An Agent for Meg by Julia Ridgmont

Author:Julia Ridgmont [Ridgmont, Julia]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2019-10-11T05:00:00+00:00

Chapter Eight

When at last Meg was done, she gratefully clocked out for the day and began the two-mile walk home. To her surprise, two blocks down the street, Carl rounded the corner she was approaching and fell into step beside her. “What are you doing?” Then, realizing how rude that sounded, she amended, “I mean, I wasn’t expecting you.”

“Obviously,” he said with a grin. Then it faded. “You look like you’re all done in.”

“That’s putting it mildly.”

“If you’d like, I can arrange to pick you up in a carriage every day from work.”

“No. I don’t want anyone to see you when you’ve only left the premises an hour or two earlier.”

“I’m in disguise then, remember?” he said out of the corner of his mouth.

“Still . . .” Her brain was too tired to come up with a better argument, so she fell silent, which was just as well because they really shouldn’t be discussing their case out in the open. She had to admit that a carriage ride did sound wonderful. “How I wish I could soak my tired muscles in a hot tub tonight.” She didn’t realize she’d blurted it out loud until Carl raised his eyebrows and grinned. “Never mind,” she muttered. “I wasn’t thinking when I said that.”

His soft chuckle was his only response.

At home, she hardly had enough energy to eat the leftovers she had stored away from the previous night. She had scarcely lifted the last bite to her mouth when Carl appeared from around the corner of the kitchen, looking quite pleased with himself.

“I’ve got a washbasin filled with hot water for you, along with a towel and soap. I’ll leave you alone so you can bathe in privacy.”

She sat there, staring at him, mouth agape. He grinned even wider. “Thank you,” she finally stammered.

Looking abashed, he shrugged as if it was no big deal. But it was. Rising up on her sore feet, she walked over to him and planted a warm kiss on his cheek. “You’re a good man, Carl Porter.”

***

Two weeks later, Meg and Carl were no closer to finding Mrs. Montrose. Meg was kept so busy at work with her cleaning duties that she came home every night exhausted, which usually resulted in her falling straight into bed. On those occasions, Carl would wake her after a while and coax her to eat a little food before she lay back down and drifted off again. As her body slowly adjusted to the work load, this happened less frequently, and she was actually able to enjoy a short conversation with her husband while they ate together just before bedtime.

Though he didn’t say much when she said goodnight, she was well aware of the way his gaze lingered on her as she left the front room. Her breath hitched, and she barely made it into the bedroom and shut the door before collapsing against it and letting the air whoosh out of her lungs. Was he wanting to make their marriage real?

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.