Holly by Jude Deveraux

Author:Jude Deveraux [Deveraux, Jude]
Language: eng
Format: epub, azw3, pdf
Tags: General, Romance, Fantasy, Fiction
ISBN: 9780743478960
Google: iiDsbWILC1MC
Amazon: 0743478967
Publisher: Atria
Published: 2003-11-15T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Ten

Holly was sure that the attic of Belle Chere was the hottest place on earth. The windows had long ago been nailed shut, then painted over, and her conscience wouldn't allow her to pry them open. No, the windows would need to be carefully taken out, the paint removed, the frames repaired, then put back into place.

She'd worn her best white linen trousers, cute little flat sandals, and a black cotton sleeveless top. She'd thought that she'd be cool enough, and she'd thought that the research would so absorb her that she'd be able to bear the heat, but it was still morning and she was sweltering.

Yet again, she looked at the big fan at the end of the long, dusty room. How many years since anyone had turned it on? she wondered. From the look of it, it had been new in about 1957. She wasn't surprised to see an old wooden toolbox open beside the fan. It looked as though someone had tried to fix it but had given up and walked away.

She stepped between two horsehide-covered trunks to look out the sealed, dirty window. She could see Nick below, lying in a hammock under an enormous pecan tree, his eyes closed and looking as cool as ice.

This morning he'd been a pain. Because her father had insisted on all of them hearing the first draft of his sermon, Holly hadn't been able to leave the house until 9:00 A.M. She'd been dying to get her hands on the Belle Chere files, but she'd had to wait. When she got away, Nick was sitting on the porch waiting for her.

"Which car will you be wanting, Miss?" he asked.

"Cut it out," she snapped, not looking at him. She was checking the contents of her red leather briefcase to make sure she had all her research materials. Without looking at Nick, she walked to her own car and prepared to get behind the wheel, but Nick brushed her hand away, signaling that he would drive.

They didn't speak during the few minutes it took them to get to Belle Chere. Without looking at him, she used the key Lorrie had given her and opened the front door, leaving Nick outside.

It was as cool in the house as eighteenth-century technology could make it. The central hall was, as they say, "high, wide, and handsome". For a moment, Holly hummed a tune and waltzed about the hall. Parties had been held in the hall. Who designs houses for dancing nowadays? she thought.

She stopped waltzing and decided to go straight up to the attic before it got too hot. But it already was too hot. Centuries-old houses were one thing, but centuries-old air was another.

By 10:30 she was so sweaty she felt as though she'd been swimming. When a bead of sweat dropped off her nose onto an old document, she knew something had to be done. Tomorrow she'd get service people to install a new fan – or a window air conditioner.

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