Page 29 of Once Upon a Midnight Dream
Zander could not contain his chuckle.
At once, she righted herself and glanced around suspiciously.
“Zander? Is that you?”
Ten
Kelston Hall’s main corridor
After a handful of embarrassing heartbeats
Caught like a naughty lad in short pants.
Zander popped his head around the doorframe and offered an apologetic grin. “Guilty.”
Wearing an odd assortment of borrowed clothing as well as donated cast-offs, he ambled forward.
“Explain yourself, please.” The twinkle in Lilly’s eyes belied her severe expression.
However, the stark, drab green gown she wore did nothing for her coloring. She should wear bottle or emerald green. Crimson and purple.
Even white would be more becoming.
He would wager as frugal as she was, she had bought the awful fabric at a discount.
And it was no wonder.
What woman chooses to wear pond-scum green?
“I shall not claim I did not mean to eavesdrop, Lilly because once the twit opened his mouth, I fought the urge to hurry his exit from the house. What a condescending piece of sh—” Zander barely stifled the expletive. “Ah…cow excrement.”
He really should not speak like that in a lady’s presence, but with Lilly, Zander never had to pretend decorum he did not feel.
Lilly laughed, an unfettered ripple of pure joy, and he grinned in return.
“I said to myself that I would serve steaming cow patties at tea before hiring that…that…” she waved her hand toward the door.
“Turd?” Zander offered helpfully.
Eyes still sparkling with mirth, she nodded. “Indeed, although I would have called him a tosspot or snollygoster.”
“How many interviews is that now, if you do not mind me asking?” Zander fell into step beside her.
Her shoulders slumped the merest bit before she squared them and lifted that pert chin.
Zander admired that about her.
Her gumption and intrepidness.
Lilly did not wallow in self-pity.
No, she was a problem-solver.
“All told, eleven. I am determined to not settle or rush into a decision and make another mistake like Miss Sanders again.
“I must find someone who is qualified, ethical, kind, but most of all, who loves children and understands them.”
She pursed her lips.
