Devil in Disguise by Kleypas Lisa

Author:Kleypas, Lisa
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Little, Brown Book Group
Published: 2021-07-26T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 20

KEIR AWOKE THE NEXT morning just as a maid quietly left the room with the wood scuttle. A small fire snapped in the hearth, softening the night’s chill. Sounds drifted from other parts of the house as servants went about their daily chores. He heard a few low-voiced exchanges, a delicate rattle of china or glass, shutters being opened, a carpet being swept. His nose twitched and his mouth watered as he detected the faint hint of something rich and salty frying—bacon, maybe?—and the sweetness of baking bread. Breakfast soon, he thought, his usual appetite asserting itself.

Carefully he got out of bed and hobbled to the washstand. The left side of his rib cage was as sore and tender as if it had been split by a plowshare. He had a headache and a come-and-go ringing in his ears. But worst of all were his lungs, weak and wheezy, like a ruptured blacksmith’s bellows.

In a few minutes he made his way to one of the windows. Morning had come with frost on its back, turning the edges of the glass panes white and crystalline. The house was set on high ground above the Challon family’s private cove, with grassy dunes belting the pale crescent of a sand beach, and a fetch of calm blue water. Far outside the estate at Heron’s Point, the busy world of smokestacks and railway terminals went about its business, but here within the boundaries of Kingston’s domain, time moved at a different pace. It was a world—

That smell in the air was definitely bacon.

—a world where people had the luxury to read, think, and discuss high-minded subjects.

He needed to go home to Islay and fill his lungs with cold salt breezes off the sea, and sleep in the house where he’d been raised. Even if he couldn’t manage to cook for himself yet, he had scores of friends and—

Salty, chewy bacon with crisp edges. God, he was starving.

—friends and neighbors who would welcome him to their tables. He would go back where he belonged, among his people, where everything was familiar. Not that anyone could rightly complain about recuperating in a duke’s mansion. But a cage was no less of a cage for having been gilded.

Someone tapped at the door.

“Come in,” Keir said.

A housemaid entered, carrying a tray fitted with little legs. “Will you take breakfast in bed, sir?”

“Aye, thank you.” Realizing he was standing before her in nothing but a nightshirt, he hastened back to the bed. He drew in a sharp breath as he tried to climb in too quickly.

The maid, a dark-haired girl with a pleasant and capable air, set the tray on a table. “Try to roll into the bed with your back all stifflike,” she suggested. “Me brother once cracked a rib after comin’ back too beery from the tavern. Fell down the stairs. After that, if he forgot and twisted or turned, he said it was like Satan stabbin’ him with a flamin’ pitchfork.”

“That’s the feel of it,” Keir agreed wryly.

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.