An Old-fashioned Girl by Betty Neels

Author:Betty Neels [NEELS, BETTY]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Romance, Fiction
Published: 2011-03-11T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER SIX

mr van der beek had no intention of searching his feelings too deeply;

he told himself that he was concerned about Patience because he had uprooted her so ruthlessly from her quiet village life and it behoved him to make sure that she had settled down.

He stood beside her, looking out of the window at his well tended garden. He said casually, “I’m free on Saturday; I shall be driving into Berkshire with Marijke and Rinus and Rosie to lunch with friends.

We shan’t be back until four o’clock or thereabouts. A good idea if you take the morning off once you’ve fed Rosie and handed her over. I dare say you would like to do some shopping. I’ll tell Dobbs to have lunch ready for you around one o’clock if you would like that? “

“Thank you, yes, I would.” Her eyes sparkled; at Marks and Spencer and Selfridges and their like, she was bound to find a couple of summer dresses within her budget. Mr. van der Beek, watching her face, reminded himself to leave her wages on the breakfast table and suppressed a sudden urge to whisk her away to one or other of the exquisite boutiques in and round Bond Street.

He moved away.

“That’s settled, then.” He sounded remote, “Let me know if there is anything which worries you.”

She didn’t see him for the rest of the week, only at dinner each evening, when he was careful to include her in the conversation with cool good manners. She thought about it in the fastness of her bedroom, getting ready for bed. She supposed that he found it awkward to have to entertain her while his sister and brother-in-law were there, but then, she argued logically, if they weren’t there she wouldn’t be either. Anyway, she had been urged to stand in for Nanny and she was doing her best to be unobtrusive.

Being unobtrusive wasn’t enough; Mr. van der Beek was as aware of her as if he had been sitting in a room knowing that there was a mouse in the corner, not making a sound but all the same leaving him in no doubt as to its presence.

Patience, with a week’s wages tucked into her pocket, watched them drive off on the Saturday morning. She was enjoying looking after Rosie but she had to admit that almost a whole day to herself would be nice. The only cloud on the horizon was Mr. van der Beek’s manner towards her: cool, almost cold, meticulously polite too, so that she became tongue-tied and avoided him as much as possible, and that, she reflected, wasn’t difficult.

Armed with the numbers of the buses she would need to take, information offered by an attentive Dobbs, she made herself ready and set out for the shops it was still fairly early. At the top of Oxford Street she got off the bus and made for Marks and Spencer at Marble Arch and, after one careful inspection, decided that she didn’t need to go anywhere else.

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