Free A Madness in Spring by Kate Noble

“Truth be told, I think she’s terribly embarrassed by whatever she did that has brought you here, and feels rightfully ashamed.”
    All that frozen blood in her body suddenly dropped to the floor. She felt dizzy. She raised her hand to her head, and realized it was shaking.
    “Ah,” she heard Adam say, his voice for once without that joking nature that usually irritated her. Without it, he sounded raw. And tired. “Actually, I have no quarrel with your niece. At least, not today. I… I simply wished to thank her. She sent me some materials about sheep herding a while ago, and I found them exceptionally useful. I read them cover to cover.”
    “I’m certain she’ll be gratified to hear it,” her uncle said, his voice filled with a sad sort of pride. “I’ll be certain to tell her –”
    “Pray, don’t trouble yourself, Sir Henry. It’s… it’s something I should tell her myself. I have no doubt I’ll see Miss Leonard at Sturridge Manor or in Hemshawe in the coming days.”
    As her uncle tried to entice Adam to stay and talk about his estate and his sheep, and Adam firmly but politely declined, Belinda snuck back up the stairs on her tiptoes, careful to avoid the creaks. She had no need to hear anymore.
    Yes, she and Adam had been fighting far too long. It was silly, and she was mortified her uncle felt the need to apologize to Adam for her behavior.
    But she couldn’t think about that.
    Nor could she think about how Adam had sounded – so eager at first and then so sad. Nor what he’d said – did he really read her sheep herding pamphlets? No, she could only focus her mind on one single thing.
    Adam thought he would be able to run into her in the coming days, before he left for his estate. To – one assumed –
talk
.
    Not if Belinda could help it.

 
    Chapter Eight
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    A dam would give Belinda this – when she put her mind to something, that something was accomplished. Whether it was helping her friend put a ball together in the space of ten days, or successfully avoiding Adam for the last three.
    Adam thought he would be able to corner Belinda at some point, and… well, he wasn’t quite certain what they would do in that corner, but he knew a conversation needed to be had. After his disappointing interview with her uncle, Adam knew Belinda was avoiding him, but he never thought she’d be this good at it in a place as small as Hemshawe. But every time he happened to show up to whatever committee meeting or food-tasting session Francesca told him was on the ladies’ schedule for the day, he discovered that Belinda was not there. She was off contracting with the butcher for the right cuts of meat or had driven into Tunbridge Wells to audition musicians with tubas.
    On the third day, he decided to circumvent her scheme. When he oh so casually asked Francesca over breakfast what the day held for her and Belinda, she told him they would be directing the Sturbridge gardeners just what flowers were to be culled and arranged for Georgie’s party, Adam knew without a doubt that Belinda would not be crossing the threshold of Sturbridge Manor.
    So, he camped out in the middle of Hemshawe. From the center of town, he was easily able to see the whole of Main Street while enjoying a delightful ham luncheon in the front window of the Joyful Shepherdess, the village pub.
    The whole day passed. Everyone was out, as the weather had broken, and spring proved triumphant over the winter. Everyone that is, except for Belinda Leonard. After hours of seeing neither hide nor hair of her, he headed back to Sturridge Manor in defeat, only to be greeted by Georgie and Francesca with the news that he just missed Belinda.
    But she could not avoid him here, at the party of her own creation.
    The Friar’s House was done up in spring flowers and gauze bunting. The entire town of Hemshawe had turned out for what was supposed to be a small gathering for dinner and dancing. Likely half of Tunbridge Wells, too. And in the