The Star of India by Amanda McCabe - The Star of India

Author:Amanda McCabe - The Star of India [McCabe, Amanda]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Romance, Nineteenth Century, Traditional Regency, Fiction, Regency, Historical
ISBN: 0451213378
Google: vryyi5u5jmIC
Barnesnoble:
Goodreads: 12696702
Publisher: Signet
Published: 2003-12-31T16:00:00+00:00

David had thought this morning would be a good time to find gifts to send back to Calcutta for his grandmother and female cousins. Lengths of pale English muslins, with their light colors and dainty prints, would amuse them, and Lady Wilton had suggested this warehouse to him. She had given him the address in a whisper, as if it was a great secret. And, of course, Anjali had insisted on accompanying him.

As he settled her into the carriage, with the window half-open so she would not become ill from the lurching, swaying motion, he told her, “Now, we cannot be long at the shops. I have an appointment I must keep this afternoon.” A very important appointment indeed, with Emily at the British Museum. He could feel himself grinning like a fool just thinking about seeing her again.

Anjali leaned forward, and said, in her solemn voice, “Is it an appointment with that lady we met in Gunter’s? The one with the yellow curls?”

David stared at his daughter in surprise. He had thought she barely took notice of meeting Emily at Gunter’s, she had been so very quiet. Even when they returned home, she retreated into the silence of a book. He certainly had not told her of this planned meeting. Anjali watched him closely with her large green eyes, as he concealed his surprise behind a light smile. He reached out to tweak at her hair ribbon.

“Do you mean Lady Emily, shona-moni?” he said carelessly. “I may see her there.”

Anjali nodded slowly, her gaze never leaving his face. She looked so much like her great-grandmother when she was in such a mood, stern and all-seeing. At such times, he could hardly fathom that he had fathered such an otherworldly little creature. “Lady Emily is very pretty,” she said. “But she is not very much like Mama.”

That was certainly very true. Rupasri had been lovely, with her fall of black hair and smooth, honey-colored skin, but she had been quiet, submissive as she had been taught to be. She had no secrets behind her dark eyes, as Emily held in the sky color of hers. Rupasri did not seem to spring as she walked, the way Emily did. Emily seemed almost as if she would break into a dash every time she moved, as if she danced even while standing still. The power of the sun almost burst from her bright hair, from her very fingertips.

But how could he say such things to his daughter? How would she understand how Emily made him feel, when he did not even understand it himself? He only knew that when he saw Emily he felt alive.

“No,” he told Anjali. “She is not very much like your mama. But she is very pretty, and very nice, too.”

“Are you going to marry her, then, Papa?”

Anjali’s quiet question conjured a sudden image in his mind—himself and Emily emerging from a church door, wreathed in smiles and rose petals. Emily turned to glance up at him, a lace veil falling back from her face as her mouth lifted for his kiss .

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