Ella. Virginia Taylor
Чтение книги онлайн.
Читать онлайн книгу Ella - Virginia Taylor страница 14
Название: Ella
Автор: Virginia Taylor
Издательство: Ingram
Жанр: Сказки
Серия: South Landers
isbn: 9781616509255
isbn:
He kissed her cheek, holding her upper arms. In a deliberate movement, he took a step back. After a moment of utter stillness, he nodded as if saying goodnight and walked off, the dogs trailing behind him.
She touched her cool palms to her face. The heat didn’t subside. Gathering her skirts, she ran back to the homestead understanding that he hadn’t treated her either as a lady or a station owner.
He had simply shown her what a man wanted from a woman.
* * * *
With the evening meal cooked and ready to be served and the daylight waning, Ella dressed in a dark brown taffeta she’d had fashioned two years ago so that she could attend formal functions with Papa. She presented herself in the kitchen and took her apron from the hook behind the door.
“My,” Rose said, staring. “You look very fine. Perhaps I ought to have a gown made in that color…after we get our money, of course.”
“And after we have bought the house?”
Rose took the serving spoons from the dresser drawer and made a sound of agreement.
Ella breathed out with relief. “If you want your inheritance to take to your husband, Vianna and I would be able to buy your share of a house somehow.”
Rose gave a cynical smile. “I won’t be marrying a man who wants my money. I have a very ambitious godmother. She has watched over me carefully these past two years. Men are more calculating than one supposes.” From the cupboard beneath the dresser, she took out the biggest meat plate and a covered vegetable dish, both gold-edged white china. “For a shearer, you would be a good catch. Be careful. That said, perhaps Vi should come out of black, too.”
“And what about you? When do you plan to come out of black?”
“When we get back to the city.” Rose glanced down at the beautiful black silk she wore. “I won’t have any use for these when I start enjoying life again.”
Ella sliced the meat. When Rose married, and nothing could be more certain than that event, life would continue as Papa had preordained. Ella would, possibly, take care of a few nieces and nephews in addition to Vianna. She couldn’t be a good catch for the handsome shearer who thought she was a delight, who kissed her as if she were a temptation, and who walked off when he discovered her inexperience. He wanted to dally with a woman but not one who expected marriage. Fortunately, she couldn’t marry a poor man, but the chance to be someone’s delight and their temptation didn’t come every day.
Rose piled the vegetables into the dish. “Where is that lazy child? She ought to be helping us.”
Ella went to the hall doorway and called, “Vianna!”
Vianna came out of the drawing room. “I was just getting my music ready for tonight. I thought I would play for the shearers after dinner,” she said defensively.
“I’m sure they would be very pleased.” Ella scraped the gravy into the boat. “Take this out and the vegetables, Vi. You go out, too, Rose. I won’t be much longer.”
Cal took one glance at her sophisticated presentation and seated himself at the other end of the table. Instead of being fazed, she was satisfied. If he sat by her, she would be unable to control the tremble of her hands and the clench of her throat.
She watched him when she thought he wasn’t looking, noticing that the other shearers treated him with unusual respect, following the lead of Alf, who also watched him when he thought no one was looking. Cal apparently impressed males just as much as females. Vianna lurked around him like a cat wanting to be stroked, but Rose let her brief interest rest on Ned, who had a tendency to tweak his moustache whenever she glanced at him. Ella, unfortunately, didn’t have an effect on Cal.
Finally the meal finished, and she washed the plates. Rose wiped. Dusk lowered outside. She saw Cal, Girl at heel, leave the men’s quarters and stroll behind the woolshed, heading for the river, possibly meaning to take a swim.
For the next ten days, she planned to be a woman rather than Papa’s daughter. For the rest of her life, she would be the responsible spinster guardian of her younger sister. She would never again meet a man who said she was irresistible. Her first chance was her last.
After putting the plates away, she took a sheet of paper from the dresser and wrote a quick note for the local dairy farmer, Nathaniel Lannock, who took his milk to the township every morning, filling the empty cans he passed along the way. Since Papa had died, Mr. Lannock had kindly delivered the milk to the back door. Clattering and bumping with her heavy load, she half-dragged the knee-high empty can to the front gate.
She returned past the apricot and plum trees, their fruit picked last month, the apples and pears with a couple of months to go, and the heavily laden peach trees. She skirted behind the stables and the woolshed.
Tonight, she intended to see if, despite her inexperience, she could lead Cal into temptation and deliver him from evil restraint.
Конец ознакомительного фрагмента.
Текст предоставлен ООО «ЛитРес».
Прочитайте эту книгу целиком, купив полную легальную версию на ЛитРес.
Безопасно оплатить книгу можно банковской картой Visa, MasterCard, Maestro, со счета мобильного телефона, с платежного терминала, в салоне МТС или Связной, через PayPal, WebMoney, Яндекс.Деньги, QIWI Кошелек, бонусными картами или другим удобным Вам способом.