Doorway to His Heart by Jo Barrett

Author:Jo Barrett
Language: eng
Format: azw3
ISBN: 9781612175300
Publisher: The Wild Rose Press, Inc.
Published: 2012-05-21T14:00:00+00:00

Chapter Six

A few days passed with little interference from Barnaby where Michelle was concerned. She dined with him and Conrad on most occasions, but something had changed since Lady Whitley and Lady Habersham’s visit. She’d felt things ease between them as they’d walked the gardens, almost a truce, maybe a new beginning, then in a blink, things were different.

Conrad cast away all thoughts of the previous Millicent, and she adored him for it. She couldn’t ask for a better friend, but somehow his acceptance of her, of Millie, didn’t sit well with Barnaby. At least that was her best guess. He was so closed mouthed and distant, she didn’t know what to think.

Conrad said to give him time, but it was difficult, fighting the need, the desire to talk to him, to be with him. She couldn’t believe she was falling for a man who did his best to pretend she didn’t exist.

Martha finished fixing her hair and grinned at her reflection. “You’re as lovely as a picture.”

The deep blue ball gown was perfection, although it had needed a tuck here and there with her loss of weight, not to mention an alteration at the neck. Why did Millicent like such high-collared dresses?

Martha surveyed her skirts as she circled her. Her gaze lit on the adjusted neckline. “Are you sure you don’t want a fichu? You’ve never wore a dress so—revealing before.”

“No, I think this is perfect.”

Her finger trailed the odd scar across her breast partially hidden by the soft lace edge of the dress. She wondered how she—Millicent got it, but there was no one to ask, not even Barnaby. She doubted he’d ever seen it, if her comprehension of the diary was correct. She and Barnaby did not, and she doubted they every truly had, share a bed. Not the way she wanted to.

She spun away from the mirror and slipped on her gloves.

“Perhaps you should take it with you, incase you get chilled,” Martha suggested, holding out the small scarf, a worried frown on her face.

There was something telling in her insistence she take the thing, then it hit Emily. Millicent was as vain as she was cruel. She used the high collars and fichus to hide her scar.

She glanced at the abundance of powders on her dressing table, mostly untouched by her since she’d arrived. The woman before hid behind her cold white powders and layers of expensive fabrics, always determined to present perfection, her idea of perfection, anyway.

Taking the fichu from her maid, she nodded. “Thank you, you’re quite right in that it might grow chilly.” But with all the fabric hanging on her and the effort it took to carry it all, she didn’t think a winter freeze would cool her off. But it eased the worry from Martha’s face.

She moved to the door, then paused. “Martha?”

“Yes, my lady?”

“Thank you,” she said, smiling.

Martha beamed. “You’re very welcome, my lady. I know you’ll have a grand time.”

Emily took a deep breath, hoping the same, and left to join the men.

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