The Beauty Within by Marguerite Kaye

Author:Marguerite Kaye [Kaye, Marguerite]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: Romance, Historical Romance, fullybook
ISBN: 9780263898255
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2012-12-31T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Seven

It had been Cressie’s idea for the boys to build a kite, the notion being spawned after reading of the American Benjamin Franklin’s use of them in his research into the nature of lightning. Unfortunately, Mr Franklin did not see fit to explain the method of construction, and Cressie had only the vaguest idea of the practicalities. Having fired up her brothers’ imagination with the project, she was at a loss as to how to progress it until Giovanni stepped in. With a few rough sketches, he explained the mechanics and sent the four boys off, with James in charge, in search of the various components.

Cressie was astounded when they returned, all four of them in unusual harmony—though when she thought about it, she realised that they did argue a lot less these days. Only when their father was at home had their bickering and jostling for position resumed, their individual demands for attention and precedent, which her father seemed to relish, in the manner of a king and his fawning courtiers. James, Harry, George and Freddie treated Giovanni as if he were not their king but their general, jumping to obey his every order, anxious to execute it to the best of their ability, quietly pleased rather than gloating when they earned his praise. Which Giovanni gave unsparingly, but justly, as he did his reprimands.

Unlike Lord Armstrong, who tended to blame whoever was convenient, or whoever was his current victim of choice. There was one particular time, when Cressie was twelve or thirteen. Caro it was, who had broken the Chinese figure which had been a gift to their father from the British Ambassador to that far-off country, but it was Cressie who was sent to bed for being discovered in the same room as the pieces, despite Caro’s noble protests of guilt. Caroline, their father had insisted, was simply trying to cover up for her clumsy sister.

The memory was startlingly vivid. There had been many of these little pastiches of recollection popping into Cressie’s head these last few days, long-forgotten, usually trivial things, which caught her by surprise with their freshness. Had she tucked them away because they were too painful, or because they would have made her attempts to conform too painful? Both, most likely. The surprising thing was that they didn’t hurt now. They made her sad, often wistful, but neither regretful nor resentful. There was no point in railing at her past, and now that she was starting to understand herself more, she could see that each memory was part of her, and each one could be turned to a more positive effect. It might be fanciful but she felt as if she were evolving and in doing so growing stronger.

Her brothers had scorned Cressie’s inept attempts to help them build their kite, demanding Giovanni’s assistance instead. She’d been happy to step out of the fray and more than happy to watch the kite take shape under Giovanni’s expert guidance—though he disguised his efforts so well, her brothers were convinced the finished product was entirely their own work.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.