A Kiss in the Dark Read Online Free Page A

the butler is a very important part of housekeeping.”
    Tory’s blue eyes looked sharp at this news. “If it’s about them carrots—”
    “Muffet is only looking out for my welfare. Between us, we shall keep the peace, eh, Tory?” She gave a conspiratorial smile.
    Tory thought a moment, then said, “I’ll give him the keys to the wine cellar. Her ladyship—-Lady Dauntry—said you must use what is in the cellar here until you make arrangements for yourself.”
    “Thank you.”
    “Now, about your groceries, milady. I hope old Muffet won’t be trying to tell me where to buy them, and me born and bred here on the coast.”
    “Muffet does not interfere with the meals. You and I shall handle that. We shall meet each morning after breakfast to decide on menus. I quite depend on you to tell me where the best food and bargains are to be had.”
    “Just ring for me whenever you’re ready, milady. And if you’ve any fault to find with how I run things, I’d appreciate it if you’d tell me yourself, and not old Muffet.”
    “That is my custom.”
    Cressida saw that from henceforth Muffet would be known as Old Muffet. She foresaw plentiful rows to come, but for the moment she wanted only a glass of Lady Dauntry’s sherry to calm her nerves.
    “What time will you be wanting your dinner, then, and how many of you will there be?” Tory asked before leaving.
    “Just two of us. Miss Wantage is not feeling well enough to come down. We dine at seven-thirty.”
    Tory’s face puckered in dissatisfaction. “They dine at seven at the castle. I put the roast in—”
    “Seven this evening, then, and in future, seven-thirty.”
    “I’ll make a note of it, milady.”
    Tory bustled out, feeling she had got the better of that round. Cressida sighed and poured herself a glass of sherry, for she did not feel like facing Muffet again so soon.
     

Chapter Three
     
    The carrots were not served at dinner. Asparagus and peas took their place. Cressida read this as a sign of Tory’s eagerness to please and made a mental note to thank her in the morning. With a long evening to be got in, Beau decided to give Cressida her first lesson in sailing. Within an hour her head was reeling with unaccustomed jargon. Beau spoke of “luffing” and “tacking” and “wind on her beam” and something called the “Beaufort scale,” which appeared to feature largely in this sport. He drew little sketches of the Sea Dog, fully rigged, with arrows denoting the wind coming at it from various directions, and other twisting arrows showing how each sail should be set.
    “You want a light trysail, for a heavy one will be impossible to handle during a gale, with your storm jib tossing about,” he said, tapping one of the sails on his drawing.
    “Perhaps I shall buy a rowboat or have a canoe sent from America,” Cressida said.
    “You will get the hang of it in no time,” Beau assured her. “If I can do it, anyone can. I hardly ever tip her nowadays. Of course, you must learn to swim before we go out, for there is no counting on a cork jacket to get you to shore if a howler should capsize us in mid-Channel. We might drift about for days,” he said merrily.
    This ominous speech quite determined Cressida that she would buy a good wide rowboat. But she was interested in learning to swim. She had her costume already made up, and with the privacy the cove provided, she need not fear being watched.
    She was about to suggest a game of cards when the door knocker sounded. Although she would not have admitted it for a wilderness of monkeys, the knock was music to her ears. There was such a thing as too much solitude. Her spirits were further improved when she recognized the firm accents of Lord Dauntry in the hallway. Perhaps he had come to give her the cottage!
    Her smile could not have been more charming when he was shown in. Cressida observed the exquisite tailoring of his jacket and the broad shoulders beneath it, the intricacy of his immaculate