AllFreeNovel
Share Us
The door in the next room opened and a silent pause preceded a feminine shout. “Pippa!”
She squealed, jumping up from the side of William’s bed and smoothing her skirts. She ran a hand over her hair and tucked loose pieces back into the knot at the nape of her neck. The door creaked open, and Mrs. Mackenzie poked her head in. “Pip, there you are—oh! William is awake.”
He hadn’t realized that her family had taken to calling him by his Christian name, but he liked the familiarity very much.
“He is, and I was just about to go downstairs and send someone to inform his father before I fetch him something to eat.”
“Thank you, Pippa. I’ll go with you. Is there anything else you need, William? I will send for Dr. Garvey, too, so he can look at you again.”
“Thank you, Mrs. Mackenzie.”
“Oh, please do call me Mabel. Apparently, we are soon to be brother and sister if Pip is to be believed.”
William grinned. “I would like that very much.”
He could not tell if it was real or imagined, but he thought he saw relief pass over her face.
Pippa shot him a triumphant smile before following her sister from the room, and William was content. He had fallen in love, and it was returned. He was finished with smuggling, and his father had seemed to accept that—surely that was why Roger had been sent away. And he was going to marry Pippa, and they were going to be happy in their little cottage by the sea.
