Page 38 of The Sisters of Sea View
His hard expression softened. “What are you after, by the way?”
“Something I cannot reach. I was about to drag over that chair, unless... Might you reach it for me?” She liked that he was taller and broader than she. Not as handsome as Charles, but certainly very masculine.
He held her gaze a moment, and then walked closer. In a moment he stood beside her, his shoulder grazing hers as he reached up to the top shelf. “What am I looking for?”
“A box. Small, round, paperboard with a glass top?”
Eyes narrowed in concentration as he searched, he stared blindly over her head. She took the opportunity to study his face. Fair, clear skin. Bushy eyebrows. Fine, straight nose. His mouth ... thin. His upper lip noticeably thinner than the bottom. His hair a golden brown. His eyes a similar hue.
He glanced down. “Are you staring at me?”
“What? No!”
“Have I something on my face?”
“No.” She realized that from a distance he appeared rather ordinary. An average man. Yet the closer one came, the more attractive he became. She dragged her gaze from him and asked, “Have you found it?”
“Here it is.” He brought down the small box and studied it. “What is this? A bonbonnière?”
She nodded and reached for it, their fingers touching as they both held the box. He relinquished it, but she held it toward him once more. “Well, go on. You have earned one. They are from my favorite Gloucester confectioner.”
She lifted the cover for him, revealing four remaining bonbons.
“Just don’t tell Sarah you caught me in my... your room.”
Mischief glinted in his eyes. “Are you attempting to bribe me, Miss Emily?”
“I confess I am.”
A corner of his mouth quirked. “Then mum is the word.” He picked out a confection, popped it into his mouth, and began chewing. “Mmm... delicious.”
Emily, however, could not stop staring at his mouth. Thin, yes, but somehow appealing all the same.
She said, “I was surprised to see you at the medical baths the other day. You seem quite ... healthy to me.”
He shrugged. “Supposed to be good for the skin.”
Her gaze lingered on his face. “Apparently most effective.”
A few minutes later, Emily went back downstairs, a smile lingering on her lips. She saw Mr. and Mrs. Elton entering the house, and her smile faltered. Mrs. Elton’s limp curls and listing feather hinted of time spent in the warm baths.
“Gone bathing again, Mrs. Elton?”
The woman looked up at her approach. “Yes. I find it so refreshing. You bathe often here, I suppose, Miss Summers?”
“A few times a week with my mother, yes.”
“And you take the waters at Tunbridge Wells, I trust?”
“No. We don’t travel a great deal. We mostly remain at home.”
Mrs. Elton shook her head. “I am no advocate for seclusion. I think when people shut themselves up from society, it is a very bad thing. I perfectly understand your situation, however. Your mother’s state of health must be a great drawback. Why does not she try Bath? Indeed she should. I have no doubt of it doing her good.”
“My mother did visit Bath once without receiving any benefit. We hope Sidmouth might do her more good.”
“Ah! That’s a great pity; for I assure you, where the waters do agree, it is quite wonderful the relief they give. And it is so cheerful a place that it could not fail of being of use to your mother’s spirits, which, I understand, are sometimes much depressed.”
“Mamma is not—”
