The Depth of Beauty by A.B. Michaels

Author:A.B. Michaels [Michaels, A.B.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780991508976
Publisher: Red Trumpet Press

Chapter Thirty-Nine

He hasn’t changed his attitude toward me one bit, Mandy thought with dismay as she headed over to see Katherine Firestone. He doesn’t see me as anything but the little girl he practically patted on the head when he left. She didn’t know what to expect when Will Firestone came back, only that the idea of seeing him again filled her with a thrilling combination of excitement, trepidation, and joy. All those month he’d been gone, she’d thought of him every day, even written letters which she hadn’t had the courage to send. Somewhere along the way she’d accepted the fact that her father was gone, and she rarely pretended to write to him. But she still wrote in her journal, and often it was about Mr. Firestone. She speculated about his life…tried to imagine the places he’d traveled to…worried about his safety…and longed to know if he would ever decide to come home again. When she’d heard of his intended return, her heart had danced a jig in anticipation.

What had she expected—that he’d look at her differently? See her as someone other than the gawky girl who’d been foisted upon him? Yes, she admitted, if only to herself. She wanted him to see her as a woman and not a girl. And a woman who might even interest him. She had hoped the new dress would help him to do that.

Because that is certainly the way she saw him. She dared not look back for fear he, Gus, and Lia would be watching her. But oh, how she wanted to stare at him! It was as if the man, who started out handsome enough, had been sent through a crucible and forged into a sharper, more masculine version of himself. His face was tanned, which made his icy blue eyes stand out more, even behind his ever-present spectacles. His hair was longer, brushing the collar of his elegant attire. And he seemed bigger and broader, stronger, somehow. Her body responded to him of its own accord. Feeling this way made her extremely uneasy and she wished she could talk to someone about it. But the logical choice, Kit, was his very own sister. And Lia, well, she was afraid Lia might still think of her the way Mr. Firestone apparently did: as nothing more than a schoolgirl, at least when it came to men.

Perhaps Wu Jade would be a good sounding board. She was a woman of the world now, having married Fung Hai last summer. They already had a child on the way. But Wu was so busy, still running the School of Needle Arts, that in truth she didn’t have time to listen to Mandy’s whining.

Because that’s certainly what it was. Why couldn’t she be happy with what she had? Lia appreciated her work, and she and Gus and their children were the best substitute family one could hope for.

But for so long now, she’d wondered what it would feel like to have Mr. Firestone touch her, as a man touches a woman.

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