Read Online No Greater Love by Katherine Kingsley - Free Book Online

make?” she said, coloring.
    “You haven’t yet seen inside. But so be it. I admire your courage and I have to admit I’d rather be here myself, despite the discomfort. You had better come in. And steel yourself.’’
    He opened the front door and led her through. “Oh, Nicholas…” Georgia slowly looked about, her eyes taking in the water stains, the plaster falling off the ceilings, the bare floors and walls. Her heart fell, and it hurt not only for the house but also for him.
    There was a strong smell of damp, and she could immediately see that some of the floorboards had rotted. Those were the first impressions to strike her. They picked their way carefully across the hall and Nicholas calmly showed her the sitting room and library. Both were in sorry shape, but she was relieved to see that the books had not sustained too much obvious damage. The lower leakage seemed to be contained to the front portion of the house.
    “We’ll leave the upstairs for later. It’s an even bigger disaster,” he said, leading her back through the central wing.
    They passed through the kitchen, where Binkley was hard at work despite the very primitive conditions, and entered the dining room. Nicholas ran a finger over the back of one of the mahogany chairs that sat at a long formal table.
    “I imagine that my step-aunt left the dining room more or less intact because she had no use for the table at Ravenswalk,” he remarked casually enough. “Aside from the sitting room, which for some unknown reason she decided to leave with the sofa and armchairs this is probably where we’ll be living.”
    “Oh, dear. We do have some work to do,” she said when he had finished.
    “Yes, we do. I’ve already ordered the first of the materials, and they should be here within a day or two.” He walked across the bare floor to the long window that looked over a ruined tangle.
    “Nicholas? What is it?” she asked bewildered by the suddenly fierce expression on his face, when he had been so composed only moments before.
    He turned to face her. “That was once a garden,” he said, his tone carefully measured. “A beautiful, wonderful garden. It overflowed with flowers of every sort, different flowers for every season. My mother spent much of her time out there, carefully tending her plants. Even after she died the gardeners kept it exactly as she had created it. I would come over from Ravenswalk and sit in it, and feel closer to her. And then … never mind. I hadn’t realized that it, too, was dead.”
    “Nicholas—” Georgia started to say, but he cut her off.
    “Damn her,” he said between clenched teeth. “Damn her!”
    “I’m sorry,” she said softly.
    Nicholas pushed a hand through his hair. “No—I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to lose my temper. I can’t start letting this get under my skin now. The only thing to do is to look toward the future and restore what we can. So. Shall we have our supper?”
    He pulled out a chair for her, and she sat, feeling quite odd to be treated like a fine lady. In the past, it had always been she who had done the cooking, the waiting. But she couldn’t-help reveling in the feeling of luxury. It didn’t matter in the least to her that the house in which they dined was falling apart around them, or that the man sitting next to her did not love her, let alone know her. She certainly couldn’t think about what he would soon be doing to her. She was determined to enjoy the food and conversation. Had she concentrated on all the unpleasant things that life held, she would have starved from lack of appetite long before.
    Binkley had managed an extraordinary meal, given the state of things. He had somewhere found a smoked fish, and had prepared a roast of beef, with boiled potatoes and a selection of winter vegetables. He laid this modest wedding feast on the table, poured the wine around, then bowed and retreated to the kitchen.
    “Binkley’s a wonder, Nicholas. Wherever did you find him?”