Time After Time by Wendy Godding Read Free Book Online Page B

admonished.
    ‘Well, what can we talk about,’ Harry replied sulkily, ‘if we can’t talk about our study, and if we can’t talk about our fun? Maybe you can talk to us, my dear sister? Go on, tell us some gossip.’ He nudged Heath. ‘My sister knows all the gossip, and so does Pene, although she doesn’t prattle on about it half as much as Georgie.’
    Heath was watching Penelope carefully, and she suddenly felt very hot. A slow flush, starting at her toes, crept steadily up her body, and it was all because of his chocolate brown eyes and the way they regarded her so intensely. Rising, she excused herself and went to stand by the open window, feeling the faint evening breeze waft over her, cooling the high colour in her cheeks.
    ‘What is it? Are we not playing anymore, Penelope? Do you give up?’ called Harry.
    ‘Oh, Harry,’ Georgina said in a harsher tone.
    Penelope didn’t turn around, wanting first to settle her disorientation. She wasn’t used to so much attention, and she certainly wasn’t used to the type of attention Heath seemed to fix on her.
    ‘Is everything all right?’ Heath’s warm voice whispering in her ear elicited a fresh surge of heat up her throat and she didn’t dare look at him.
    Somehow, she managed to find her voice. ‘Yes. I just felt a little warm, that’s all.’
    ‘Would you like to walk outside?’ he asked.
    She hesitated. Glancing towards the card table, she saw that Harry had abandoned the game and was pouring himself a glass of brandy. Georgina began packing away.
    Opening her mouth to answer, she found Heath had already presented his arm. It would be rude to refuse him now , she decided, and without another thought she slipped her arm through his, allowing him to lead her out the large doors and down the porch to the gardens.
    ‘You visit Broadhurst Manor quite a bit,’ he observed after a few moments.
    ‘Yes, it’s like a second home to me,’ she replied, smiling back at the house. Then a new thought occurred to her. Did he think she visited so much because he was staying there? ‘My father grew up here.’
    ‘He never visits?’
    ‘Rarely. He’s quite busy with his duties,’ she explained, ‘but he has never stopped me from visiting. Georgie and Harry are more like brother and sister to me than cousins.’
    ‘I can see you are close with them.’
    She glanced up at him. He was staring into the distance, his eyes fixed on something. Following his gaze she saw something move, like a large bird had flown overhead, its shadow fleeting and brief on the lawn. But that was impossible since it was night and there were no birds that were as large as the shape she had just seen.
    A chill raced up her spine, but Heath pulled her closer and the sensation was soon gone as the heat from his body permeated her.
    ‘Do you miss your brother?’ she said eventually.
    ‘Yes. He visits though, as often as his commitments allow.’
    ‘And you never thought about following him into the navy?’
    ‘Oh yes, I did. That is what I wanted, but he insisted I further my education at Cambridge. And I have to say I’m glad I heeded his advice. I’ve been very fortunate. I met Harry and now here I am, at Broadhurst Manor, with you .’
    He stopped walking, and Penelope paused, glancing back at him, her hand falling from his arm. His face was half-hidden in the shadows of the night, the other half illuminated by the thousand twinkling stars that filled the moonless sky. A muscle moved in his cheek, and Penelope’s fingers trembled with her overwhelming desire to touch him, to run them along his jaw and over the line of his lips. The sensation was so strong that she folded her hands and hid them in the folds of her skirts.
    ‘I feel so lucky to have met you, Penelope,’ he said softly, his eyes darkening with each word, ‘I can’t tell you how pleased I am.’
    From somewhere in the distance there came a low, disgruntled rumble. The ground seemed to tremble slightly beneath her