“You’ll just get attached and something will happen to him,” Will said, shaking his head in disapproval.
“And I suppose I should never get attached to anyone or thing because something might happen to them?” Laura asked before realizing how it might affect Will.
“It’ll save you a lot of hurt if you did things that way.”
“It’d keep me from a lot of love and happiness too.” She met his gaze. The kitten was sleeping next to him, curled up against Will’s neck on the pillow.
“Is that why you haven’t married?” she asked Will, deciding to make it personal.
“I learned during the war to guard my heart. It served me well. And of course, given all that’s happened of late, I should have done a better job. What about you?”
“I suppose I should have learned that after losing my mother and, to a degree, my father, but I didn’t. I had a hard lesson when I was seventeen. My college in Tennessee decided to temporarily close in 1863 because the war was on our front steps. I accompanied one of my teachers, Mrs. Nelson, to Europe to escape the horrors of war. That was my father’s desire anyway.
“Mrs. Nelson was a childless widow, but she had a sister in Paris, so we went to stay with her for the duration of the war. She had a son who was a little older than me. His name was Andrew Mansard. We saw each other day in and day out. He was attending college, and since I was being schooled by Mrs. Nelson, we often studied together. I found him to be quite entertaining and enjoyed learning about his experiences in life.
“As you remember, the war went on until 1865, so my time with him was extensive. He was often my escort to variousparties and outings. I couldn’t help myself. I fell in love. It was my first experience of losing my heart. Andrew was quite suave and devilishly handsome. He had made conquests all over the city. I didn’t know it at the time, however, and fell rather hard. I thought he felt the same way, since he declared it to be so with his romantic speeches and promises.”
“I had friends who were like that,” Will said, shaking his head. The kitten stirred but didn’t wake.
Laura could still remember how much it hurt when she realized she’d been duped by Andrew and his well-crafted words.
“When we heard the war was over, I was so excited. I knew I’d finally be able to go home again, and I wanted my father to meet Andrew and approve him as a husband. Andrew had talked on and on about how we would be married once the war was over, and I took him at his word.”
“But he didn’t mean it, did he?” Will asked.
“No. No, he did not. One morning at breakfast, Mrs. Nelson announced we would soon book passage back to America. I made the mistake of asking Andrew if he would accompany us or come soon after. He acted surprised and said I had misunderstood him. That my little girl infatuation had caused me to imagine all sorts of promises when none had been made.”
Laura shrugged and eased back into the rocking chair. “I was such a foolish child. I had no suspicion of him being anything less than truthful in his feelings. I didn’t have a mother to warn me about such things, and Mrs. Nelson obviously didn’t want to create a problem with her nephew.”
“Figures. Never mind that it hurt you. What happened?” Will’s voice was soft and full of sympathetic tones.
“Nothing. That was the problem. I found Andrew andasked him about all the promises he’d made. All the words of love. He laughed and told me that this was just the way of things in Paris. That he was merely enticing me and teaching me to enjoy romance. I told him that given the outcome, it wasn’t worth the pain. He thought me quite silly and childish. And perhaps I was. But I grew up that day.”
Will nodded. “I can understand that.”
Laura shrugged again. “What of you? Have you ever been in love?”
“No. And given the pain of losing the people I loved, I don’t plan to love again, especially not in the fashion you’re talking about.”
“I suppose some would call you very wise.” She got to her feet and headed for the door. “I’m going to let you get some rest before supper. Sleep well.”
After Laura had gone, sadness washed over Will. He could see in his mind’s eye the innocent and loving young woman she’d been. Her first experience of romantic love was all a game. How that must have crushed her spirit.
She had been soured on love. They both had, but Will found it especially troubling where she was concerned. Laura Evans was a beautiful and intelligent young woman. She was kind and generous as well. She deserved to be loved and cared for by someone other than her father, who hadn’t been man enough to set aside his own selfish needs for that of his grief-stricken child.
Will had no trouble imagining Laura as a wife and mother. Her family would be blessed to have her, and there would be an abundance of love and joy. Laura was the kind of person who could draw love quite naturally from others.
If she would allow it.
He frowned and closed his eyes. But she wouldn’t. She’d been hurt, cut deep. She had trusted and given her heart and found it was all a farce. She was much too logical to allow it to happen again. Anger at Andrew coursed through Will’s thoughts. He was older. He knew better. He had toyed with her affections as if they were nothing more than a childhood game.
Cruel.
Very simply the man was cruel, and Will hated that Laura had ever had to endure him.
10
“He’s just the sweetest kitten, Father. I knew you’d want me to shelter him from the cold,” Laura told her father the next morning over breakfast. “I asked Curtis to check around the neighborhood, but no one seems to know anything about him. I’ve put him in with Will. I think it will do much to improve his spirits.”
