Secret Diaries of Miss Miranda Cheever
Read Secret Diaries of Miss Miranda Cheever Online
Authors: Julia Quinn
ULIA
Q
UINN
The Secret Diaries of Miss Miranda Cheever
For all the people who tipped well at Friendly's,
enabling me to save up for my first computer,
a Mac SE. (Sans hard driveâthanks, Dad!)
And also for Paul,
even though he has totally flaked on his promise
to turn said computer into a fishtank.
At the age of ten, Miss Miranda Cheever showed noâ¦
Nigel Bevelstoke, better known as Turner to all who caredâ¦
It would not have been an overstatement to say thatâ¦
Don't be late?
Turner had planned to spend the spring and summer inâ¦
A week or so later, the sun was shining soâ¦
“Winston will be here soon.” Olivia sailed into the roseâ¦
Turner had been through one candle and three glasses ofâ¦
Turner woke up the next morning with a blistering headacheâ¦
Miranda spent the next week pretending to read Greek tragedies.
Two days later, Turner still seemed to be in somethingâ¦
Turner was so busy thinking about how much he'd likeâ¦
When Turner returned home the next day, he retreated intoâ¦
Turner wasn't exactly certain why he had remained so longâ¦
Two hours later, Turner made another appearance. This time, Mirandaâ¦
Given the opposition against her, it was remarkable that Mirandaâ¦
Rosedale was, by aristocratic standards, of modest proportions. The warmâ¦
The months passed, and the newlyweds settled into a comfortableâ¦
The next morning, Turner dropped a gentle kiss on hisâ¦
The next few weeks were hideous. Turner took to havingâ¦
The doctor managed to staunch the bleeding, but he wasâ¦
At the age of ten, Miss Miranda Cheever showed no signs of Great Beauty. Her hair was brownâlamentablyâas were her eyes; and her legs, which were uncommonly long, refused to learn anything that could be remotely called grace. Her mother often remarked that she positively loped around the house.
Unfortunately for Miranda, the society into which she was born placed great stock on female appearance. And although she was only ten, she knew that in this regard she was considered inferior to most of the other little girls who lived nearby. Children have a way of finding these things out, usually from other children.
Just such an unpleasant incident occurred at the eleventh birthday party of Lady Olivia and the Honorable Winston Bevelstoke, twin children of the Earl and Countess of Rudland. Miranda's home was quite close to Haverbreaks, the Rudlands' ancestral home near Ambleside, in the Lake District of Cumberland, and she had always shared les
sons with Olivia and Winston when they were in residence. They had become quite an inseparable threesome and rarely bothered to play with the other children in the area, most of whom lived nearly an hour's ride away.
But a dozen or so times a year, and especially on birthdays, all the children of the local nobility and gentry gathered together. It was for this reason that Lady Rudland let out a most unladylike groan; eighteen urchins were gleefully tramping mud through her sitting room after the twins' party in the garden was disrupted by rain.
“You've mud on your cheek, Livvy,” Miranda said, reaching out to wipe it away.
Olivia let out a dramatically weary sigh. “I'd best go to the washroom, then. I shouldn't want Mama to see me thus. She quite abhors dirt, and I quite abhor listening to her tell me how much she abhors it.”
“I don't see how she will have time to object to a little mud on your face when she's got it all over the carpet.” Miranda glanced over at William Evans, who let out a war cry and cannonballed onto the sofa. She pursed her lips; otherwise, she'd smile. “And the furniture.”
“All the same, I had best go do something about it.”
She slipped out of the room, leaving Miranda near the doorway. Miranda watched the commotion for a minute or so, quite content to be in her usual spot as an observer, until, out of the corner of her eye, she saw someone approaching.
“What did you bring Olivia for her birthday, Miranda?”
Miranda turned to see Fiona Bennet standing before her, prettily dressed in a white frock with a pink sash. “A book,”
she replied. “Olivia likes to read. What did you bring?”
Fiona held up a gaily painted box tied with a silver cord. “A collection of ribbons. Silk and satin and even velvet. Do you want to see?”
“Oh, but I wouldn't want to ruin the wrapping.”
Fiona shrugged. “All you need to do is untie the cord carefully. I do it every Christmas.” She slipped off the cord and lifted the lid.
Miranda caught her breath. At least two dozen ribbons lay on the black velvet of the box, each exquisitely tied into a bow. “They're beautiful, Fiona. May I see one?”
Fiona narrowed her eyes.
“I haven't any mud on my hands. See?” Miranda held her hands up for inspection.
“Oh, very well.”
Miranda reached down and picked up a violet ribbon. The satin felt sinfully sleek and soft in her hands. She placed the bow coquettishly against her hair. “What do you think?”
Fiona rolled her eyes. “Not violet, Miranda. Everyone knows they are for blond hair. The color practically disappears against brown.
You
certainly can't wear one.”
Miranda handed the ribbon back to her. “What color suits brown hair? Green? My mama has brown hair, and I've seen her wear green ribbons.”
“Green would be acceptable, I suppose. But it's better in blond hair. Everything's better in blond hair.”
Miranda felt a spark of indignation rising within her. “Well, I don't know what you're going to do then, Fiona, because your hair is as brown as mine.”
Fiona drew back in a huff. “It is not!”
“Is too!”
“Is not!”
Miranda leaned forward, her eyes narrowing menacingly. “You had better take a look in the mirror when you go home, Fiona, because your hair is
not
blond.”
Fiona put the violet ribbon back in its case and snapped the lid shut. “Well, it used to be blond, whereas yours never was. And besides that, my hair is light brown, which everyone knows is better than dark brown. Like yours.”
“There's nothing wrong with dark brown hair!” Miranda protested. But she already knew that most of England didn't agree with her.
“And,” Fiona added viciously, “you've got big lips!”
Miranda's hand flew to her mouth. She knew that she was not beautiful; she knew she wasn't even considered pretty. But she'd never noticed anything wrong with her lips before. She looked up at the smirking girl. “You have freckles!” she burst out.
Fiona drew back as if slapped. “Freckles fade. Mine shall be gone before I turn eighteen. My mother puts lemon juice on them every night.” She sniffed disdainfully. “But there's no remedy for you, Miranda. You're ugly.”
“She is not!”
Both girls turned to see Olivia, who had returned from the washroom.
“Oh, Olivia,” Fiona said. “I know you are friends with Miranda because she lives so close by and shares your lessons, but you must admit she isn't very pretty. My mama says she'll never get a husband.”
Olivia's blue eyes sparkled dangerously. The Earl of Rudland's only daughter had always been loyal to a fault, and Miranda was her best friend. “Miranda will get a better husband than you, Fiona Bennet! Her father's a baronet whereas yours is a mere mister.”
“Being a baronet's daughter makes little difference unless one has looks or money,” Fiona recited, repeating words she had obviously heard at home. “And Miranda has neither.”
“Be quiet, you silly old cow!” Olivia exclaimed, stomping her foot on the ground. “This is my birthday party, and if you can't be nice, you may leave!”
Fiona gulped. She knew better than to alienate Olivia, whose parents held the highest rank in the area. “I'm sorry, Olivia,” she mumbled.
“Don't apologize to me. Apologize to Miranda.”
“I'm sorry, Miranda.”
Miranda stayed silent until Olivia finally kicked her. “I accept your apology,” she said grudgingly.
Fiona nodded and ran off.
“I can't believe you called her a silly old cow,” Miranda said.
“You must learn to stand up for yourself, Miranda.”
“I was standing up for myself just fine before you came along, Livvy. I just wasn't doing it so loudly.”
Olivia sighed. “Mama says I haven't an ounce of restraint or common sense.”
“You don't,” Miranda agreed.
“Miranda!”
“It's true, you don't. But I love you anyway.”
“And I love you, too, Miranda. And don't worry about silly old Fiona. You can marry Winston when you grow up and then we'll be sisters truly.”
Miranda glanced across the room and eyed Winston dubiously. He was yanking on a little girl's hair. “I don't know,” she said hesitantly. “I'm not sure I would wish to marry Winston.”
“Nonsense. It would be perfect. Besides, look, he just spilled punch on Fiona's dress.”
Miranda grinned.
“Come with me,” Olivia said, taking her hand. “I want to open my gifts. I promise I'll squeal the loudest when I get to yours.”
The two girls walked back into the room, and Olivia and Winston opened their gifts. Mercifully (in Lady Rudland's opinion), they finished at four o'clock on the button, which was the time that the children were meant to go home. Not a single child was picked up by servants; an invitation to Haverbreaks was considered quite an honor, and none of the parents wanted to miss the opportunity to hobnob with the earl and countess. None of the parents besides Miranda's, that was. At five o'clock, she was still in the sitting room, assessing the birthday booty with Olivia.
“I can't imagine what has happened to your parents, Miranda,” Lady Rudland said.
“Oh, I can,” Miranda replied cheerfully. “Mama's gone to Scotland to visit her mama, and I'm sure Papa has forgotten about me. He often does, you know, when he's working on a manuscript. He translates from the Greek.”
“I know.” Lady Rudland smiled.
“Ancient
Greek.”
“I know,” Lady Rudland said on a sigh. This was not the first time Sir Rupert Cheever had misplaced his daughter. “Well, you shall have to get home somehow.”
“I'll go with her,” Olivia suggested.
“You and Winston need to put away your new toys and write thank-you notes. If you don't do it tonight, you shan't remember who gave you what.”
“But you can't send Miranda home with a servant. She'll have no one to talk to.”
“I can talk to the servant,” Miranda said. “I always talk to the ones at home.”
“Not ours,” Olivia whispered. “They're starched and silent and they always look at me disapprovingly.”
“Most of the time you deserve to be looked at disapprovingly,” Lady Rudland interjected, giving her daughter a loving pat on the head. “I have a treat for you, Miranda. Why don't we have Nigel bring you home?”
“Nigel!” Olivia squealed. “Miranda, you lucky duck.”
Miranda raised her brows. She had never met Olivia's older brother. “All right,” she said slowly. “I should like to finally meet him. You talk about him so often, Olivia.”
Lady Rudland summoned a maid to fetch him. “You've never met him, Miranda? How odd. Well, I suppose he's usually only home at Christmas, and you always go to Scotland for the holiday. I had to threaten to cut him off to get him home for the twins' birthday. As it was, he wouldn't attend the party for fear that one of the mamas would try to marry him off to a ten-year-old.”
“Nigel is nineteen, and he is very eligible,” Olivia said matter-of-factly. “He's a viscount. And he's very handsome. He looks just like me.”
“Olivia!” Lady Rudland said reprovingly.
“Well, he does, Mama. I should be very handsome if I were a boy.”
“You're quite pretty as a girl, Livvy,” Miranda said loyally, eyeing her friend's blond locks with just a little envy.
“So are you. Here, pick one of Fiona-cow's ribbons. I don't need them all, anyway.”
Miranda smiled at her lie. Olivia was such a good friend. She looked down at the ribbons and perversely chose the violet satin. “Thank you, Livvy. I shall wear it to lessons on Monday.”
“You called, Mother?”
At the sound of the deep voice, Miranda turned her face to the doorway and almost gasped. There stood quite the most splendid creature she had ever beheld. Olivia had said that Nigel was nineteen, but Miranda immediately recognized him as the man he already was. His shoulders were marvelously broad, and the rest of him was lean and firm. His hair was darker than Olivia's but still streaked with gold, attesting to time spent out in the sun. But the best part about him, Miranda immediately decided, was his eyes, which were bright, bright blue, just like Olivia's. They twinkled just as mischievously, too.
Miranda smiled. Her mother always said that one could tell a person by his eyes, and Olivia's brother had very good eyes.
“Nigel, would you please be so kind as to escort Mi
randa home?” Lady Rudland asked. “Her father seems to have been detained.”
Miranda wondered why he winced when she said his name.
“Certainly, Mother. Olivia, did you have a good party?”
“Smashing.”
“Where is Winston?”
Olivia shrugged. “He's off playing with the saber Billy Evans gave him.”
“Not a real one, I hope.”
“God help us if it is,” Lady Rudland put in. “All right, Miranda, let's get you home. I believe your cloak is in the next room.” She disappeared through the doorway and emerged a few seconds later with Miranda's serviceable brown coat.
“Shall we be off, Miranda?” The godlike creature held out his hand to her.
Miranda shrugged on her coat and placed her hand in his. Heaven!
“I will see you on Monday!” Olivia called out. “And don't worry about what Fiona said. She's just a silly old cow.”
“Olivia!”
“Well, she is, Mama. I don't want to have her back.”
Miranda smiled as she let Olivia's brother lead her down the hall, Olivia's and Lady Rudland's voices slowly fading away. “Thank you very much for taking me home, Nigel,” she said softly.
He winced again.
“I'mâI'm sorry,” she said quickly. “I ought to be call
ing you âmy lord,' oughtn't I? It's just that Olivia and Winston always refer to you by your given name and Iâ” She cast miserable eyes toward the floor. Only two minutes in his splendid company, and already she'd blundered.
He stopped and crouched down so that she could see his face. “Don't worry about the âmy lord,' Miranda. I'll tell you a secret.”
Miranda's eyes widened, and she forgot to breathe.
“I despise my given name.”
“That's not much of a secret, NigâI mean, my lord, I mean, whatever you wish to be called. You wince every time your mother says it.”
He smiled down at her. Something had tugged at his heart when he saw this little girl with the too-serious expression playing with his indomitable sister. She was a funny-looking little creature, but there was something quite lovable about her big, soulful brown eyes.
“What
are
you called?” Miranda asked.
He smiled at her direct manner. “Turner.”
For a moment he thought she might not answer. She just stood there, utterly still save for the blinking of her eyes. And then, as if finally reaching a conclusion, she said, “That's a nice name. A bit odd, but I like it.”