Filed To Story: Alessia Mistaken as Mistress Book PDF Free
From the corner of her eye, she saw him straighten, as though coming to a decision.
“Very well. I have business to attend to now, and you have to go fetch your mother. But…I’ll have the papers for you later.”
Alessia couldn’t have been more surprised. She drew a blank for anything to say.
“Is that all?” he asked. “I need to finish dressing.”
“Yes, I-thank you.” She turned and fled from the room as quickly as her leg allowed, not slowing her pace until she was safely ensconced in her rooms.
The cook had been practicing recipes all week. Nicholas and Gruver packed two crates with delectable meat and vegetable dishes, pastries and sweet breads, and loaded them into the carriage. Nicholas would take the excess food to the Cranes, rather than allow it to go to waste.
The plan also gave him the opportunity to call on his employee and see how the man was faring.
Thomas Crane greeted him at the door, his arm no longer wrapped against his side, but his ribs still obviously tender. A welcoming grin spread across the man’s narrow face. “Mr. Halliday! Come in.”
Nicholas and Gruver carried the cartons into the small house and placed them on the table, which had been draped with a colorful patchwork covering. The splash of color surprised Nicholas, and he glanced around, noting the bright orange kitchen curtains he could have sworn were satin.
Periwinkle blue swagged from the window in the other room. The fabrics were new and shiny, inexplicably out of place, yet adding a festive touch to the Cranes’ otherwise drab home.
“Doc says another week, and I’ll have this wrapping off and be good as new,” Thomas said, pointing to his side.
“That’s what I wanted to hear,” Nicholas said with a smile.
“I didn’t expect you,” Thomas said, then turned and called for his wife.
She appeared in a doorway, carrying a tiny girl. When Nicholas saw the child wore a dress made of a deep purple sateen, he glanced at Gruver, then at Thomas, trying not to show his puzzlement.
A grin twitched at Gruver’s lips. “I’ll wait outside, sir,” he said and left.
“Oh, Mr. Halliday!” Mary Crane lowered the child to the floor and self-consciously smoothed her hair into its neat bun. “Would you care for a cup of coffee or perhaps some tea?”
“I-” he started to object, but she cut him off.
“It’ll be no problem. The water’s hot. Do you like tea?”
“I do. That will be nice.”
“Have a seat, then,” she said, gesturing to the table. She moved to pick up a crate, but he stepped forward and placed them both where she instructed. He then settled himself at the table and Thomas gingerly sat across from him.
“I thought you might like to invite the other workers over and set out a feast,” he said. “Our cook has been practicing on us, and I’m afraid she’s gone overboard.”
Mary placed three cups on the table, then peeked in the crates with a murmur of pleasure. “What a thoughtful idea!” she exclaimed. “We can have a party! I even have a pretty new dress!”
“That Mrs. Halliday is a blessing,” Thomas said. “An angel of mercy, she is. Mary says prayers for her every night, don’t you, Mary?”
His wife nodded enthusiastically. “Oh, I do.”
“You give her our best,” Thomas added.
“Mother?” Nicholas asked uncertainly.
“Of course, her, too,” Mary said with a quick wave. “But Tom was referrin’ to your sister-in-law.”
“Claire?”
“Yes, sweet Claire,” she replied. “Why, she came every day while I was down with the fever. She took care of the little ones, and when Elissa caught the fever, too, why Claire did everything a mother would have done for her.”
Nicholas stared at his empty cup.
“We’re grateful for the food you sent, too, sir,” Tom hastened to add. “And the material she gave Mary to share with the other workers has given all the youngun’s new clothes. They’re so proud to show up to school in all those fine bright colors. Mary’s been savin’ her dress for something special, and now she’ll have it.”
Mary Crane poured the tea.
Nicholas studied the squares of fabric she’d turned into a tablecloth. Claire had given her all this material?
A dim memory came to him. He’d been dealing with shock and grief at the time, but now he recalled opening the trunks that had been salvaged and stored by the railroad. Dozens of bright evening dresses with low-cut bodices and lingerie of mere lace had confounded him. That was when he’d locked the trunks, instructed the railroad to ship them home and asked the hospital nurses to buy her the clothing and items she’d need for the trip.
Mother had said something about Claire needing new clothing right away, and it had been logical. She’d packed for a honeymoon, after all, not mourning.
She’d given all her clothing to the iron workers’ families?
That thought brought him back to the situation at hand. And she’d nursed Thomas’s wife and child while they were ill. He felt like an idiot for not knowing. Why had she kept it a secret?
He drank his tea, exchanged pleasantries and hurried out to the carriage as soon as he could make his excuses.
“You knew about all that?” he asked, jerking a thumb over his shoulder.
Gruver nodded, a smile hiding behind his rigidly controlled set of lips. “I, uh, brought her here a few times, sir, and-” he swiped a hand across his mouth “-and I-uh, I carried the trunks in.”
“Why didn’t anyone say anything to me?” Nicholas asked with a scowl.
“Didn’t figure it was my place, sir,” his driver said, waiting with the carriage door open, his gaze on something in the cloud-filled sky.
“From now on I’d like a report of each place you take Mrs. Halliday.” He stepped up into the carriage.
Gruver didn’t close the door. “Both Mrs. Hallidays, sir?”
“No, just the young Mrs. Halliday.”
“Yes, sir.”
The door closed, the carriage dipped as Gruver climbed aboard, and Nicholas idly studied the row of shabby houses his workers lived in. Why had Claire possessed all those outlandish dresses? If they were simply her tasteless preference, he’d love to know her reason for giving them all away.
And the fact that no one had told him of her saintly visits irked him to no end. That behavior, combined with finding her in his room this morning, made her as deserving of suspicion as he’d always believed. Claire was trying to pull something.
But what?
Alessia’s head swirled with confusion until she could barely think what she was going to do next. Waiting for Gruver’s return, she paced the width of the circular drive in front of the house, trying to ignore the ache in her leg, oblivious to the dark clouds gathering overhead.
Nicholas catching her in his room had been her worst nightmare come true. Her collapsing against his bare chest and kissing him had been better than any dream she’d ever had. But it still didn’t make sense.
Oh, he’d been angry. Even his kiss had been angry. Why hadn’t that repelled her? Why hadn’t that stopped her?
Why had he done it?
Of all the days to have everything happen at once! Worry over Claire’s mother coming had prevented her from sleeping for the past two nights. Sneaking into Nicholas’s office once and his rooms twice had given her a false sense of confidence. She’d thought the return of the letters would pose no problem.
Actually, some tiny little speck of relief presented itself. She’d been discovered. He would never trust her. She’d never be able to do anything like that again.