Secrets of Nanreath Hall by Alix Rickloff Read Free Book Online

whush of spent breath to stare up at the ceiling. She closed her eyes as every muscle slowly unkinked, but her thoughts ran in ever-tightening circles. She pulled the locket free of her blouse and snapped it open. As always she was met by Lady Katherine Trenowyth’s serene and unchanging expression. “I’ve done it. I’m at Nanreath Hall, Mama. Now what?”
    L ight roused Anna from her nightmares. Not the soft, seeping light of a new dawn, but the glare of a handheld torch. A hand shook her by the shoulder. “It’s all right. It’s just a bad dream. You’re safe now.”
    Heart racing, Anna struggled up through a soupy fog to find a pert, oval face framed in dark chocolate curls hovering inches from her own.
    â€œBetter now?”
    She sat up, running a hand over her face. “Yes, much. Thank you.”
    The face and the torch withdrew. “You had me worried. I thought you might knock my teeth in the way you were thrashing about in the bed.”
    Anna squinted to see the clock. Three A.M. She’d slept an hour at the most, and that had been a fitful, anxious rest leaving her drenched in a cold sweat, temples throbbing. “Sorry to be a bother. Miss Jones let me stay here. I’m to report to Matron in the morning. I’m Anna, the new VAD.”
    â€œI’m Sophie Kinsale. How do you do? Always nice to meet a fellow worker bee.” She spoke in plummy Mayfair tones as she snapped on the overhead. “Are you quite certain you’re feeling well? I’ve seen cadavers with more color.”
    â€œMuch better, thank you. Suppose I’m a little skittish about starting in a new place.”
    â€œSeemed more than skittish nerves to me.”
    Anna offered her best reassuring smile, an expression she’d perfected after weeks in hospital. “That’s a . . . uh . . . lovely overcoat.”
    Sophie wrinkled her nose. “It’s a flea-bitten mess, but it belonged to my father and reminds me of home. Charles says it’s like hugging a mammoth.”
    She shrugged out of the ankle-length raccoon-skin coat. Skimming off her tunic and loosening the top button on her blouse, she stood in front of the mirror, lip chewed between her teeth as she tilted her head side to side in close examination.
    â€œI think you’re safe,” Anna offered finally.
    Sophie stiffened, meeting her gaze in the mirror. “I beg your pardon?”
    â€œYour neck. It’s fine.”
    Sophie spun round, cheeks flaming red. “Please don’t say anything. Matron would have my head.”
    Anna leaned back on her pillows, her nightmares naught more than a vague unease now, though she knew if she closed her eyes they would return. They came every night without fail. Dark and insidious, dragging her back to the chaos of France when the world seemed on fire. “Your secrets are safe with me.”
    Sophie’s shoulders slumped in relief. “You must think me a horrid flirt or worse, but I’m really not a Sodom and Gomorrah type, I swear. Charles . . . that is . . . Lieutenant Douglas is shipping out. Tonight was our last night together. I suppose we got a bit carried away.” She undressed, neatly tidying away each article of clothing before donning a pair of silky pajamas straight out of a Hollywood picture.
    â€œIt’s hard saying good-bye.”
    Sophie dabbed at her eyes with the edge of her washrag. “I didn’t realize how hard until I left him standing alone at the railway station. In that moment I would have happily thrown my reputation away for five more minutes.”
    Anna felt a leaden weight choking off her breath. If only she’d opened up to Graham and Prue during that last visit. If only she’d shared her heartbreak and her fear. If only she’d told them she loved them one last time.
    With quick, deft strokes, Sophie removed her makeup and began the arduous process of brushing out her hair then putting it