Star Carol for Celeste Read Online Free

the last three nights, her image had haunted his sleep, calling up memories of days best left in the past. Hopefully talking to her today would exorcise her from his dreams.
    Wearing her coat and hat proved she had been on the verge of leaving for the day. Surprise at his re-appearance parted her lips, and she hugged her satchel to her chest like a protective shield.
    As if she needed protection from him.
    “I thought you were gone,” she said, her green eyes wide in watchful hesitation. Those same eyes once lit up with happiness when she saw him, and the wariness in them started the old guilt tugging at Micah’s conscience. She deserved far better than he had given her all those years ago.
    “And so I was ,” he agreed, coming to stand before her. “But good manners required me to return.”
    “Good manners?” she repeated.
    “I wasn’t very nice to you earlier this week, Celeste,” he said, dropping all pretense of formality. “I had no right to be so abrupt. I hope you’ll accept my apology and forgive me.”
    And maybe one day forgive me for letting my arrogance take me away from you.
    “Well,” she said thoughtfully. “I suppose I can do that. We wouldn’t want to set a bad example for the children by quarreling in front of them or to let the other staff know we. . .” Her words trailed off.
    “Share a past?” Micah prompted.
    A rosy blush flamed her face. “Something like that,” she said.
    “Well, if anyone on staff asks , we shall simply tell them we studied music together” Micah said. “That is true enough. May I take you to tea to make up for my earlier rudeness?”
    “Well…”
    “Just one cup?” Micah persisted. “There’s a shop around the corner. Please?”
    A shadow of the smile he remembered lifted the corners of her mouth. “Very well. One cup.”
    He stepped aside for her to lead them from the room. After she closed the door and locked it, they left the school and walked the short distance to the brightly lit tea shop around the corner where Micah ordered tea and scones. The smiling waitress soon returned and set it before them. Celeste served , taking only one scone for herself. After a sip of Earl Grey , he asked, “Is that all you’re going to have?”
    “I’m having high tea with some friends later.”
    Something like jealousy pricked at Micah. “Am I
keeping you from them?”
    “No. But Duncan always puts on such a spread for us after our lessons , that if I eat now, I won’t have an appetite later and I don’t want to hurt his feelings.”
    “Lessons? Do you have another teaching job?”
    She smiled. “Not exactly. I’m helping some retired soldiers improve their reading and writing skills. They’ve rented a house together to stretch their pensions.”
    “And you go there without a chaperone?” Micah teased. “Miss Stillwell, is that proper?”
    “Have you forgotten that I often didn’t care for what was proper?” Her smile became a mischief-filled grin, and his heart turned over at the memory of how outspoken and non-traditional she could be. How could he have forgotten that and that grin?
    How could he have chosen to leave her?
    “They’re a good bit older than me, and very protective,” she said. “It’s like having a house full of uncles. I couldn’t be safer.”
    “Every young lady needs a house full of uncles,” he agreed, taking another scone. “How did your rehearsal with the children go this afternoon?”
    Her grin vanished with the speed of a conjurer’s smoke. “Well enough until Headmaster told me that Phillip Tate will be one of the competition’s judges.”
    “Our Phillip Tate? From the Hartwell Academy?” Micah whistled a long, low note, and for a moment, their pasts were joined. “That raises the stakes, doesn’t it?”
    “Yes,” she said, resignation coloring her tone. “Headmaster seems to think if we just sing a ‘carol or two’, all will be well.”
    “Headmaster obviously doesn’t know who Phillip Tate is,”