Eugenia's Embrace by Cassie Edwards

Author:Cassie Edwards [Edwards, Cassie]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Romance
ISBN: 9780890839522
Publisher: Zebra
Published: 1982-01-01T06:00:00+00:00

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Chapter Thirteen

Eugenia awakened with a start, at first not remembering where she was. Then one fast look around her told her the answer. The room was one of loveliness. She could even smell the freshness of the wallpaper that Dawn said had just been hung. Its small specks of rosebuds shone back to Eugenia in soft reds, to match the red brocade draperies closed at her one bedroom window. The slight flickering of a gaslight on the wall beside her bed lighted the room enough for her to compare it with what she had left behind the day before. It wasn't as magnificent, and the colors were much bolder than the lilac that she had grown accustomed to, but the dark red wine of the mahogany bedstead, bureau, and bedside table was what she would have least expected to find in the room that Dawn would furnish her with.

Feeling a chill, Eugenia climbed from the bed. Clutching her arms around her, she went to the small coal stove at the far end of the room. She opened its front door and threw in a few coals, then draped a gown around her shoulders. Her thoughts went to Drew and how fast he had disappeared from her life once again. And Frederick? What had he done when he had found her gone? She had to wonder if he would come searching, but she knew that surely he wouldn't guess where she had gone. Unless Clarissa described Dawn to him, then he would go from there. A light tap on her door drew her attention. "Yes?" she asked, waiting.

"Eugenia, it's me," Dawn said, sounding more raspy this morning than she had sounded the night before. Then there was that cough. Eugenia cringed inside when she heard Dawn laboring for breath as she opened the door, facing her with a frown.

"Are you even worse this morning?" Eugenia asked, taking Dawn's hand in hers, guiding her in by the now roaring fire. "Here. Take off the chill. Sit down and let's talk."

"I've let you sleep later than the girls," Dawn said, covering her mouth with a lace-trimmed, white handkerchief, coughing once again. She sat down and placed her feet up next to the stove. "But the girls are now downstairs waiting to have tea with us."

"I'm afraid they'll resent me," Eugenia said, sitting opposite Dawn. "Especially Alison. She seemed so surprised by the announcement last night. Had she possibly been expecting to be made madam? Remember how you had worked under Madam Valerie with such hopes?"

Dawn laughed hoarsely, but again covered her mouth. Only the emptiness of her blue eyes peeked above the handkerchief. "Yes. Possibly," she answered. "But she'll just have to be a madam elsewhere, if being madam is really what she wants. She's a bit too sullen for a madam in my establishment. One must be sparkling at all times. Full of vitality. The lust for life. That's where I'm failing now. That's why I came to you. Because none of my other girls could fill my shoes either.

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