(Cabot, #1) After Midnight by Teresa Medeiros

Author:Teresa Medeiros [Medeiros, Teresa]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2005-07-19T11:40:40+00:00

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192 / Teresa Medeiros

As they huddled in the sitting room outside of

Vivienne’s bedchamber, waiting for the doctor to

finish his examination, the hazy glow of dawn be-

gan to soften the edges of the sky outside the win-

dow. Portia was curled up in the corner of a

damask-draped sofa, her expression unusually

pensive. Larkin restlessly paced the cozy room,

his long legs carrying him from the hearth to the

closed door of Vivienne’s chamber and back

again. Caroline sat stiffly in a ladder-backed chair,

her hands folded in her lap while Kane leaned

against the wall by the window, lost in his own

thoughts.

Everyone but Kane jumped when the door

swung open and the doctor emerged, trailed by

the freckled young maid Kane had addressed as

Mattie.

Although the physician’s questioning gaze im-

mediately went to the viscount, Caroline rose and

stepped forward, with Larkin hovering just be-

hind her shoulder. “I’m Caroline Cabot, sir—

Vivienne’s eldest sister.”

Dr. Kidwell had both the stature and demeanor

of a small, ill-tempered frog. He glowered at her

over the top of the steel spectacles riding low on

his pug nose. “Has your sister been exposed to

the elements recently? Suffered a period of pro-

tracted dampness perhaps?”

Hampered by exhaustion, Caroline searched

her memory. “Well, it was raining three nights

After Midnight / 193

ago when we arrived at the castle. I suppose Vivi-

enne might have—”

“Ah-ha!” he crowed, cutting her off. “Just as I

suspected! I believe I may have found the culprit.”

It took the last ounce of Caroline’s flagging

willpower, but she managed not to look at Kane.

Dr. Kidwell snapped his fingers at the cowering

maid. She crept forward and he whisked an object

out of her hands, holding it aloft. Caroline blinked,

recognizing it as one of her sister’s leather half-

boots. Flushed with triumph, the doctor slipped

his finger between the sole and the scuffed toe of

the boot, exposing an enormous gap.

Both Caroline and Portia gasped. When Aunt

Marietta had invited Vivienne to come to London,

Vivienne had inherited all of the lovely gowns

and kid slippers intended for Caroline’s debut.

But there had been no money left over from their

sparse allowance to buy new boots.

“There’s another one just like it tucked beneath

the bed,” the doctor informed them, “along with

a wadded-up pair of stockings that are still a little

damp.”

Caroline remembered wading through the muck

of the coaching inn courtyards, their shoulders

beaten down by the pouring rain. She shook her

head in dismay. “It would be just like Vivienne to

ride for hours without complaining once about the

holes in her boots or her soaked stockings.”

Larkin rested a hand on her shoulder, giving it

194 / Teresa Medeiros

a comforting squeeze. “Miss Vivienne seemed

perfectly fine at supper the night I arrived. She

was a bit pale, but other than that, she showed no

signs of distress.”

The doctor’s bulging eyes were not unkind.

“Sometimes these things lurk in the lungs for a

time, sapping the strength and the appetite before

they make themselves fully known.”

Caroline took a deep breath before asking the

most difficult question of all. “Will she recover?”

“Of course she will! She’s young and strong. I

suspect she’ll be back on her feet in no time. I’m

going to leave ingredients and instructions for a

medicinal mustard poultice.”

Caroline nodded, a belated swell of relief mak-

ing her knees go weak.

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