Read Secret Diaries of Miss Miranda Cheever for Free Online Page A

eyes, and for a moment Miranda thought he was in pain. But in the end he gave her a piercing stare, and one corner of his mouth tilted up in a wry mockery of a smile. “So I am.” He crossed his arms and leaned insolently against a bookcase. “Pray tell me, Miss Cheever, when did you grow so perceptive?”
    Miranda swallowed, fighting the disappointment that rose in her throat. His demons had won again. For a moment—when his eyes had been closed—it had almost seemed as if he heard her. Not her words, but the meaning behind them. “I’ve always been so,” she said. “You used to comment on it when I was little.”
    â€œThose big brown eyes,” he said with a heartless chuckle. “Following me everywhere. Do you think I didn’t know you fancied me?”
    Tears pricked Miranda’s eyes. How could he be so cruel to say it? “You were very kind to me as a child,” she said softly.
    â€œI daresay I was. But that was a long time ago.”
    â€œNo one realizes that more than I.”
    He said nothing, and she said nothing. And then finally—
    â€œGo .”
    His voice was hoarse and pained and full of heartbreak.
    She went.
    And in her diary that night, she wrote nothing.
    The following morning, Miranda woke with one clear objective. She wanted to go home. She didn’t care if she missed breakfast, she didn’t care if the heavens opened and she had to slog through the driving rain. She just didn’t want to be here , with him, in the same building, on the same property.
    It was all too sad. He was gone. The Turner she’d known, the Turner she’d adored—he was gone. She’d sensed it, of course. She’d sensed it on his visits home. The first time it had been his eyes. The next his mouth, and the white lines of anger etched at the corners.
    She’d sensed it, but until now she had not truly allowed herself to know it.
    â€œYou’re awake.”
    It was Olivia, fully dressed and looking charming, even in her mourning black.
    â€œUnfortunately,” Miranda muttered.
    â€œWhat was that?”
    Miranda opened her mouth, then remembered that Olivia wasn’t going to wait for an answer, so why expend the energy?
    â€œWell, hurry up,” Olivia said. “Get dressed, and I’ll have my maid do the finishing touches. She’s positively magical with hair.”
    Miranda wondered when Olivia would notice that she had not moved a muscle.
    â€œGet up , Miranda.”
    Miranda nearly jumped a foot. “Good heavens, Olivia. Has no one told you it’s rude to bellow in another human being’s ear?”
    Olivia’s face loomed over hers, a little too close. “You don’t look quite human this morning, to tell the truth.”
    Miranda rolled over. “I don’t feel human.”
    â€œYou’ll feel better after breakfast.”
    â€œI’m not hungry.”
    â€œBut you can’t miss breakfast.”
    Miranda clenched her teeth. Such chirpiness ought to be illegal before noon.
    â€œMiranda .”
    Miranda shoved a pillow over her head. “If you say my name one more time, I will have to kill you.”
    â€œBut we have work to do.”
    Miranda paused. What the devil was Livvy talking about? “Work?” she echoed.
    â€œYes, work.” Olivia wrenched the pillow away and tossed it on the floor. “I’ve had the most wonderful idea. It came to me in a dream.”
    â€œYou’re joking.”
    â€œVery well, I’m joking, but it did come to me this morning as I was lying in bed.” Olivia smiled—a rather feline sort of smile, actually, the sort that meant she’d either had a flash of brilliance or was going to destroy the world as they knew it. And then she waited—it was about the onlytime she ever waited—and so Miranda rewarded her with “Very well, what is it?”
    â€œYou.”
    â€œMe.”
    â€œAnd