Brynthwaite Promise: A Silver Foxes of Westminster Novella by Farmer Merry

Author:Farmer, Merry
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2018-07-25T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 7

She liked him. It came as a complete shock. Ted Folley. She could hardly believe it. The boy she and her friends had always laughed at, back when she had friends. She’d thought his tender feelings for her were an embarrassment, that they would fade with time, but there they were on a Friday afternoon, hiking to the top of one of the hills overlooking Lake Brynswater, Ted carrying a picnic basket, a smile on his face. The friends she’d had in school had long since abandoned her as a hopeless cause after being chased away too many times by her father when they’d come calling, but Ted, apparently, had never given up.

“What about here?” he asked as they reached the crest of the hill, near a sprawling oak tree. “It’s a pretty view.”

“Yes, it is,” she said. Her voice was quiet and small under the weight of her uncomfortable thoughts.

Ted set the picnic basket in the grass, then reached out for the blanket she’d been carrying. Together, they spread it in the shade, then sat. Ted opened the basket, and they unpacked it together, setting out their meal. June didn’t have a clue what to say.

“I think Oliver was happy to be left in charge of the pub,” Ted said as they started eating.

“You think so?” June nibbled at the corner of the pasty she’d made as part of a batch for both the picnic and for the pub earlier.

Ted nodded, swallowing the bite he’d been chewing. “He’s an ambitious young chap. I have half a mind to give him more responsibility. Maybe that way the two of us could have more free time.”

Free time. June stared at him, barely grasping the concept. Old, tired suspicions tried to flare up in her, urging her to question his motives and the consequences for her. Instead of indulging those thoughts, she forced herself to take a slow breath and say, “I haven’t had free time in nearly fifteen years.”

Ted had been staring out at the lake, but he turned to her, his brow inching up. The surprise in his expression left June wondering if he understood just how much effort she’d put into taking his comment for what it was. “It must feel strange not to be up to your eyeballs in work.”

Something seemed to uncoil in June’s chest, stretching as if awaking from a deep slumber full of bad dreams. “Yes,” she admitted. “I don’t know what to do with myself. This is all so…unfamiliar.”

Ted reached for her hand, giving it a simple squeeze. He didn’t laugh or argue with her or tell her she shouldn’t feel the way she did. He didn’t say anything at all. He just kept eating his pasty.

“I’m going to put on a few pounds,” he laughed several minutes later, after finishing his pasty and picking up a second one. “Your cooking is simply delicious.”

“Thank you.” She smiled. It wasn’t a beaming smile, but it felt good. In all her life, her father and brothers hadn’t complimented her cooking once.

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