“If you can catch them. I’ve been
trying to talk to Harper for days. He makes sure he’s
never alone with me.”
“Did you two argue?”
“Not exactly.” Miriam hesitated. Then she told
Constance what she’d recently discovered: Tom Harper
was illiterate. She explained how Tom had managed to
conceal his problem. Constance was shocked.
“So how did he come to tell you of this?” she asked
her maid. The blush in Miriam’s cheeks was all the
answer she needed.
“I assume it’s an issue of pride for him, as far as
you’re concerned,” Constance said.
Miriam nodded. “Made worse by my habit of reading
anything and everything, and telling him my thoughts
on it. I admit, my lady, I was shocked when he told me,
and perhaps my shock was hurtful to him. But I love
him, and I don’t care if he can’t read. I’ll teach him
myself.”
She looked as if she wanted to rush from the room
right now to offer the valet lessons.
“Be careful,” Constance cautioned her. “Rushing in
where angels fear to tread will not help.”
“I’ll be careful,” Miriam promised. “You won’t tell
Lord Spenford, will you, my lady?”
“Of course not.” Marcus would be too proud to
accept an illiterate valet, would consider it beneath him.
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How burdened Tom must be, Constance realized,
knowing his position would be lost if Marcus
discovered the truth—their old friendship would count
for nothing. Tom must feel there was no way he could
live up to the standard Marcus required; concealment of
failure was the only solution.
Marcus labored under the same burden, she realized.
He believed he hadn’t attained his father’s exacting
standard before his father died. That he’d somehow
fallen irrevocably short.
“My poor darling,” she murmured, eliciting a curious
glance from Miriam.
If only Marcus—and Tom, for that matter—could
understand that the Heavenly Father accepts us with all
our shortcomings, that none of us can measure up
except by God’s grace…
Did Marcus know that she accepted him with all his
shortcomings? The same way she wanted him to accept
her? Because how could they be happy, unless they
were both willing to extend grace and forgiveness to the
other?
I will tell him.
I WILL TELL HIM, Miriam resolved yet again. This
time, she wouldn’t let Tom fob her off.
She found him polishing the earl’s riding boots,
almost a sacred duty, the amount of care that went into
it. She slipped into the boot room, and closed the door
behind her—Mrs. Matlock would definitely disapprove.
He looked up, then glowered. “I don’t want to talk
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THE EARL’S MISTAKEN BRIDE
about it.”
“Well, I do.” She sat down on the step in front of the
door. “Your…thing…”
“You mean, the fact I can’t read?”
She should have prepared better. She weighed words,
found none of them ideal. “It’s nothing to be ashamed
of,” she assured him. “I mean, everyone can’t read at
some time or other. I can help you. I’ll teach you.”
One precious, expensive boot hit the floor with a
crash that didn’t speak well for its future appearance.
“Stop,” Tom ordered. “You think you’re so clever,
that every thing’s so easy.”
“I’m offering to help you.”
“What if I can’t do it?” The words were wrenched
from him. “What if I can never read?”
“Of course you can.” She prayed she was right.
“You’re clever, I’ve always thought that.”
He stuffed newspaper into the left boot, to help hold
its shape. “What if I don’t want to learn?”
The question stopped her in her tracks. “Why
wouldn’t you?”
“Maybe I have no interest.” His defiance reminded
her of her younger brothers.
“That’s stupid,” Miriam said, just as she would have
to one of her brothers.
“You see,” he said bitterly. “You think I’m stupid,
now you know I can’t read.”
“Well, you are stupid, if you think I think you’re
stupid,” she flashed.
She’d confused both herself and him. They stared at
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each other, both breathing heavily.
“I don’t want a wife who’s above me,” Tom said,
with a finality that brought tears to her eyes.
Still, she tried again. “You think you have to be
superior to your wife in every way?”
“I don’t mind if she’s a better cook and housekeeper.”
“You’ve been with Lord Spenford too long,” she said.
“This is pride, pure and simple.”
He shook his head. “It’s about knowing where I
belong. A man shouldn’t get above himself. It’s not
right and it only brings trouble.”
By trouble, he meant pain, she guessed. He was
thinking of how he’d considered Lord Spenford a
friend, only to have their differences separate them. But
that wouldn’t happen with her and Tom. She suspected
she could repeat that until she turned blue in the face,
but he would never believe her.
Frustration mounted, which meant any second now
she would burst into tears. She couldn’t bear him to see
that.
“That’s it, Tom Harper, I wash my hands of you,” she
said. “Give me a humble man who appreciates being
loved, rather than a proud… blockhead!