Read Online The Price of Desire by Leda Swann - Free Book Online Page B

Louisa had never been very strong. In her haste to reach shelter she had pushed them too hard.

    Louisa pushed her hair back from her face. “I am sorry,” she murmured as she tried to struggle to her feet again. “I did not mean to.”

    “You have nothing to be sorry for,” Beatrice said, almost fiercely. “You could not help it, could she, Caroline?”

    “Indeed she could not. It is my fault that I made you keep on walking when I knew you were weary. Do not get up. We will rest now.”

    “Right here?” Louisa queried.

    Beatrice looked around her doubtfully but bit her lip and said nothing.
     
    Dorothea and Teddy simply plumped down on the grass with sighs of relief and began to unlace their boots. Dorothea was singing happily under her breath, as if she did not have a care in the world.

    “Leave your boots on,” Emily counseled them, joining them on the grass. “They will help to keep your feet warm.”

    Caroline shared around the last of their provisions. It was a meager supper they made, with only a hunk of bread, a scrap of cheese, and a withered apple to sustain them after all their walking. Teddy and Dorothea wolfed theirs in no time and looked hopefully at Caroline for more, but she shook her head. “We have nothing more until tomorrow.” It was one of the reasons she had pushed them so hard today. The walk tomorrow, on empty bellies and feet that were already sore, would be far harder even than today’s.

    In the disappointed silence that followed, Louisa tried to slip Teddy her apple, but Beatrice stopped her with a growl. “You need the food yourself. He can have mine if he’s still hungry.”

    Caroline silenced them both with a look. “I have shared the food evenly.” It was only a small lie. She was not hungry so it was no hardship for her to do with less than the others. “You must each eat what you have been given. We all need to keep up our strength. None of us will manage if one of us falls behind.”

    Louisa bent her head, flushing at the mild rebuke, and obediently ate her apple.
     
    Their supper finished, they stumbled over the grass to a massive oak tree that grew by the side of the lane. Its wide-spreading branches would afford them a little shelter from the morning dew.

    The six of them lay down in a small hollow at the base of the tree, the younger ones in the middle where they would be better protected from the chill night breezes. She and Emily lay down at each end and spread their shawls over them all.
     
    As Caroline dropped off to sleep, the last thought that went through her mind was a heartfelt prayer for no rain.

     

    The morning dawned gray and misty. The air was dank and clingy with wet, and though there was only a light drizzle, it seemed to penetrate through Caroline’s clothes and skin, down to her very bones.
     
    She woke before it was light, having slept only fitfully. The cold of the ground had seeped into her, leaving her chilled and miserable. Carefully she disengaged herself from the pile of sleeping bodies, stood up and stretched her aching limbs. This morning she hurt in places that she had never known even existed before.

    One by one her sisters stirred sleepily and got to their feet, none of them tempted to linger on the ground. They made a sorry picture with red-rimmed eyes that stood out starkly in their pales faces, and hair that looked like birds had been nesting in it all night. She put a hand to her own hair, making a halfhearted attempt to smooth it, even knowing how futile the attempt would be.
     
    What would Mr. Savage think if he saw her now? The thought made her smile wryly. No doubt his sensibilities would be shocked that she had slept out under the stars all night and was preparing to break her fast on any blackberries she could gather from the hedgerows. He would not think her beautiful any longer, if indeed he ever had. His words of flattery had no doubt been just that—fine words well calculated to get her exactly where he