Guilty Series by Laura Lee Guhrke Read Free Book Online

words. “I did not mean it that way.”
    â€œWhat did you mean?”
    â€œHer face never changes expression, and you never know what she is thinking or feeling. Unless she is talking about artifacts, the girl cannot even carry on a conversation.”
    He saw Viola staring at him in dismay, but he went on, “When she does manage to get out a few words, she cannot seem to string them togetherwithout stammering. In truth, I do not know what came over her. The first day she was here, she talked well enough, but she has scarcely said a word since then. Taken all in all, she is the most insignificant creature I have ever met.”
    â€œYet she is so important to your excavations that she cannot leave. Therefore, she must have some desirable qualities.”
    â€œShe is intelligent, I grant you that, and excels at her work. She can translate Latin, Greek, and I do not know how many other ancient languages. She is an excellent mosaicist and restorer. She draws well. But those attributes hardly qualify her for matrimony. She has no dowry, no connections but a mythical baron, and no feminine appeal to make up for those deficiencies.”
    â€œShe knows me, and if her grandfather is a baron, then she has two connections, at least. If we can find her grandfather, he might provide her with a dowry. As to her other so-called deficiencies, that is only your opinion. You see her as just another person employed by you, like Mr. Cox, or Mr. Bennington, or one of the servants. I doubt you have once looked at her as a woman.”
    â€œMiss Wade is not a woman. She is a machine. An efficient, well-ordered machine. She is never ill, she never makes mistakes. You know, I do not think I have ever heard her laugh.”
    â€œOh, don’t be absurd. I heard her laugh only this morning.”
    â€œI never have.” Anthony paused, trying to think how to describe Miss Wade to Viola from a man’spoint of view. “When looking for a wife, a gentleman would not want a machine. He would want a woman with some womanly attributes. Miss Wade, unfortunately, has none. It is rather pathetic, really.”
    â€œI had no idea that you see her in such an unfavorable light,” Viola said slowly.
    â€œI believe any other man would share my opinion about the girl.”
    â€œWill you stop calling her a girl?” Viola countered with some irritation. “She is twenty-four. She is a woman.”
    Anthony thought of the shapeless apron that concealed any womanly shape Miss Wade might possess. “If you say so.”
    â€œI do say so. Everything you have mentioned is a flaw of upbringing, not character or beauty. I think Daphne could be quite pretty, with some proper advice from me. She has lovely eyes and a beautiful complexion. A bit too tanned for fashion, but surprisingly light if one considers she has lived so much of her life in the desert. She has a nice smile, she is intelligent and well-read, and I can assure you, that though she might be a rather serious young woman, and is perhaps a bit shy, she is quite capable of laughing.”
    â€œYou had better find her connections, then, for plain, shy, serious young ladies who fade into the wallpaper do not catch husbands otherwise. They become spinsters. An unfortunate dictum, but true.”
    Viola gave him a cold stare that told him moreclearly than words what she thought of his opinion, and he felt a hint of self-reproach. Perhaps he was being harsh, but really, Daphne Wade was as drab as an English February. He decided it would be wise to give no further opinions on the subject. “It hardly matters, so let us not argue. The girl is not going anywhere until my museum and excavations are finished.”
    Â 
    A stick insect on a twig.
    Daphne felt frozen, her hand still poised to push open the door leading into the music room. The door was slightly ajar, and the conversation she had overheard hung in the air like the acrid smell of smoke that