Splendid by Julia Quinn

Author:Julia Quinn
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub, azw3, pdf
ISBN: 9780380780747
Publisher: Avon
Published: 1995-04-01T07:00:00+00:00

Chapter 14

The next morning Emma found that love had another symptom: she couldn't eat. Or rather, she couldn't eat in front of Alex.

She didn't seem to have any trouble at all when he wasn't in the room.

When she arrived downstairs for breakfast, Sophie, Eugenia, and Belle were already eating. Emma was famished, and she

sat down, ready to devour what looked like a scrumptious omelet.

Then Alex arrived.

Emma's stomach began to flutter as fast as a hummingbird's wings. She couldn't manage to get down a bite.

"Is the omelet not to your liking?" Eugenia asked.

"I'm not very hungry," Emma replied quickly. "But it's delicious, thank you."

Alex, who had strategically positioned himself right next to her, leaned over and whispered, "I can't imagine how you would

know since you haven't tried a bite."

She smiled wanly and put a forkful in her mouth. It tasted like sawdust. She looked over at Eugenia.

"Perhaps just some tea."

By lunchtime Emma thought she might perish from hunger. Alex had had to take care of some estate business, so she and

Belle had spent the morning exploring the house. When they arrived in the informal dining room, her heart sank when she

realized that he wasn't there.

Her stomach, however, rejoiced.

She quickly downed a plate of roast turkey and potatoes, fearful that he would arrive any minute. After she had finished a generous helping of peas and asparagus, she thought to ask Eugenia about his whereabouts.

"Well, I was hoping he'd join us," his mother replied. "But he had to go out to the northwest corner of Generated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html

the estate to inspect the damage from last week's rainstorm."

"Is it very far?" Emma asked. Perhaps she could join him.

"Over an hour's ride, I should think."

"I see." She hadn't realized that Alex's landholdings were quite that vast. "Well, in that case I'll just have some of those lovely meringues."

Emma decided with a sigh that it was most likely all for the best that he'd been called away. If he had spent every minute by her side (which she had a feeling was his original intention), she'd probably have wasted away by the time she got back to London.

But she couldn't deny the fact that, despite the disturbance Alex caused her, she longed for his company every minute he was gone. She went for a ride through the countryside, but she didn't enjoy herself because Alex wasn't there to race her to the

apple tree she came across a couple of miles east of Westonbirt. And then he wasn't around to tease her when she deftly

climbed the tree or to compliment her aim when she launched one of the apples into the air, pegged a weak branch, and sent

five more apples tumbling down. She gave the fruit to Charlie when she returned, and he was so happy about the prospect of

fresh apple tarts that he felt compelled to race up and down the stairs six times. His exuberance was infectious, but it just

didn't lift her spirits like one of Alex's smiles. Emma doubted that anything could.

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