floor she looked around, searching the room for her dress.
She’d unbuttoned it and placed it on a chair before crawling beneath the sheet on the wide bed. Now it hung over a rack near the wardrobe, freshly pressed by an unknown hand wielding an iron. No doubt that of the housekeeper. Katie by name, she recalled.
From the hallway beyond the closed door, she heard a tinkling laugh, almost a giggle, and recognized the voice immediately. Amanda at her best, cheerful and lighthearted.
Overlaying the child’s tones, a deeper, masculine tone prevailed, and Carlinda hurriedly slid the dress over her head, aware of Nicholas Garvey’s presence just a few feet away. Even as she buttoned the small, black fastenings on her bodice, she heard the single rap of a knuckle on the wooden panel.
“Yes, I’m coming,” she said, hastening across the room to turn the handle. It swung wide and she looked up into the dark, masculine features of the man she’d traveled halfway across the country to find. “I’m sorry. I only planned to rest for a bit, and I’m afraid I slept longer than I thought.”
“That’s not a problem, Miss Donnelly,” he said nicely, his gaze sliding down the length of her. “We came to rouse you, since Katie announced that supper was served, and Amanda thought you were likely hungry. She tells me you didn’t eat much today.”
Carlinda flushed deeply. The child saw more than she should, and this morning had been a hodgepodge of activity, arriving in Collins Creek, pausing only at the hotel for breakfast before they sought out the bank. Unable to eat the meal she’d ordered, her stomach protesting as she planned her approach to Nicholas, Carlinda had only watched and encouraged Amanda’s halfhearted attempts to get through the plate of eggs and sausage before her.
“I wasn’t hungry,” she said now. “The journey was tiring, and I fear I’d lost my appetite.”
“Well, you’d do well to locate it now. Katie has outdone herself. We don’t often have company,” he said, taking up Amanda’s hand in his and leading the way to the double staircase.
“Mr. Garvey has two sets of steps and two bannisters,” Amanda announced gleefully. “And lots of bedrooms.” With her free hand, she tugged at Carlinda’s skirt, and her whispered words were an easily heard suggestion. “I’ll bet he’s got plenty of room for us to stay here.”
“Yes, I have,” he said, unabashed at listening to her murmured suggestion.
“I had the impression we weren’t as welcome as the flowers in spring,” Carlinda said, her forced smile for the child’s benefit apparently not lost on Nicholas.
He shrugged nonchalantly. “We’ll have to take this one step at a time. Right now, I think it would be unforgivable to keep Katie waiting. She likes to serve her meals hot.”
Carlinda’s feet were silent against the carpeted stairs and she slowed her pace, the better to observe the first floor below. Besides the parlor and dining room, two other doors led from the wide foyer, both of them open. As she moved downward, a desk was visible inside one room, probably Nicholas’s private retreat, she decided. The other appeared to be a small sitting room, a woman’s room by the looks of things. She was entranced by a glimpse of a delicately constructed sofa and chair, and late-afternoon sunshine pouring through a window.
“You have a lovely home.” The compliment was sincere, probably the first entirely honest thing she’d said or done today, she thought. And felt a pang of guilt as she considered her omission of all the facts.
“Thank you,” he answered gravely, although a smile flashed as he met her gaze. “I don’t often have an opportunity to offer my hospitality. I was amiss in not extending a welcome to you and Amanda when we first met today. I fear my thoughts were in a state of flux, and my mind did not function as well as it should have.”
“You were presented with a done deal, as they say, Mr. Garvey. I can’t blame you for being taken unaware and being less than welcoming.”
“Nonetheless,” he said with a shrug, and she looked up to catch a glimpse of heat in the depths of his blue eyes, a quickly masked impression. He’d looked at her as a man might who sought the interest of an available woman. For just a moment, she’d felt the warmth of masculine interest, and she stiffened against the lure of such a thing being cast in her direction.
Perhaps staying in this house was not a good beginning. He might think she was obtainable, a woman of loose virtue, should she agree too quickly to his hospitality. And yet, she could not in good conscience leave Amanda here without her. “We don’t want to put you to any trouble,” she murmured, reaching the bottom of the staircase. “I’m certain the hotel would do very well for us.” She looked up at him. “At least until you have an opportunity to check out the facts of this matter.”
“I won’t hear of it.” His tones were clipped, bringing an abrupt end to the discussion and she subsided, unwilling to argue in front of Amanda. As though he understood her position and agreed, he nodded at the open door of his study. “After supper, perhaps you’ll join me in here and we’ll discuss this at greater length.”
Carlinda nodded, and stepped up her pace to the dining room, where a long table was set with three places and, at one end, a tureen of soup sent up a steam of fragrance. She was seated with a courtly gesture, and she opened the linen napkin beside her plate, aware of Amanda’s copycat gesture as the child followed her example.
Nicholas served the soup, waving Katie’s offer of help aside as the woman brought a plate of fresh bread from the kitchen. It was delicious, a clear broth with traces of rice and bits of chicken adding flavor, providing a light beginning to the meal. It was followed by a roast, again served by Nicholas, who stood before his chair and offered thin slices of the meat to his guests. Small potatoes, cooked with the skins intact, were accompanied by whole green beans, redolent with the scent of bacon and onions.
It was a filling repast, and when Katie brought forth a tart for each of them, Carlinda was tempted to refuse. And then she caught sight of the dark, thick juice of purple berries that spread before the force of Nicholas’s fork as he cut into the dainty bit of pastry.
“I shouldn’t,” she sighed, even as she watched the tiny wisps of steam rise from the delicacy.
“It’s a specialty of Katie’s,” Nicholas said, coaxing her with a smile. “She’ll be insulted if you refuse a bite.”
“I fear I’ll eat the whole thing,” Carlinda said, tasting carefully of the hot offering. “Don’t burn your mouth,” she warned Amanda.
“I’ve got cream to put over it, if you like,” Katie said from the kitchen doorway, then approached with a small pitcher of golden liquid as Amanda nodded her agreement. “It tastes good this way,” she told the child, pouring a generous amount.
“I’ll take some, too,” Nicholas said, offering his dish.
“And you, miss?” Katie asked.
“If it tastes better that way, I suppose I should join the group,” Carlinda agreed.
The meal was long, Nicholas asking Amanda about the trip, skirting the topic of her parents and offering small glimpses of his life in this small Texas town. He delivered an occasional aside to Carlinda, but his attention was focused on the child who sat at his right hand.
The resemblance between the two of them was obvious to anyone who cared to look, Carlinda decided.
