“For the day?” Nan asked hopefully, handing the broom to Susannah.
“For a while.” Susannah stressed the last word as she grasped the rough wooden handle.
“But we’ve been working since early this morning.” Nan used her most wheedling tone. “Couldn’t we take the rest of it to enjoy our handiwork?”
Susannah surveyed the room with a critical eye. Things did look remarkably better. It didn’t exactly look like a fashionable millinery store yet, but it no longer reeked of abandonment. The windows, free of grime, allowed the sun to gild their humble furnishings, which Susannah had rubbed with lemon oil. Becky’s curtains, made of fine ivory muslin, would soften the room and grace it with a feminine touch. And Nan’s sweeping, which had started upstairs and worked all the way down to the front entrance, had done wonders to improve the appearance of the worn wooden floors.
She turned her attention to her sisters. Dust smeared Nan head to toe, and Becky’s head drooped tiredly as she worked fine stitches into the hem of the muslin. She didn’t dare to glance at herself in the mirror—she must look a fright—but the grime that collected around her fingernails bore mute testimony to the work she’d done. Her heart lurched and she twisted her mouth ruefully. Once again, she’d worked everyone too hard.
“Yes, of course. We could all do with a nice bit of rest.” She brushed the broom across the floor in broad half circles, gathering the last bits of debris into a pile. “I’ll just brush this out the door and then we can have tea.”
She pulled the latch and the door creaked open. Mustering the last reserves of her energy, she pushed the dust outside with a mighty swoosh.
A deep, decidedly male voice exclaimed loudly and then gave a hearty cough. Gracious, did she just pepper someone with her prodigious dust cloud? Susannah paused on the threshold and stepped around.
Daniel Hale stood just outside, covered in a fine cloud of dust. As she watched, her eyes growing wider, he swatted at his jacket sleeves, trying to rid them of their powdered grime.
“Mr. Hale.” It was more of a statement than a welcome.
“Susannah.” He straightened and removed his hat. “My congratulations. You are an excellent shot. Indeed, Wellington might have use for you in his army.”
“M-my apologies, Mr. Hale.” Susannah wiped her suddenly sweaty palms on her skirt. “I had no idea you were out there.”
“I believe you.” He gave her a slight smile, and for some inexplicable reason, it caused her heart to flutter. “I don’t imagine you were expecting me.”
“We have been working on cleaning up the store today and did not expect any visitors,” Susannah explained. There, that took the personal edge off the conversation. It’s not that they weren’t expecting him. They simply were not expecting anyone.
“Yes, I can see that.” His eyes roamed over her bedraggled form, amusement lighting their green depths.
The old anger and resentment welled in her breast. Who was he to laugh at her? What kind of man paid any calls without even wearing a cravat? “Well, now that I’ve powdered you with dust, at least we match,” she replied in a sweetly tart tone.
Daniel laughed and shook his head. “I should know better than to give you that kind of opportunity, Susannah. You never fail to get the last word.”
A light footstep sounded on the threshold behind her. “Mr. Hale! So good to see you,” Becky called. “Won’t you come in and see our handiwork. We’ve been cleaning all day.”
Before Susannah could turn around and shoot her sister a quelling look, Daniel stepped forward, genuine interest in his expression. “I would, thank you. I wondered how you ladies were getting on.” He motioned the two sisters in with a wave of his hand.
Susannah had no choice but to turn and follow her sister. To say anything at that point to dissuade him would be beyond rude. And while she didn’t precisely enjoy his company, she had no energy left today to cross swords with him. So she set her jaw and waited, arms folded across her chest, as he surveyed their surroundings.
“I must say I am impressed.” He gave a low whistle. “You three have already turned this into a palace. Why, it even smells clean in here. And everything so bright and fresh.” He grinned at Susannah with such warmth that she blinked. “You are to be congratulated. All of you.”
“I’ve just finished making the curtains for the windows.” Becky held one of the gossamer panels up and gave it a shake. “The room will look much more finished when I hang them.”
“Here. Allow me.” He stepped forward and took the panel from Becky. “I see the previous tenant left the rods up, so I’ll just thread the curtains on.” He reached up without even having to strain and removed the wooden pole from the brackets. The sight of his powerful shoulders, framed by the windowpane, made her heart flutter once more.
She gave herself a brisk mental shake. Daniel had always been a very nice-looking boy, and if the boy had filled out into a nice-looking man, then that was no concern of hers. Fine feathers meant nothing if a man never kept his word. And, more to the point, his very presence was a distraction. Her heart shouldn’t ever flutter when he was about. She had set her path in life, and it no longer included Daniel. Her life was this shop, and securing the independence of herself and her sisters was her sole purpose.
The sooner he left the better.
Chapter Five
“We were just about to have tea,” Nan informed him as Becky handed him another curtain panel. “Won’t you stay and join us?”
This time Susannah did shoot a quelling glance at her sister, but Nan turned and busied herself with clearing off the table.
“I’d love to.” Daniel snapped the rod in place and moved to the next window. Becky darted over and began fluffing the curtains with an expert hand. “In fact, I was wondering if you got the gift I sent you.”
“It was lovely!” Nan exclaimed, and the sisters began chattering in tandem about the vast repast he’d sent over and how delicious everything had been. Watching them together, a cold feeling of loneliness settled in Susannah’s stomach. She could not be lighthearted about his gift. Indeed, it was difficult to feel gratitude. All she felt was the same undying sense of betrayal—that she had reached out to him when she needed someone desperately and yet he hadn’t come back for her. She had to turn off these thoughts. She could not allow him to see how much she was hurt. After all, it meant nothing to him. Why allow him to see how deeply she had been affected by his absence? She grasped the broom and walked out to the back porch. She propped the broom next to the doorway and sank onto the rough brick, tucking her skirts around her.
She was tired. And hungry. Perhaps she could just rest for a moment, savoring the quiet. She untied her apron and cast it onto the long, swaying grass. The wind ruffled her hair, and she turned her face up toward the sun. Methodically, she removed the handful of hairpins she’d used to hold her hair, and relished the feeling of release as its heavy weight tumbled down her back. Just a few moments of peace, and then she’d put her hair up, tie her apron back on and go pretend to be a hostess to the man who had betrayed her.
The grass looked awfully tempting. She could spread her apron out on it and take a tiny nap, the late-afternoon sun warming her and making her eyelids droop...
“Susy. I brought you some tea.”
Susannah snapped back to reality with a gasp. She’d almost fallen asleep where she sat, and Daniel stood over her, a steaming mug in one hand and a look of tender concern on his face. She shook her head to rid herself of the dreamy haze that enveloped her and her hair rippled around her shoulders, a reminder that she was dirty, unkempt and had been caught half-asleep by Daniel Hale.
Her cheeks burning with embarrassment, Susannah accepted the cup from Daniel.