Kissed by Starlight Read Online Free PDF Page B

there to protect Doctor Danby. Though Felicia had never shown any signs of wanton behavior, there were those who believed it was just a matter of time before the mother’s wicked ways would appear in the daughter.
    Even as a young girl, if chance led her to a male playmate, someone was sure to call her in at once. When Clarice was twelve years old and still in possession of her faculties, she’d had a male music teacher, but Felicia had been forbidden to take lessons. Because the Italian artist who had come to teach Clarice to paint had too lavishly praised Felicia’s skill, he’d been roughly dismissed. She’d learned to ride, but only with female supervision. Though much of this had been Lady Stavely’s doing, even her father at times seemed to mistrust Felicia.
    “Did I hurt you?” Doctor Danby said in reaction to her wince.
    “No. I don’t mind the cup.”
    “I shan’t take much blood from you. I want to quiet the black humors in order that you may rest.”
    “I hope I need not stay in bed too much longer. There’s so much I need to be doing.”
    “Patience,” the doctor cried. “You can’t expect to shake off the effects of a prolonged illness in an hour or two, and so I told her ladyship. You’ll need to stay quiet for at least a week, perhaps more.”
    “A week?”
    “At least.” Doctor Danby winked at her. “Take your leisure, my dear, lest you fall ill again.”
    “Doctor...”
    “Yes?”
    Aware of the black eyes watching and the ears on the prick, Felicia couldn’t bring herself to describe her strange experience in the garden. Liza was always ready to twist a tale to Felicia’s disadvantage—what would she make of a statue turning into a man? What could she make of it except to declare that both Felicia’s mother’s wantonness and the madness of the Stavelys had come upon her in one day?
    For that matter, would Doctor Danby make any less of it? It had been he who, failing to find a cause for Clarice’s illness, had reminded everyone that her great-grandmother had believed herself to be a hen. Though that woman had been the mother of four children, none of whom had gone mad, a later cousin had violently attacked her husband and been locked away.
    Lady Stavely had kept her own daughter safe at home when she’d become so strange. Felicia had no hope that she would find such kindness. Better to keep her delusion a dark secret, putting it down to her incipient illness, and to keep a careful watch over herself.
    Doctor Danby said, “I’ve no doubt in the world you’ll be well as ever in a week.”
    “Thank you. I have no doubt of it myself.”
    From the door, Liza said, “If you are ready, Doctor, her ladyship would like a further word with you.”
    Doctor Danby cast his eyes up to heaven. “Oh Lord,” he said under his breath. He patted Felicia’s shoulder through her shift and said clearly, “Take rest in the afternoons and take those blue powders before bedtime. Light but nourishing meals, and no pushing the plate away before it’s all gone. You’ve always been too thin and you’ve lost more weight being ill. Remember, a plump woman is a delight before man and God.”
    “Yes, Doctor.” His own wife had the contours of a Rubens Venus, and a happier woman couldn’t be found in Devon. Her five children might have contributed to both size and happiness, but neither could be disputed.
    The doctor’s prediction came true. In a week, Felicia felt as well as ever she had. Her dresses were still too loose at the waist and her hair had lost some of its shine, but she could walk without tiring and return to her duties. She kept the accounts for the household as well as conferring with the housekeeper, dairymaids, and stewards.
    These were Lady Stavely’s duties, but she was not interested in them. Felicia had often wondered what her father’s wife did all day. She spent the mornings in her room, walked in the garden in the afternoon on the days that she did not take a leisurely