Memory's Embrace by Linda Lael Miller

Author:Linda Lael Miller [Miller, Linda Lael]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: Romance, Fiction, Historical, General, (¯`'•.¸//(*_*)\\¸.•'´¯)
ISBN: 9780671737696
Google: jvUXlAEACAAJ
Amazon: 1451628110
Publisher: Pocket Books
Published: 1991-06-01T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter Ten

THE WINE MADE AN ENORMOUS BURGUNDY SPLOTCH ON the bodice of Tess’s cherished yellow lawn gown. “You ruined my dress!” she sputtered, wadding a napkin and dabbing furiously, hopelessly at the stain.

“In this world, my sweet, you get what you give. You know, of course, that now we’ll have to go upstairs and disturb the dewy-eyed lovers?”

Tess was simmering, but her emotions fell short of a true rage. After all, she had flung the first glass of wine. As much as she might have liked to overlook that small point, she could not. “I’ll never forgive you for spoiling this beautiful dress,” she muttered, as they rose simultaneously from their chairs.

“Buy another,” said Rod, ignoring the speculative stares of all the other diners and suavely offering his arm. And Tess was amazed to see that even with wine droplets glistening in his hair and his shirt stained purple he managed to seem debonair.

Outside Suite 17, Tess waited nervously while Rod ventured in to get the lay of the situation. Across the hall was another suite, and, mostly to distract herself, she went closer to peer at the shining brass plate affixed to the door. “Corbin,” it said, and beneath it, in letters just as elegantly etched, if smaller, “Private.”

Tess was unaccountably jarred. Though she had known that Keith’s family was rich—why else would they offer such a fortune for the return of their lost member—she had not guessed that they were this rich. Given the wagon, the mule, and that disreputable hat, it was difficult to think of Keith as wealthy.

Something made her try the door, and the knob turned in her hand. She peeked inside, found the room shadowy and dark. Perhaps Keith hadn’t left after all—the very possibility made her feel as though she’d just awakened from the dead. Perhaps he was still in Portland.

“Keith?” She said his name even though she knew that he wasn’t in the suite. But he couldn’t have gone far, she reasoned, or he would have locked the place.

Tess reluctantly slipped back into the hallway and closed the door. When Rod came out, she was standing at a good distance from the Corbin suite, looking as though she’d never stoop to peeking inside it. “Well?” she snapped, conscious of the stain on her very best dress and the trickle of wine between her breasts.

“It’s safe,” her half-brother responded, with an impish grin. “They’re sitting by the parlor fire, playing whist.”

Tess tried to hurry past the newlyweds without drawing attention to herself, but her mother called to her.

Blushing, Tess turned.

“What on earth—?” Olivia whispered, frowning at the hideous blotch on her daughter’s dress.

“There was a slight accident,” put in Rod, who was being awfully diplomatic and brotherly all of a sudden.

Asa laid his cards down on the table and assessed his son with dark, wise eyes. “Strange that this strange fate befell you, as well,” he observed, taking in Rod’s purple shirt with remarkable equanimity.

“Do change out of that dress, dear,” Olivia clucked. “Perhaps it can be saved.

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