Free Linda Needham by The Pleasure of Her Kiss

Margaret?”
    Mera grinned broadly. “I do too. I let him stay with her last night. Miss Rosemary didn’t see.”
    Rosemary doubtless did see. The woman missed very little and loved the faithful old dog every bit as much as Kate did.
    “A man came to the house today, Lady Kate.” Glenna posted herself beside Kate. “On a fast horse.”
    “Yes, I know, Glenna. Thank you.” The message for Hawkesly, all the way from London. Just the thought of what it all might mean gave her stomach a twist.
    Certain doom for all her hopes and plans, because the man himself wouldn’t be far behind the message.
    And what would he think of all the children?
    A slice of cold fear sped down her spine; the image of them on their own again, unprotected.
    Not that she’d ever abandon a one. But she could do so much more for them here.
    “Can we go get apples from the orchard, Lady Kate?” Healy was still in her arms, nose to nose with her, his bright red hair smelling of leaves, his shoes drizzling.
    “What an excellent idea, Healy.”
    “Good, good, goooood!” The boy grunted as he hugged her neck fiercely.
    “Why don’t each of you pick ten apples apiece and then take them back to the three Miss Darbys for supper?”
    “Apple pudding and jam! Oh, boy!” Dori pulled at Healy and the boy slid out of Kate’s arms and into Dori’s.
    “Will you be eating with us tonight?” Lucas asked, the breeze tousling his light brown hair.
    “Probably not tonight, Lucas.”
    “Pleeeeease!”
    “I’ll be two more nights at Badger’s Run. It’s not so far away from the hall. And I’ll stop by at bedtime, and each morning. You’ll hardly know that I’m gone.”
    “Yes, we will!” The little charmers.
    She started herding them again. “Now off you go to the orchard—then right back to the hall.”
    “Follow me!”
    “Shhhh…quietly, Grady,” Kate said to the boy. “The fishermen need—”
    But Grady had scrambled back up the embankment and was already speeding down the twisting pathway into the woods, the other children taking after him, Mr. McNair loping along beside Mera.
    “I’d best go follow them, Lady Kate,” Glenna said with a huff far older than her twelve years, “else they’ll end up at Badger’s Run begging sugar off Mrs. Driscoll and pennies off the guests.”
    “Your hair looks very nice today, Glenna.” The girl’s neat little cap was tied beneath her chin, a thick plait hanging down her back.
    “Really?” Glenna touched the deep red curls that ringed her forehead. “How do you mean, good?”
    “It’s getting to be a very pretty shade of auburn.”
    “Is it?” It really was, shining and thick in the noonday sun. A year of proper food and sleep and warm clothes had done that.
    “You know, Glenna, I’m sure that I have a pale pink linen cap with a winding border of embroidered lilacs along its brim and all the way down its ribbons. It’s just your size, and it’s yours if you’d like it.”
    She gasped in utter disbelief. “For me?”
    “You’re nearly thirteen, Glenna Connett, a young lady. About time for something special just for you.”
    “Gosh. Thank you.”
    Kate continued up the embankment. “We’ll see about finding it tonight. Now you’d best run along and keep the children out of trouble.”
    “Yes, Lady Kate.” Glenna dipped a proper little curtsey, not even bothering to hide the brilliance of her smile as she sped off after the others.
    Old before her time, sister to Healy and Grady, Doreen and Corey. Courageous and terrified, fiercely protective of her siblings.
    Dear, sweet Glenna, who had watched her own father and then her mother and three little sisters die of starvation before her very eyes.
    If Father Sebastian hadn’t found them in time…But he had and he’d brought them here to her.
    And there were so many others where they came from.
    She’d learned quickly that to try to save them all was to risk everyone.
     
    Child by child, heart by heart.
     
    “‘Holding