Midsummer Madness by Millard Nadine

Author:Millard, Nadine
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fiction, Historical, Romance
Publisher: Dragonblade Publishing, Inc.
Published: 2022-06-09T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Seventeen

“Well, you definitely got up to something last night. There’s an air about you.”

Hope rolled her eyes at Francesca’s suspicious statement. She was exhausted enough as it was without the interrogation. Sleep had, unsurprisingly, eluded her last night, and she’d spent the night tossing and turning before drifting off as the birds began to chirp. Even then, her dreams had been filled with memories of Gideon and that mouth and those hands…

They’d spent most of the morning having the same conversation over and over again. And now, they had apparently decided to start up again, even though she was trying her best to ignore them all by pretending to read her novel.

“See? She’s gone all funny again.”

Hope scowled at Sophia, who was now watching her suspiciously, too.

“I just didn’t sleep very well last night,” Hope said as calmly as she could, though her heart was racing. In truth, her entire world had shifted last night. She’d allowed Gideon to take liberties that Elodie and Christian would probably lock her up for. Yet, she could not bring herself to regret it.

The problem, she’d decided at some point in the never-ending night, was that she suspected she’d gone and fallen in love with the man, which was, of course, a disaster. For a whole host of reasons. Namely that he had given no indication that he felt the same way, he had expressed no wish to marry and made her no promises, and given his past and what that odious woman had done to his entire family, he wasn’t likely to ever trust someone enough to open his heart to her.

She heaved a sigh that felt as though it came from the depths of her soul before noticing that everyone’s focus was still on her. Cheska’s in particular.

Francesca had always had an odd ability to tell when any of them was lying, and Sophia would just stir up trouble whenever and however she could. Hope looked to Elodie and Christian, for once wanting one of her older sister’s lectures about proper conversation. But to her horror, Elle was gazing avidly at her, with Christian looking almost as suspicious as Cheska.

“You were out there with someone Hope. And I have a fairly good guess as to who that might have been.”

Hope shrugged her shoulders, feigning a nonchalance she didn’t quite feel.

“You do? For the life of me, I can’t remember which of my admirers it was. Perhaps you can give me a clue?”

Christian’s growl indicated that her brother-in-law might not be all that entertained by her quip, and she smiled sweetly, batting her lashes.

“Funny, Hope,” he drawled. But then his eyes hardened slightly as he sat back, draping an arm over the back of Elle’s chair. “You know, I couldn’t help but notice that Claremont seemed to go missing around the same time as you did. Right after your dance, as a matter of fact.”

“Is that so?” she asked. “How curious.”

“Hope…”

A knock sounded from the front door, and they all froze.

Hope darted her eyes to the longcase clock.

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