This Perfect Kiss by Melody Thomas Read Free Book Online Page B

into the adjoining chamber, only to come to a stop as she looked around the bulkhead at a little girl hiding there. The child stood in a pale nightdress just outside the dim amber light cast by a single sconce next to Christel’s head.
    â€œAre you an angel?” asked the girl in a small voice.
    Christel stared at the small oval face looking back at her with wide, light-colored eyes. Black curls bound by a white ribbon reached down the length of her back. Her white nightdress topped her ankles just above her bare feet.
    â€œAn angel? The only angel I see in the room is you. You must be Lady Anna.”
    Christel knelt and placed her hands on the girl’s narrow shoulders. “Look at you without slippers or a wrap. You are colder than an icicle.”
    â€œHoarfrost,” she said softly. “Mamma used to say I was colder than hoarfrost.”
    Christel gently touched the ribbon entwined in Anna’s silken hair. She might have Saundra’s delicate build, but the girl had her father’s blue-gray eyes, fringed in his dark lashes, his sable hair, and his beautiful mouth. “Hoarfrost it is, then. Come.” She led the girl to the bunk and pulled back the covers. “What are you doing out of your room?”
    She wrapped Anna in the thick feather tick until only her delicate face showed in a fluffy mountain of white. She had aired the tick yesterday after the dog had slept on it.
    â€œI woke up,” the girl said. “I got afraid. Nurse Gabby did not light the lamp. I think she is ill.”
    Christel arranged the feather tick over the child’s feet. “Does Nurse Gabby always take ill on rough seas?”
    Christel would die if she had brought some plague aboard this ship. But to her relief Anna nodded. “Red Harry tells her to eat the dry toast he brings for her. But she never eats toast without her butter and orange marmalade, and Red Harry said since we do not have our ship’s cook on board, no one knows where anything is and she would have to eat the toast without butter and marmalade. I do not like marmalade. I like strawberries the best.”
    â€œI see.”
    â€œNurse Gabby did not eat the toast.”
    â€œAnd now she is sick.”
    â€œTerribly so.” Anna suddenly came to life. “Is that a dog ?” She leaned over the side of the bunk and held out her small hand to the spotted hound. “I always wanted a puppy. Papa would never allow me to have a dog. What is its name?”
    â€œI have not named him yet.”
    Anna’s pale eyes widened. “Why ever not? Everything must have a special name so it knows ’tis loved.”
    Christel hadn’t named it yet because she hadn’t quite accepted the hound as hers, as if it had been a possession to be owned. Or perhaps it was more. Whenever she allowed herself to get close to something, it either died or ran away.
    â€œPerhaps I have not known him long enough.” Christel touched the dog’s ear. “I met him on the docks when I arrived in London. He was hungry and I fed him. After that, he followed me everywhere and kept the tars and stevedores at bay. At any rate, any life in Scotland is far better than living on the docks in London.”
    A wave crashed against the ship. Christel looked out the window at the churning sea washing against the glass. With a sigh, the girl buried herself deeper into the blanket. “Papa would never let anything happen to his ship while I am on board. He told me so. Papa never lies. And Mama told me an angel would always watch over me and Papa.”
    Christel had had enough of this angel business. “My name is Christel, Anna. I am not the least bit celestial, I assure you. My Grams is your great-grandmother. I am returning to Scotland after being away a very long time. Your papa has agreed to take me. But if there is an angel watching over you and your papa, then ’tis your mam.”
    The little girl buried herself