Read Online Nightingale by Sharon Ervin - Free Book Online Page A

particularly, tossed life’s dice fiercely, daring fate to take up his often-flung gauntlet.
    “Eventually, Master Lattie, too, followed the pattern set by both of his elder brothers.”
    Patterson stood abruptly. “Please forgive me, Miss. I don’t know what possessed me to confide this family’s private concerns. I generally am not given to gossip.”
    Rising to her feet as well, Jessica smiled. “You are a discreet man, Mr. Patterson. You only disclosed as much as you thought proper and only to one you recognized as a friend who admires this family, though not nearly as much as you, nor for nearly so long. Thank you, Mr. Patterson, for trusting me. I will reward your trust with my own discretion.”
    He stiffened and regarded her down the length of his rather imperial nose. “You may address me simply as Patterson.”
    “That does not seem respectful, Mr. Patterson, what with the difference in our ages. Not unless, of course, you will consent to call me by my Christian name. I hereby give you permission — insist, even — that you call me Jessica.”
    His forehead wrinkled as his eyebrows arched.
    “I am a scullery maid, sir, not a lady,” she said quietly.
    He snorted a half laugh. “I shall not mention your former position to a living soul, Miss, and I would advise you not to do so either.”
    “All right, it will be our secret. Now that we have shared such intimacies, will you call me by my name?”
    Again, he appeared to think before his brow smoothed. “If I do, then you must call me by my Christian name as well. Tims.”
    She offered a well-scrubbed hand. Smiling broadly, he took it, sealing their bargain. Odessa, the housekeeper, chose that moment to exit the library, almost running into them both.
    “Say, now, what’s going on ’ere?” she asked.
    Patterson’s face resumed its closed expression. “Were you eavesdropping?”
    Odessa looked as if she might burst before a glance at Jessica cut her anger. She regarded Patterson with a sympathetic smile. “This one,” she indicated Jessica, “undermines a person’s natural reticence.”
    Patterson drew a breath, and then exhaled as if surrendering. “That is an astute observation, Odessa. Now, kindly act as the lady’s guide and show her the rest of the house?” He put emphasis on the word ‘lady.’ Jessica flashed him a conspiratorial smile as he abruptly turned and abandoned them.
    Odessa giggled. “You do have a way with you, child.”
    “I am no child, Odessa.”
    “So you keep reminding us.” Odessa nudged Jessica’s arm and led her toward another set of double doors. The older woman babbled, spewing information as she guided Jessica through dining rooms — one large, one small — and into the kitchen, a vast space Jessica decided needed to be as large as it was if only to accommodate the number of staff in and out.
    The kitchen contained cabinets and countertops, cook stoves, basins beneath pumps that brought water directly into the house, and a long trestle table flanked by equally long benches. Chairs graced either end.
    Jessica left the kitchen as activity began with preparations for the noon meal.
    • • •
    She was his amulet, his charm, the spindly child with the long legs, tiny waist, and bony shoulders. He could almost feel again the warmth of her small, round bottom situated comfortably between his thighs. He was amazed by his mother’s interest in and approval of the child. Of course, the dowager was partial to the female offspring of her friends and even staff. Maybe she felt inadequate at having produced only sons, a feat which pleased his father.
    His father, the eleventh Duke of Fornay, had been dead more than three years now. Some said he died of a broken heart after the loss of his eldest son.
    Devlin didn’t believe that.
    Propped in his bed, bathed, comfortably drifting in and out of sleep, the nobleman smiled recalling his brothers and their youthful exuberance, how they pleased their father, each in his