Arrival of the Traveler (Waldgrave Book 1) Read Online Free PDF

suitcase—there, underneath her old black dress, was a brightly colored something she had never seen before.
    It was a red dress, with glass beads done into the elaborate embroidery around the waistline. Entranced, Lena took it from her suitcase and out into the last of the daylight streaming through the gossamer drapes of the floor-to-ceiling windows that framed either side of her bed. The beads, no larger than pecks of birdseed, twinkled like stars and dispersed tiny bits of sunset light onto the walls and high onto the ceiling. The effect of the little pinpoints of red and orange on the dimming green walls was spectacular—like thousands of fireflies zooming around the room. It was dazzling.
    They don’t make dresses like this anymore…  Lena thought, examining the hand-sewn details that traced delicate swirls around the fabric.  I wonder who left it here?  But for the moment she didn’t care about anything except trying on her exquisite find.
    She ran to the full length mirror in the bathroom to see how she looked, and at once felt ashamed that she didn’t wear makeup. The dress was made for someone with a body and face to match, someone who wasn’t her, someone who must have been much, much prettier than she was. Her hair had no volume, and her skin was too pale. It was embarrassing, to say the least—she was being outshined by a piece of cloth. She’d never owned anything as nice or as expensive as this dress, and she was beginning to see why.
    People like me don’t wear things like this.
    It was too elegant and affluent and…good…for her. She liked the old dress, the one she traveled with, that her father had bought for her.
    Lena was almost brought to tears. It hadn’t been Mrs. Ralston, because she had questioned whether Lena had anything to wear at all, so it must have been Uncle Howard. And now she would have to wear it, looking like a boar in a ball gown, or risk insulting the only relative she had left.
    She put her hair up as fancy as she knew how, but it didn’t help. As she was washing her face with cold water, trying to ebb the tears that were drawing closer, a knock came at the door.
    To her horror, it wasn’t Mrs. Ralston.
    “Whoa…princess…” David smelled of having showered, and had put on a clean shirt and worn-looking slacks.
    “What do  you  want?” Now she really was crying.
    “Howard wanted me to escort you to dinner, and may I say, you look…wow.”
    “Why can’t you just leave me alone?” Her lip trembled. “I’m not hungry, so just go and tell Howard he’ll have to eat without me tonight.”
    “Why are you crying? Are you sick?” There was a real concern in his voice as she turned and started to walk back into her room, not even caring enough to close the door in his face again.
    “I’d like to continue this conversation, but I’m pretty sure it would be improper of me to follow you in there, princess…”
    Lena sighed in exasperation. “You’re such a jerk, you know that?”
    He took two steps into the room, grabbed her wrist, and pulled her out into the hall, closing the door behind her.
    “I’m not going to dinner,” she said flatly.
    “You are, and we’re going to have a talk first.” He pulled her down the hall and into the library. Forcing her into a chair, he stood across from her and took a deep breath, shaking his head.
    “You’re the only girl I know who couldn’t enjoy living in a place like this.”
    “Really, and I suppose you consider yourself a field expert on women?”
    He looked up at her, mock surprise on his face. “Of course I am.”
    She couldn’t help herself, and smiled.
    “See, now that’s better.” He grabbed the box of tissues sitting on the table next to him and thrust them at her. “Now, clean yourself up and tell me what this is about.”
    She mopped her face. “It’s the dress.”
    “What’s wrong with it?”
    “Nothing. That’s the problem. Someone like me shouldn’t wear something like