The Bride Insists Read Online Free Page A

employment. An aunt found me a position as companion to an aged relative. I remained with her until she died, and then moved to another similar post, and another after that. The woman I was working for most recently, Lady Harriet Vernley, was carried off by a lung complaint a few weeks ago. She was eighty-one and had been ill for some time.” Selina emphasized that last bit. There must be no suggestion of laxness in her care for her employer.
    Clare liked her voice. It was low and pleasant, her manner straightforward and self-assured without a trace of… of peevishness. That was important. “So, you have always been employed by older ladies?”
    Selina Newton nodded. She had, in fact, spent the greater part of her life catering to the whims and crochets of elderly females with enough money to afford such service. She assumed Miss Greenough had a relative in that position, though she didn’t see why no one had yet said so. But Mrs. Hicks had suggested that the post was an interesting possibility for her, and Mrs. Hicks had never let her down. “I have a number of positive references,” Selina replied with a polite smile.
    Clare looked into the older woman’s eyes and asked one of the list of questions she’d prepared that would determine her choice. “Do you have a plan for your future?”
    â€œMy…?”
    â€œFor the time when you can no longer serve as a companion?” Clare added. “Due to age or… other factors.”
    Selina stared at her. This was the dread hanging over every woman who came through the doors of this agency seeking work—the never-spoken terror of one’s final years eked out in some dingy rooming house, tolerating whatever companions luck foisted upon you, pinching every penny and praying that they would last… long enough. No one talked about it. Or if they did, it was in whispers, as if speaking the words aloud might bring penury crashing down. Miss Greenough looked thin and pale and diffident, but there was nothing waiflike about her clear green gaze. Now she was waiting for an answer as if she’d posed a perfectly conventional question.
    It was a good test, Clare thought—how a person dealt with her fears. She knew only too well what it felt like to wake in the night and lie rigid, anxiety devouring all hope of rest.
    Under those steady, serious eyes, Selina told the truth: “Each of my employers has included a small bequest to me in her will. It is the usual thing in my sort of post. I have set these sums aside and intend to continue the practice, building up a nest egg for my own old age.” The amount she’d been able to accumulate was laughable, but there was no need to reveal that.
    Clare nodded. It was an intelligent, realistic reply. She was beginning to think she had found the person she was seeking. “I’m looking for a companion,” she said.
    Why else was she here, Selina thought? “For your grandmother or—?”
    â€œFor myself.”
    Selina blinked in surprise.
    â€œI am about to… enter society, and I have no family or acquaintances to call upon.”
    â€œSo you require a chaperone?” Why had Mrs. Hicks contacted her about this post? It was not the sort of thing she did. Young women wishing to make their way in London society wanted—needed—sponsors who could introduce them into fashionable circles. Selina had observed high society from the far periphery—part of its invisible background—but she had no influence or connections. She couldn’t help Miss Greenough.
    Clare hadn’t thought of it in that light. “More of a… counselor, I would say. Someone to consult and advise as I… proceed. A companion, as you have been.” Clare had admitted to herself that the thought of living all alone was daunting.
    â€œI see.” Despite Mrs. Hicks’s recommendation, the position was unattractive. Firstly, Selina feared she