth of the blaze in the hearth.
    It was a big room, but not so high ceilinged and fearfully tomblike as she had feared. The walls were covered in ivory fabric, and the bed was draped in the same material. A Turkish carpet covered part of the floor, though the rest was wood, and near the fire were two chairs with a table between them. By the high window, the curtains of which were closed against the darkening night outside, was a table and chair suitable for use as a desk.
    On the far wall, barely perceptible in the gloom, was a large carved garderobe, and her trunk had already been placed near it.
    How had the trunk arrived upstairs before her? Of course there must be another staircase used by serving staff, she reasoned. In such a large castle there were likely more than just two staircases, in fact, for it was clear from her brief view of it in the twilight that there was a central part to Wolfram Castle, the old stone portion of the castle, but then jutting additions built later, likely, flanked it, spreading like a raven’s outspread wings on either side of the main body.
    She tossed her bonnet aside and lay back on the bed, closing her eyes. What had Frau Liebner once said about Wolfram Castle, that once you entered, it entered you, too, and never left, always to be a part of your soul? At the time it had sounded like superstitious nonsense, but now she thought she understood. The castle seemed to possess a spirit of its own, a powerful personality much like that of its master.
    She blinked and sat up abruptly. It was best to face the truth at once and be done with it; she was powerfully attracted to the master of Wolfram Castle, but it was surely just the fleeting, transitory attraction of purely physical response, enhanced by exhaustion. It was imperative that she eradicate such wayward thoughts from her mind forever if she was to blot out the misdeeds in her past. Giving in to a physical impulse was dangerous for a woman, as she had learned to her everlasting regret. This opportunity, presented to her by the kindness of Frau Liebner, was a chance to cleanse herself of her indiscretions and she would not make the same mistakes over. Only a fool did that, and though she was impulsive and headstrong at times, she