Too Far to Whisper Read Online Free

“After you have had the opportunity to meet my mother, ‘twould greatly please me to escort you on a tour of the grounds. The sooner you become familiar with everything here, the sooner you will come to feel like a member of our family.”
    Rosalind appreciated the Corwins’ efforts to make her feel as though she belonged and could easily fit in and adapt to their lifestyle, but in truth, she did not want to feel like a member of the family. She already had a family – a perfectly acceptable one – which she missed more and more with each passing minute.
    She mustered a smile and looked up at Nathaniel. “Thank you for your offer, Captain Corwin. I am indeed eager to learn all I can about my new home. A tour of the grounds would be greatly appreciated.”
    “Please, call me Nathaniel,” he said. “May I call you Rosalind?” His eyes caught hers and held them.
    “If you wish,” she replied, although she had strong misgivings about encouraging such familiarity. After Ben’s taunting about snagging a Corwin for her husband, she felt even more compelled to keep her relationship with the captain as formal as possible. Not that a man like Nathaniel ever would consider courting her, the family’s help, anyway, she thought. She felt certain that Nathaniel’s ideal bride would be an affluent, elegant woman, not someone who shared a bed with her two sisters in a small two-room house with dirt floors. Nor would his future mother-in-law be a woman who earned a few coins by mending and washing other people’s garments. Rosalind knew that her mother and Ben both believed her to possess all of the qualities necessary to capture the heart of a Corwin man, but she wondered how quickly their confidence in her would be dashed if they knew the secret that constantly ate at her…the secret she intended to take with her to the grave. Even if, by some miracle, she were to suddenly decide to change her mind and search for a husband, she knew she was as likely to wed one of Elias’s sons as she was to sprout eagle’s wings and fly to the moon.
    “Is something amiss, child?” Elias asked. His voice snapped Rosalind back to the present. “Is there something about your bedchamber that does not please you? Please, do not hesitate to tell me what it is and I shall change it for you.”
    Rosalind felt her cheeks grow hot. “No, everything is just fine. But if you would be kind enough to allow me a moment alone, I should like to make myself more presentable ere my meeting with Mrs. Corwin.”
    “You look perfect the way you are,” Nathaniel commented, smiling. His words served only to fuel Rosalind’s discomfort.
    “I shall return for you in a half-hour,” Elias said.
    “That will be more than sufficient.”  She nodded. She purposely avoided looking at Nathaniel. There was something about the man that made her feel ill at ease. Perhaps it was his smooth, self-assured manner or the way compliments so effortlessly rolled off his tongue. Perhaps it was the way he stared at her, as if his eyes were attempting to bore right through her. Whichever, she found herself regretting that she had accepted his offer to escort her on a tour of the grounds.
     
    * * * * *
    Abigail Corwin smiled warmly when Elias and Rosalind entered her chamber. She was a painfully thin woman with gray hair pulled back in a long braid, and dull hazel eyes that appeared even more lackluster against her wan complexion. She sat propped up in bed with her back against several pillows, an unfinished needlepoint on her lap.
    The chamber was large, and so was Abigail’s bed. The woman seemed lost in its depths, as if the bed were swallowing her. There were two chests of drawers in the room and two small tables –one on each side of the bed – with vases of fresh flowers on them.  A rug made of richly colored wools covered the planked floor, and a tapestry of flowers hung on the wall.  Although the hour was early afternoon, the room was dark due to the window