Read Online Leslie Lafoy by Her Scandalous Marriage - Free Book Online
Authors: Her Scandalous Marriage
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them.
She offered him a smile and mouthed “thank you” in appreciation for all the consideration he’d shown her and Fiona in the past few moments. He rocked slightly back on his heels before he managed to summon a smile in return—a smile that looked more strained than anything else—and then promptly turned and walked out the front door.
She had no idea what she’d done that so obviously bothered him, but since there wasn’t anything she could do about fixing it or apologizing for it at the moment, she set the issue aside and focused on finding room number 5. It was midway down the hall and on her left. And its door was standing wide open.
There were two big beds in it, a large draperied window and a table between them. Simone was standing on one of the beds, in the center of a down coverlet on what was apparently a down mattress. The whole thing had puffed up and around to hide the lower half of her legs and make her look decidedly sawed off. Fiona wasn’t the only one the sight brought up short.
“Hello,” Simone said, jumping off the bed to land neatly in front of them.
Caroline gently squeezed Fiona’s hand in assurance, saying, “This is your other sister. Her name is Simone and she’s not as wild as she looks.”
Simone laughed and bounded off toward an open dooron the far side of the room, saying, “You have to see this, Carrie. C’mon in here.” And then disappeared from sight.
She glanced down at Fiona and was relieved to see that the child didn’t seem to be at all distressed by Simone’s exuberance. In fact, if she had to guess what the tilted angle of the little blond head meant, it would be that she was intrigued and wanted to see what wonders Simone had discovered. Not that she was going to let go of Caroline’s hand and scamper off on her own to do it.
Still, Caroline considered her open interest a sign of remarkable progress and gladly took Fiona across the room and through the tall doorway. Again they both stopped short. “What in the world?” Caroline muttered, staring in awe at the giant copper tub sitting lengthwise in the room. A lacy curtained window flanked it on either side, and on the wall in between them, two smallish, banded wooden pipes ran down, each with a shorter pipe sticking out at a right angle over the tub and with what looked like a copper doorknob sitting atop each one.
“Watch,” Simone instructed, turning one of the knobs. Water instantly gushed from the end of the pipe and splashed into the tub. Fiona gasped and bounced on her toes in excitement as the steam rose and Simone exclaimed, “It’s hot! And if it’s too hot, you turn this handle, too,” she added, cranking the other knob and sending water gushing out of the second pipe. “And it cools right down. Come feel!”
And Fiona did, releasing Caroline’s hand and darting forward.
“Not in the stream,” Simone said, catching her younger sister’s hands. “The hot’ll burn you. Down inside is perfect,” she added, turning Fiona to face the tub.
Both of them leaned over the edge to place their hands in the rapidly deepening water and flat against the copperbottom. Fiona’s feet came up off the floor and she giggled in delight. “Ain’t it just magic?” Simone said over her shoulder, grinning from ear to ear.
Yes, it was. In so many ways. “I’ve heard of such things, but I’ve certainly never seen . . . ” Words failed her and all she could do was smile at the contraption and shake her head in awed appreciation of the genius who’d created it.
Simone pushed herself upright and then, chuckling, reached over to pull a struggling Fiona back onto her feet. “See that plug there?” Simone said to them both, pointing to somewhere under the frothing water beneath the pipe ends. “You pull it and all the water drains right out the bottom. I know ’cause I’ve already done it. Twice.”
She’d take her word that it was there and how it worked. “Oh, how absolutely wonderful.
She offered him a smile and mouthed “thank you” in appreciation for all the consideration he’d shown her and Fiona in the past few moments. He rocked slightly back on his heels before he managed to summon a smile in return—a smile that looked more strained than anything else—and then promptly turned and walked out the front door.
She had no idea what she’d done that so obviously bothered him, but since there wasn’t anything she could do about fixing it or apologizing for it at the moment, she set the issue aside and focused on finding room number 5. It was midway down the hall and on her left. And its door was standing wide open.
There were two big beds in it, a large draperied window and a table between them. Simone was standing on one of the beds, in the center of a down coverlet on what was apparently a down mattress. The whole thing had puffed up and around to hide the lower half of her legs and make her look decidedly sawed off. Fiona wasn’t the only one the sight brought up short.
“Hello,” Simone said, jumping off the bed to land neatly in front of them.
Caroline gently squeezed Fiona’s hand in assurance, saying, “This is your other sister. Her name is Simone and she’s not as wild as she looks.”
Simone laughed and bounded off toward an open dooron the far side of the room, saying, “You have to see this, Carrie. C’mon in here.” And then disappeared from sight.
She glanced down at Fiona and was relieved to see that the child didn’t seem to be at all distressed by Simone’s exuberance. In fact, if she had to guess what the tilted angle of the little blond head meant, it would be that she was intrigued and wanted to see what wonders Simone had discovered. Not that she was going to let go of Caroline’s hand and scamper off on her own to do it.
Still, Caroline considered her open interest a sign of remarkable progress and gladly took Fiona across the room and through the tall doorway. Again they both stopped short. “What in the world?” Caroline muttered, staring in awe at the giant copper tub sitting lengthwise in the room. A lacy curtained window flanked it on either side, and on the wall in between them, two smallish, banded wooden pipes ran down, each with a shorter pipe sticking out at a right angle over the tub and with what looked like a copper doorknob sitting atop each one.
“Watch,” Simone instructed, turning one of the knobs. Water instantly gushed from the end of the pipe and splashed into the tub. Fiona gasped and bounced on her toes in excitement as the steam rose and Simone exclaimed, “It’s hot! And if it’s too hot, you turn this handle, too,” she added, cranking the other knob and sending water gushing out of the second pipe. “And it cools right down. Come feel!”
And Fiona did, releasing Caroline’s hand and darting forward.
“Not in the stream,” Simone said, catching her younger sister’s hands. “The hot’ll burn you. Down inside is perfect,” she added, turning Fiona to face the tub.
Both of them leaned over the edge to place their hands in the rapidly deepening water and flat against the copperbottom. Fiona’s feet came up off the floor and she giggled in delight. “Ain’t it just magic?” Simone said over her shoulder, grinning from ear to ear.
Yes, it was. In so many ways. “I’ve heard of such things, but I’ve certainly never seen . . . ” Words failed her and all she could do was smile at the contraption and shake her head in awed appreciation of the genius who’d created it.
Simone pushed herself upright and then, chuckling, reached over to pull a struggling Fiona back onto her feet. “See that plug there?” Simone said to them both, pointing to somewhere under the frothing water beneath the pipe ends. “You pull it and all the water drains right out the bottom. I know ’cause I’ve already done it. Twice.”
She’d take her word that it was there and how it worked. “Oh, how absolutely wonderful.
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