Martha Schroeder Read Online Free Page B

don’t understand.” Meg reached out a hand. Why was she so awkward with this man?
    “Yes?” It was a voice that must have reduced midshipmen to jelly.
    “I—I—I cannot seem to remember what it is I wanted to say.” She smiled a little shyly at him. What was the matter with her? Things had seemed so simple when she came down to breakfast, but now she was simpering and stammering like a schoolgirl. Stop this at once, she told herself fiercely.
    “I see.” The captain sat down. His plate held only toast, and his cup was filled with dark brown tea.
    “Is that all you want?” Meg asked before she could stop herself. “Mrs. Meadows would be happy to make an omelet or—
    “This is sufficient, thank you.”
    “Oh.”
    Meg looked around the table in mute appeal. She couldn’t seem to talk without tying her tongue in knots, but surely Annis could. Or Gerald. He spent his days talking, if she understood the workings of diplomacy correctly.
    “Are you enjoy—” Annis began.
    “Is there anything—” Gerald said simultaneously.
    James looked up and gazed at them both, and then at Lady Meg. Despite the unfamiliar feelings he had faced this morning, he was glad to know that he still kept a sense of humor. He smiled, a little mordantly, and said, “Yes, I am enjoying my visit to Hampshire, Miss Fairchild. And no, Sir Gerald, I need nothing further to make my day complete.”
    Meg took a deep breath and quelled her sense of disorientation. “I am happy to hear that you are so contented, Captain. I had thought to go over the estate’s books with you this morning, if you are agreeable. Gerald, you and Annis can no doubt amuse yourselves for the next few hours.”
    “Lady Margaret, I have no right—I had not thought to examine your books,” James stammered, taken aback. “You no doubt need more time. Indeed, we have not spoken as yet of any possible relationship between us.” James was very much afraid his face was showing his embarrassment.
    “You are quite right, Captain. I spoke out of turn. I beg your pardon.” Meg gripped her hands in her lap. Could she behave any more clumsily than she had so far this morning? The man had hardly had time to say hello and ride over the home farm and she was offering him the keys to her kingdom. What was the matter with her?
    “You need not apologize, Lady Margaret. I did not mean to overset you. If you would prefer I take my leave for today, I will do so.” James tried to sound conciliatory. To a captain in the British navy it was not a natural attitude.
    Meg lit up like a Guy Fawkes bonfire. “I am not overset. I do not want you to leave. If I have been unladylike, I beg pardon. If you wish, we can continue to tiptoe around the subject we both know is uppermost in our minds—probably in the minds of everyone in the county by this time! When can we
    safely discuss it? Does etiquette establish a time limit? Four days to see the filly’s paces and then—”
    “Meg!” Gerald remonstrated. “Your temper, dear girl.”
    “Dearest, do you think perhaps a turn around the gardens would do you good?” Annis’s gentle tones penetrated Meg’s anger, taming it somewhat.
    “Yes, yes. It would be good, Annis.” Meg rose from the table, her face still flushed. “Excuse me, please.”
    The captain rose. “If you do not mind, I would very much like to see your gardens, Lady Meg.” He offered his arm, and after a moment’s hesitation, Meg took it.
    As they left the dining room, she could hear the sound of Gerald and Annis letting out their breaths in simultaneous sighs.
    “They despair of me, you know,” she said, still unable to curb her tongue. “I am afraid you have seen my besetting sin this morning, Captain.”
    “What is that? A tendency to tell the truth and the devil take the consequences?” James looked down at her, and Meg thought she could see a lurking smile in his eyes. “I do not regard that as a fault. Many commanders fail for lack of it.”
    “You are