Lady of Desire by Darcy Burke

Author:Darcy Burke
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Published: 2014-08-17T22:00:00+00:00

A s Margery made her way down to supper, she took in the dark oak paneling and balustrade, all of which were polished to a glistening shine. Hollyhaven felt like a bachelor residence with its woodwork and lack of feminine décor—save her chamber—but perhaps that was because Mr. Bowen seemed to dominate every corner of the house, even when he wasn’t in her presence.

She kept finding herself staring at his mother’s portrait and wondering what it would be like to have never known your mother. The ache of losing her parents was always with her, but she’d at least enjoyed ten years of happy memories to soothe the pain. But then, Mr. Bowen couldn’t really miss what he’d never had, could he? No, it wasn’t the same at all.

His story about his grandmother had sent a wave of tears to her eyes, but she’d averted her face from Mr. Bowen and blinked them back. She and her father had liked to visit the kitchens late at night when the house was dark and silent. They’d raided the pantry for whatever they could find and talked about all manner of things: what the weather might be, what they were reading, which of Mrs. Cole’s sweets were best—the currant tarts or the Shrewsbury cakes. Margery could almost hear her father’s deep voice extolling the delights of the currant tarts, his favorite, and she had to swallow back the tears again.

What was wrong with her? She missed her parents, but she’d long ago moved past such maudlin reactions. Why was she succumbing to melancholia now?

She wasn’t. She refused. Stiffening her spine, she continued downstairs to the dining room. Then stopped short as she stepped inside.

Mr. Bowen stood near his chair at the head of the table, while Penn was positioned beside another. Children didn’t typically eat with the adults, though Margery had when it was just her and her parents. That Mr. Bowen had included his charge was yet another mark in his favor. This was most displeasing when she was working so hard to maintain a purely academic relationship.

“Good evening, Miss Derrington, you look lovely, as usual.” It could’ve been a perfunctory compliment, but when the words were spoken with a velvety tone and accompanied a heated gaze, she had to accept he meant it most sincerely.

“Thank you. Good evening, Penn, I’m pleased to see you’re joining us.” She snuck a look at Mr. Bowen who seemed pleased that she was pleased.

They took their seats and a footman, supervised by Thomas, served their first course.

The conversation was stilted at first as Margery attempted to engage Penn, who was far more interested in the food than anything else. She gave up after a while, and the meal fell into silence.

During the second course, Mr. Bowen spoke up. “We should reach Caerwent by afternoon tomorrow.”

Penn’s gaze shot toward Mr. Bowen. “You’re leaving again?”

“For a short trip. We’ll likely return the following day.”

Margery stared at him. Was he expecting not to decipher the code? Or

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