The Ugly Duckling Read Online Free Page B

it.”
    “Yep.” Jill turned on her heel and vanished into the bathroom.
    “Y ou look like a princess.” Jill rocked back and forth in her bed, hugging her knees.
    “Not likely.” Nell gently pushed her down on the pillows and pulled up the blanket. “Now, don’t try to stay awake. Take a nap and I’ll wake you when I bring our picnic. One of the maids will be right outside inthe sitting room.” She teasingly ruffled her daughter’s hair. “Just in case you see any monsters.”
    “I did see him, Mama,” Jill said gravely.
    “Well, you won’t see him again.” She kissed her forehead. “I promise you.”
    She had reached the doorway when Jill called, “Remember the wine.”
    Nell chuckled as she shut the bedroom door. Jill would never suffer from either shyness or inability to assert herself.
    Her smile vanished as she passed the mirror in the hall. Only her daughter would see anything princesslike in her appearance. She was a little over five seven but definitely plump rather than Junoesque. Plump and boring and plain as grass. Her features were nondescript except for a nose that turned up instead of fading into the boring sameness as the rest of her face. Even her short brown hair was boring, the same pale acorn shade of Jill’s without childhood’s sheen. Plain.
    Well, Jill thought she was beautiful, and that was enough for her. Not that Richard didn’t think she was attractive. He had once told her she reminded him of a country quilt—enduring, traditional, and beautiful in its simplicity. She wrinkled her nose ruefully at her reflection before moving quickly toward the door. She didn’t know one woman in the world who wouldn’t rather be a glamorous silk sheet than a country quilt. But plain women had one advantage; no one ever noticed when they entered or left a room. She would have no trouble escaping the ballroom with Jill’s picnic supper.
    She stood at the top of the marble stairs, looking down at the crowded foyer.
    Music.
    The scent of flowers and expensive perfume.
    Laughter and conversation.
    Dear God, she didn’t want to go down there. The tall, carved doors leading to the ballroom were thrown wide open, and she could see Richard standing in a corner, talking to a tall, bearded man with a ribboned chest. Kavinski? Probably. Martin, Sally, and Nadine were also crowded around him, and Sally’s expression was almost fawning. Nell would be expected to meet Kavinski later, but she would only be in the way now.
    Her gaze searched the room, and she finally spotted Madame Gueray in the shadow of the French doors. Elise Gueray was fiftyish, thin, and trying desperately to blend into the white velvet drapes. Nell felt a swift rush of sympathy. She knew that frozen smile and hunted expression; she had seen it in her own mirror.
    She started down the stairs. Let Richard charm Kavinski and wheel and deal with everyone else in sight. Helping Richard by making that poor woman less miserable was much more to her taste.
    “M on Dieu
, the man should have a rose in his teeth,” Elise Gueray murmured.
    “What?” Nell put a lemon tart on the tray. She had promised Jill a chocolate eclair, but she couldn’t see any on the buffet table.
    “You know, like Monsieur Schwarzenegger in that movie where he played the spy who could do everything except fly?”
    She vaguely remembered the movie and huge Schwarzenegger tangoing with a rose in his teeth. “
True Lies?
”
    Elise shrugged. “I never remember titles, but Schwarzenegger is hard to forget.” She nodded at someone across the room. “And so is he. Do you know who he is?”
    Nell glanced over her shoulder. The man Elise wasindicating did not have Schwarzenegger’s height or bulk, but she could see what Elise meant. Dark-haired, middle thirties, with a face more arresting than good-looking, he exuded total self-confidence. He would never be caught in a situation he could not control. No wonder Elise found him fascinating. For people like her and