The Best Intentions: Book 1, The Huntresses by Sarah M. Eden

Author:Sarah M. Eden [Eden, Sarah M.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Covenant Communications, Inc.
Published: 2022-11-22T00:00:00+00:00

The new arrivals had been gathered in the drawing room, laughing and gabbing, for more than two hours. Scott didn’t seem as if he meant to run off immediately, which soothed Gillian’s battered heart a bit. He’d even smiled at her once. It wasn’t the same as the banter they’d exchanged or as pleasant as the moments when he’d held her hand or put his arms around her . . . or kissed her. But at least they weren’t going to part on bad terms.

Dr. Lowry slipped into the room and motioned for her to join him in the corridor. She did so without hesitation.

“Is something the matter with Mrs. Brownlow?” she asked.

“She was feeling particularly tired, so Mr. Walker sent for me.”

Why hadn’t her father sent for her?

“But I do not think there is reason for significant worry,” the doctor said. “Her body is reminding her how terribly ill she was only a few days ago. A bit of extra rest will see her set to rights.”

“Is there anything else that ought to be done for her?”

“A visitor or two when she is rested. Not everyone all at once though.” He glanced in the direction of the drawing room.

“I will make certain of that.” Gillian would not allow Mrs. Brownlow to be overset. “Will she survive this illness?” Now that she’d asked the question, she was almost afraid of the answer. But she needed to know.

“I predict she will be with you for many years to come.”

To her horror, Gillian felt tears well up in her eyes. She would have expected to cry only if the doctor had made the opposite declaration. To be reduced to tears by good news was yet another humiliation that day.

Quite without warning, a hand slipped gently around hers. She didn’t even have to look. Lavender and citrus. She knew it was Scott who had arrived silently at her side. He gave her a handkerchief, which she put to use without letting go of his hand.

“Is there anything I can do for Mrs. Brownlow?” Scott asked the doctor.

“I suspect seeing to Miss Phelps’s happiness will help secure Mrs. Brownlow’s.” Dr. Lowry’s smile was a little too knowing, as if he were acknowledging some secret between the three of them. “I will leave you to each other’s company.” He was as good as his word and stepped out immediately.

Scott’s kindnesses to her and the praise she’d asked him to heap on her had led now to, at least in the eyes of the doctor, a rather awkward assumption about the connection between them.

“I truly am sorry about all of this,” she said. “You having to stay so long and now the entanglements that doing so is creating. I clearly didn’t think it through very well.”

“I assure you, you have apologized enough.” He kept her hand in his, something she liked more than she should have. “I’m not angry, and I’ve enjoyed my time here.”

“Truly?” She wanted to believe him.

“Truly.”

It didn’t assuage all her guilt, but it did ease some of her heartache.

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