Appointment in Bath by Mimi Matthews

Author:Mimi Matthews
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Perfectly Proper Press

This doesn’t change anything, I promise you.

Meg spent the afternoon seated beside Mrs. Church and two of the housemaids in the Letchford Hall kitchen, Ivo’s parting assurance playing over and over in her head.

He’d kissed her.

He’d kissed her.

Yet, he’d said it didn’t change anything. And perhaps it hadn’t, for him. But for Meg, it had changed everything.

She’d realized as his lips had first brushed over hers, that she was falling in love with him.

Or perhaps she’d already fallen.

It had happened so gradually she didn’t know where it had begun. One moment she was stammering and blushing at him, dazzled by his beauty, and the next they were laughing and confiding in each other. Clasping gloved hands and exchanging confidences.

He was her friend. Of that she was certain. But somewhere along the way, he’d become something more. Not just a romantic daydream come to life, but a bespectacled, flesh-and-blood gentleman who held her trembling heart in his palm.

She felt all at once the full, stark vulnerability of her position. To unabashedly adore someone who didn’t adore her in return. It made her want to weep. To rage. To pour out her painful insecurities to a friend who might offer their advice and consolation.

Oh, but she wished Miss Adams was here!

“Have a care, miss,” one of the maids said. “You’ll gild your fingers.”

Meg started. She’d been so lost in her own melancholy ruminations that she’d let the goldleaf she was using to wrap acorns flake off all over her hands. “Oh dear. Thank you, Lucy. How c-clumsy of me.”

Mrs. Church shot Meg a narrow look as she gilded a walnut. “You’re in a world of your own today,” she remarked. “Have been ever since you returned from your ride.”

Meg willed herself not to blush under the old housekeeper’s scrutiny. “I have m-many things on my mind. My father’s illness chief among them.”

It was partially true. The specialist physician that Dr. Spragg had brought with him earlier had only served to reiterate Dr. Spragg’s recommendations. Worse, he’d advised an even stricter diet for Sir Frederick, with no alcohol, sweets, or red meats at all.

Meg’s father hadn’t been best pleased. He’d quarreled with both gentlemen, questioning their education, their breeding, and their basic good sense. Neither man had been able to stand up to him. Instead, they’d reserved their stern words and dire warnings for Meg. As if she could exert any influence!

“Huh,” Mrs. Church gave a doubtful grunt. She added another perfectly gilded nut to the row she’d already completed. “He’ll not get any better till he permits Cook to alter his menu.”

Mrs. Stapleton nodded from her place by the stove where she stood, stirring a pot of leek soup. “A haunch of venison, that’s what he’s requested for dinner. Venison, I tell you! I had four chickens ready, and then he says—”

“There is to be no venison,” Meg said. “No red meat whatsoever. The doctor commanded it.”

“I don’t answer to the doctor, miss,” the old cook replied.

“You will answer to me,” Meg replied in a voice of surprising calm.

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.