The Beautiful One by Greenwood Emily

Author:Greenwood, Emily [Greenwood, Emily]
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Publisher: Sourcebooks, Inc.
Published: 2015-04-01T07:00:00+00:00

Fifteen

Anna and Judith were standing in the foyer at the foot of Stillwell’s grand staircase the next morning and discussing with Dart the disposition of items from the attic when the viscount emerged from his library.

She hadn’t seen him since the afternoon before, when he left with Miss Chittister, and she was surprised he wasn’t now at the cottages. He had on a maroon waistcoat that looked very fine in contrast with his dark brown hair and hung perfectly on those broad shoulders that inspired the worst sort of weakness in her. Just the sight of him was giving her jelly legs. She looked away.

At least she would be leaving in a few weeks or, God forbid, sooner, if the effects of that book somehow reached her. For now she had Lizzie to focus on, and she would be grateful for any distraction the ball preparations would bring.

She could—she would—manage to live in the same house with him and behave as if nothing had happened.

“Judith,” he said in the emotionless tone he used with his stepmother, who nonetheless returned his greeting with serene warmth. He turned to Anna, and his eyes glittered at her with secret meaning. A rebellious heat warmed her lips in response. She pressed them together hard.

“A word with you, Anna.”

At that moment, from outside Stillwell’s double front doors came the sound of carriage wheels on gravel, and she supposed that he must be awaiting a visitor, perhaps Miss Chittister. Miss Chittister was an appropriate match for him, she told herself cruelly.

Judith, remarking to Anna that she would resume choosing furnishings from the attic, went upstairs.

“What are you doing with the furniture?” he asked Anna.

“Why not ask Judith? I’m sure she’d be happy to discuss her plans with you.”

“I’m asking you.”

She sighed. What was between him and his stepmother ran too deep for gentle prodding. “I’m helping her choose things from the attic to spruce up the manor so it will be festive for the ball. It does currently have rather the air of a monastery.”

He frowned, looking off into space. “I had some things put away after Ginger died. She’d been in the midst of redecorating before…” He shrugged, looking back at her. “I didn’t want the new things she’d bought around to remind me of her.”

“Like the picture on my chamber wall?”

“What’s that?”

“There’s a half-finished pastoral scene on a wall in my chamber.”

“That was Ginger’s idea, putting murals in some of the rooms. She liked to support artists.”

“I like her better and better,” she admitted. “I was going to have Lizzie finish the painting.”

“Really? Is she talented at painting and drawing?”

“As it turns out, those are not her best skills. She is, for one thing, extremely gifted in her studies. But I am quite fond of painting, and it rather undoes me to wake up every morning to a headless shepherd with no meadow for his sheep.”

“Then finish it if you want to.”

“Truly? You wouldn’t mind?”

He sighed. “In truth, Ginger would have hated to see it left undone.

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