Read Online Moonlight Wishes In Time by Bess McBride - Free Book Online Page A

almost as if he talked to himself. “It will not be full again for thirty days.” He threw her a sideways look. “I am not quite sure what you wished for, and I beg leave to keep my desires private, but I cannot help wonder if they did not have a commonality which in some strange way brought us together.” He cleared his throat and reached for his tea. “Speculation, of course. We may never know.” He met her eyes briefly over the edge of his cup and looked away.
    “So, are you suggesting that on the next full moon—in a month—we both make a wish for me to return?”
    William set his cup down and clasped his hands in front of his stomach. He nodded.
    “That is correct. At exactly ten-thirty in the evening.”
    Mattie rested her chin on top of her knees . A month. Too long? Not long enough? She gazed at William with an inward sigh. Not long enough, she thought.
    “Do you have any idea what I should do until then ? Is there somewhere—”
    “You will stay here, of course . I have had little time to form a plan, but I have some rudimentary thoughts. It would be disastrous should anyone discover that you have come from the future. We will have to acquaint my mother and sister with our…secret”—his lips twitched again—“so that they may assist us in finding you suitable clothing and a plausible story for your presence here in the house. My mother has scheduled several parties and at least one rout during the month.” He gave her a wry smile. “She wishes to see me married and is going to great lengths to achieve that end.”
    Mattie’s heart dropped to her stomach . Nowhere in her fantasies did her dream man marry someone else!
    “I see,” she murmured . “Well, I really don’t need to be much trouble. If there is a small room, maybe where the servants sleep? I could stay out of the way.” She offered him a helpful smile, though it wavered at the end.
    “That is out of the question, Miss Crockwell . I do not think you are a servant. If I may ask”—William hesitated—“what is your station? You mentioned you work in a bank. Do you assist your father, perhaps? Some male relative? I am not familiar with women in banking.”
    “My station?” she repeated as her smile broadened . “This is straight out of a Jane Austen novel, I swear. I really didn’t think people talked like that.” She pressed her wayward lips together at the narrowing of his eyes.
    “I’m sorry.” S he winced at the severity of his look. “Yes, my station. Well, I work for a living. No, my father doesn’t own the bank. I am just an employee there.”
    “An employee,” he repeated thoughtfully . “And your family? Are they landowners?”
    “Well, my parents owned their home in Nebraska, but they both passed away several years ago . They were older, and I was an only child.”
    William brought his eyes together in a frown and inclined his head .
    “My condolences, madam. I am afraid I have not heard of this…Nuhbrasska…but assume it is in America. And with whom do you reside at present?”
    “I live by myself …in an apartment.”
    He quirked a surprised eyebrow .
    “Alone ? In your own apartments? Without a companion? How unusual!”
    Mattie grinned . William was definitely having a hard time wrapping his head around her lifestyle, and she didn’t blame him. She’d read enough Georgian- and Victorian-era literature—even the good stuff—to know that most young women did not live on their own, and certainly no women of the upper classes.
    “No, William . No companion. Just me.”
    He shook his head.
    “Perhaps we could avoid sharing that bit of information with my mother and sister. The former would be shocked, and the latter would no doubt pounce upon such a notion as an excellent idea.” He gave her a quick bow. “I certainly do not mean to impugn your customs.”
    “Of course .” Mattie nodded with a smile.
    William checked his watch once before stowing it away in his vest.
    “Well, Miss