Demon Child Read Online Free PDF Page B

books? Will love dissipate the age-old Brucker family curse, Cora?”
        “That's quite enough,” Cora said.
        “I'm speaking for Freya's good,” Richard insisted, dropping his spoon and leaning over his plate, staring intently over the serving dishes. His dark eyebrows met above his nose.
        “And you're insinuating that I am not speaking for her best interests. Is that it?”
        Jenny had never seen Cora angry before. She could tell that the woman was prepared to lash out, cuttingly, if this exchange should continue for much longer.
        Richard sank back in his chair. “No, Cora,” he said. “I realize you're as worried about Freya as I am. But don't you see- Don't you see that the best way is professional help?”
        “What I see,” Cora said, “is that we have embarrassed our guest and made her first regular meal with us-well, awkward.”
        “That's all right,” Jenny said, cutting a piece of ham. The food was really quite good, though she had lost most of her appetite. She just wanted to rise and ask to be excused. Maybe she could lose herself in a good book tonight. Except that, by not eating she would embarrass both Richard and Cora-and infuriate dear Anna who was so proud of her culinary art.
        Richard cleared the table while Anna brought dessert and coffee. She had made a special surprise to conclude the meal, an ice cream cake with four different flavors in eight different layers. It must have taken most all afternoon for this dish alone. She was a woman who loved her work. And her love produced, especially in this instance, a dish that was wildly delicious, even though the argument and the constant gloomy expectancy that hung over the mansion had dulled Jenny's appetite.
        “Well?” Anna asked once the dessert had been taken and the extra cups of coffee had been poured. She clasped her hands before her and smiled, vulnerable to a rejection but fairly certain that she would receive praise.
        “It was marvelous, Anna,” Jenny said. She did not have to stretch the truth to give the woman the reply she wanted. “I don't think I'll be able to move from this chair for a week!”
        That pleased Anna. A murmured agreement from Cora and Richard finished her reward. She went back into the kitchen, smiling broadly and humming some vaguely familiar tune to herself.
        Jenny exchanged amused glances with Cora and Richard. Anna was some cook, and some character!
        “What do you think of the Brucker mansion?” Richard asked. He was watching her over the rim of his cup as he sipped his coffee.
        Unexplainably, she remembered that he had opened her suitcases upon placing them in her room. She had still not been able to decide whether or not he had been snooping, whether such a gesture was only meant as a final courtesy. But this very direct gaze of his seemed to pry at her own eyes, to peel back her brain and seek for secrets. She didn't like that at all.
        “My room is wonderful,” she said. “I'm anxious to explore the grounds and do some riding. I can't thank both of you enough. This is just what I need to prepare me for teaching this fall.”
        She thought he looked surprised at her answer, as if he had expected some other reaction. As if, perhaps, he had been hoping that she would say that she did not like it here and that she wanted to leave
        Or that might be her overworked suspicion again. Why would he want her out of the house? He had always treated her well, hadn't he? She remembered, suddenly, that he had been half an hour late picking her up at the bus terminal. Before she could enquire about that, however, they were interrupted by the soft yet penetrating chimes of the front doorbell.
        “That will be Dr. Malmont,” Richard said, laying his napkin on the table and rising from his chair. “I'll show him here. Perhaps he'd like some coffee on a night like this.”
        When Richard had left the room, Cora