Read As You Wish for Free Online Page B

troubling you, Miss Cantrell.  You are under my protection now--as well as the marquess’s and Mr. Traymore’s.”
    Leah glanced at her rescuer, who stood watching her closely.
    “Laudanum distorts reality sometimes, Miss Cantrell,” he said, though he didn’t sound very confident.  “Much of your anxiety may be attributed to the drug.”
    “How much?”  His suggestion didn’t convince her either, but she tried desperately to keep an open mind.  “Could I, for example, be dreaming right now?”
    He glanced at the marchioness, then back at Leah, his dark eyebrows crunched together.  “I fear not, but I, too, would like to assure you of your safety.”
    Determined to consider her dream theory anyway, she looked around the room.  Sunlight bathed the pastel yellow wallpaper, illuminating the tiny buds that speckled it.  Beneath her hands, a matching damask bedspread felt cool and finely textured.  Both her senses and her thoughts seemed clear--but dreams could be realistic.
    They could also be tested.
    A book lying on the nightstand caught her attention.  She had never been able to read in a dream; by the time she reached the end of a sentence, the words at the beginning always changed.  Snatching up the volume, a leatherbound copy of Jane Austen’s Mansfield Park , she opened to a page in the middle and skimmed the first few sentences.
     
    “She could not respect her parents, as she had
    hoped.  On her father, her confidence had not been
    sanguine, but he was more negligent of his family,
    his habits were worse, and his manners coarser, than
    she had been prepared for.”
     
    Her throat constricted.  Not only could she understand the words, but the passage made her think about her own parents.  Her relationship with them lacked respect, too--on both sides, unfortunately.  But underneath all their differences, she knew they loved her.  She loved them, too, and now she might never see them again!
    She swallowed the lump in her throat and snapped the book shut.  Obviously, she could read.  She wasn’t dreaming.  Given that, she couldn’t bear to think about her parents.
    “Do you like to read, Miss Cantrell?” her hostess asked.  “My sister left that novel behind last time she visited.  She said she greatly enjoyed the story.”
    Leah looked stupidly at the book in her hand.  She had to pull herself together and try to act normal.  Lady Solebury and David had been very kind to her, but if she didn’t calm down, they would start to doubt her sanity.  Who knew what that might mean in the year 1815?  Commitment to Bedlam?  Being locked in a cell or chained to a wall?
    She took a deep breath.  “Yes.  I’ve read it.”
    “Indeed?  I had no idea Miss Austen had been published in the States.”  She paused and looked to David.  “Mr. Traymore, I think you can leave us now.  Would you tell Molly to have Miss Cantrell’s bath brought up?  I daresay she will feel better after a good soak.  I always do.”
    “Do you have to leave?”  Leah heard the words come out of
    her mouth before thinking about whether she should say them.  As cynical as David seemed, he had rescued her, and his presence felt reassuring.  But she couldn’t cling to him.  She had to find her own strength.  “I’m sorry.  That was stupid.  I’ll be fine soon.  My head is clearing already.”
    “ Did you strike your head, Miss Cantrell?” he asked, his eyes intent.  “Yesterday you told me you had not.”
    “Oh.  You know, maybe I did.”  Leah put one hand up to the back of her skull and feigned a wince.  “I am a little tender.  I’m afraid I don’t remember everything about my accident.  Yes, I guess I must have hit my head.”
    Lady Solebury laid a hand on her shoulder.  “Well, I personally will oversee your recovery, Miss Cantrell.  Meanwhile, Mr. Traymore needs to go and dress for dinner, and that will give you a chance to do the same.  No doubt you will feel much better by the