Free Love Me Forever by Johanna Lindsey

that she thought about it, she still probably wouldn’t ask to be moved. The simple truth was, that even as exhausted as she’d been, and miserable with her cold, she’d never in her life been so stimulated. Excitement, fear, thrill, fury, whatever she wanted to call it, MacGregor made her feel it. And she ought to decide whether it was a good or bad thing, before she put an end to it.
    The dowager duchess had sent a God-awful tasting concoction along with Mary, to treat Kimberly’s cold, and by the time she was dressed and ready to leave her room, she was actually feeling somewhat better. At least her nose was no longer threatening to run away at the first sneeze. In fact, she’d stopped sneezing, enough so she was able to camouflage some of the lingering redness, or as the case was, rawness, with a little powder. The achiness was also gone from her limbs, adding a little perkiness to her step.
    Actually, she was quite pleased with her appearance, all things considered. The lavender dress that she’d had Mary press for her had a draped and sashed waist that allowed her to tie away the looseness in that area. But she really was going to have to do something about her current wardrobe, and decided to ask the duchess if she had a personal seamstress at Sherring Cross, or at least one located close by that she could visit tomorrow. Parties and balls in London? Not until she was properly girded for them.
    She’d heard not a sound from the room next door all afternoon, though she doubted anything could have roused her from the deep sleep she’d fallen into. But she’d heard nothing this evening either. Perhaps he’d requested a new room elsewhere, now that he was being allowed to stay on, to spare them both any more disturbances. She still couldn’t understand why the duke had changed his mind about letting the Scot stay; he’dsounded so adamant the night before.
    This evening there were several new guests that Kimberly was introduced to when she joined the nightly gathering in the parlor. Lady Hester Cowles and her daughter, Cynthia, were visiting the dowager duchess, and had agreed to stay for the coming week. Cynthia was a lovely young chatterbox of about sixteen years, which made her old enough to socialize with the adults on certain occasions, but not quite used to that privilege yet.
    Tiffany Whately was also present, introduced as Megan’s “dearest friend.” She had come with her husband, the Honorable Tyler Whately, for the weekend, and pretty much monopolized the duchess, as the two friends had much to catch up on. Kimberly had wanted to get back to discussing that “plan” she’d fallen asleep on this morning, but it looked like it would have to wait a bit more.
    However, she was able to find out that a Mrs. Canterby, an excellent seamstress, according to Margaret MacGregor, was retained full-time by the ladies of the house, and they kept her so busy that it was necessary as well as convenient for her to permanently reside at Sherring Cross. And Megan had already arranged for her to meet with Kimberly first thing in the morning.
    That did put Kimberly’s mind to rest on the matter of a new wardrobe. And hopefully the ball that had been mentioned only a few days hence wouldn’t be on the agenda. She had hoped to gradually work her way into the social whirl, until she was comfortable meeting a great many strangers, not start out immediately with extravagant events. However, from the little that shehad heard about the “plan” this morning, the duchess apparently had other ideas.
    As it grew near the dinner hour, and Lachlan MacGregor had yet to make an appearance, Kimberly began to hope that she wouldn’t have to endure his company again. She wasn’t to be that lucky.
    She was sitting next to Cynthia Cowles, listening to the girl complain about the lack of color variety in her wardrobe—young girls were still trotted out in the inevitable pastels that had been favored for the last century and