Night Winds Read Free Page B

swore . If he expected any sleep tonight, he would have to dress and check on her.
    His sister tittered as he met her on the step . “Don’t tell me you’re off to see a patient at this hour!”
    Lydia still liked to tease him about his abandoned medical practice . As if his dream had been some sort of silly joke. After his father’s death two years ago, his mother and sister had insisted he wake up. The dream became a nightmare as he took up the reins of his father’s business, a business he had sworn he’d never run.
    But there had been no other choice . Despite the yellow fever ravaging his father’s body, the elder Payton had put every last ounce of his energy into pressuring his only son to keep the business in the family.
    Lydia smiled, enthusiastic as any other eighteen year-old who’d touched on a big brother’s weakness . She’d let down her long, black hair. Hours had gone into arranging it for the Lowell’s party, the only social engagement she’d attended since July, when Phillip’s troubles had begun.
    “Well ? What is it, Phillip?” she asked slyly. “Some steamy rendezvous? Won’t Rachel be amused!”
    “I just thought I’d take a late stroll . Shouldn’t you be in bed by now?”
    Despite the nightgown she was wearing, Lydia’s eyes glistened like morning dew . “How could I possibly sleep? I was telling Justine all about that ungrateful Rowan girl who let down poor Ethan. I’m sure there’s more to it than illness, or whatever her family cooked up. Did you know the girl’s mother ran off with a strange man?”
    “That’s hardly the daughter’s fault,” Phillip answered, unsure of why he bothered to defend Shae . “After all, I wouldn’t want to be held liable for your tart mouth. And I’m surprised at Justine for welcoming such gossip.”
    “Justine thinks it’s tragic . She might be so shy she can barely speak to anyone outside the family, but she still thinks everyone’s a story.” Lydia rolled her eyes at her twin sister’s odd notions.
    A smile tugged at the corner of Phillip’s mouth . “And you think everyone’s a scandal. Goodnight, Lydia.”
    “This wouldn’t be a meeting to settle that silly disagreement you’re having about the business?” she guessed .
    “It wouldn’t.”
    “Oh, splendid. I’m so enjoying my months as a pariah.” She raised a drooping hand to her forehead in such a perfect imitation of their mother’s histrionics that Phillip couldn’t help but laugh.
    He kissed the top of her dark head . “Thank you for that.”
    “It’s a woman, then, I’m guessing . If you do anything interesting, I’m sure to find out. I’m fiendishly good at guessing secrets,” she warned.
    “Don’t wait up for me.” He winked at her . “You’ll need all your strength tomorrow for your investigation.”
    *
    While Aunt Alberta made a pot of tea, Shae hobbled to the stairwell and moved awkwardly upstairs toward her room. Her rooms, she might have called the large space, for her father had allowed her to have a wall knocked out so she’d have space enough to set her spells to canvas.
    Spells . . . She smiled at the thought . No one had called her painting magical in years, no one since her mother, when Shae was yet fifteen.
    Glennis’s eyes had glowed in admiration of the green-rimmed lake that seemed to sparkle from the midst of Shae’s landscape. “Faith! You’ve painted Ireland ! Ireland’s in your blood, even if you’ve never seen it!”
    “You’ve told me about it so many times. . .” Shae had shrugged, even then embarrassed by the praise . She didn’t paint or mold clay to hear how good her work was. Instead, she did those things out of an inexplicable compulsion to capture the images inside her. Mother had never understood that, in either Shae or Father. Glennis didn’t create beauty; she simply worshipped it. Had her adoration of King’s craft drawn the two together from the start? Had they used it as a substitute for love?
    Her