Scandal Takes the Stage by Leigh Eva

Author:Leigh, Eva [Leigh, Eva]
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2015-07-27T07:00:00+00:00

Chapter 18

Phoebe enters. Sees Lord Diabold, who does not observe her.

Phoebe: The day I dreaded has finally arrived!

The Shattered Heart

Setting down her quill, Maggie stretched her back, working out the knots that had gathered after hours of writing.

She’d written ten completed manuscript pages today. Though the words seemed to flow from her unhindered now, she could ill-afford to court another bout of writer’s block. Part of her wanted to push on, knowing how much was at stake with this work. But a Muse was an erratic being. Whatever Maggie was doing at this point to keep that creature happy, she had to keep it up.

Better not to test her luck. Ten pages was a marked improvement over no pages at all.

She still couldn’t believe how vast a sea change had occurred. She’d had a bare hint of it in London, when she’d spent time with Cam, but this was even greater. Now, everything flowed. From a barren desert to a flood of words. Fear had given way to amazement. She felt reborn, yet more herself than ever before. She didn’t know why the change had happened, only that it had. Something about this place—being surrounded by Cam’s presence—seemed to unlock something within her.

She fell asleep dreaming of her work, and woke with it fresh in her mind. It was as though a dull, dry husk covering her had fallen away. Her wings were fresh, still wet. Delicate. She worried still that those wings might tear. But she had to press forward, and not let doubt tug her down.

After sanding her paper and making certain the ink was dry, she put the sheets in the top drawer of her desk. Rising, she gave her back another bend, feeling her spine make a satisfying pop. Before, her back would lock up with frustration and terror. Now, it was with the tension born from hours of work. She’d never been so glad to feel the familiar pain.

The cup of tea beside her had gone cold, but she didn’t call for another. It already felt peculiar to have people waiting on her. In the days that she’d been at Marwood Park, she still hadn’t acclimated to life with servants. She kept saying please and thank you, a habit she doubted she would ever drop. They might be paid for their work, but that didn’t mean that Maggie would take the servants’ work for granted. In that, she supposed she would never make a good aristocrat. Not that the chance was forthcoming.

Nor would she take it, if it was offered.

Still, she mused, there were considerable advantages to having wealth and power. That was never in doubt. And now that she had been staying at Marwood Park, she’d begun to dream of a country retreat of her own. Obviously, it would have to be on a smaller scale than this vast estate. However, the idea of having a place to escape to from the din and burdens of the city seemed a delightful, albeit distant, fantasy.

If

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