"Freda Warrington - A Taste of Blood Wine" - читать интересную книгу автора (Warrington Freda)

vortex; her existence with her father not a refuge but a prison,
because she could not face the bright coldness of the world outside.
Failure loomed like a cloud, and at the centre of it was the look that
Karl von Wultendorf had given her, which for no reason had filled
her with terror. The quarrel with Maddy was the last straw. All this
is my own fault… There must be something wrong with me. Why do
I behave like such a fool?
Charlotte felt choked with guilt. She would have done anything to
put things right with Madeleine. Yet she had never been able to
express her feelings to anyone, not even to her own sisters. It was
not done to show emotion. That was what her father had obliquely
taught her to believe.
Why am I so terrified of life? I was all right until I went to London.
At least I thought I was… but now I know that I'm not, that I have
never been all right…
After a few minutes there was a sound, someone tapping on the
door and opening it. She looked round, expecting to see her sister
there, ready to make peace. Maddy was volatile, but didn't usually

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A Taste


stay angry for long.
It was not her sister but her friend Anne Saunders, peering
cheerfully round the door. Not waiting for an answer she strode in,
slim and long-legged in a white shirt and riding breeches. Her
cropped dark hair framed a strong face with dark eyebrows, a warm
and lively expression. She was engaged to Charlotte's brother David
and she had known the Nevilles since childhood; her father was
their doctor. She had little time for Madeleine and Fleur, but she
was Charlotte's closest friend. Charlotte had driven off endless
potential friends by her aloof manner, but Anne had simply ignored
it, persisting until Charlotte at last came to feel at ease with her.
Even with Anne, though, she dared not be completely open.
"The Prof said you weren't feeling well," said Anne. She often gave
Charlotte's father that nickname, although he was not a professor.
"Was London that exciting?"
"Hardly." Charlotte smiled wanly, pleased to see her. "Don't come
too close, I think I'm getting the flu."
"Oh, I never catch things like that," Anne said dismissively. "Well,
what sort of time did you have? Find a rich husband?" She sat on
the edge of the bed, hands in pockets.
"God, no." Charlotte shuddered. "I don't want one, thank you."
"It doesn't sound as if you had the time of your life. Come on, this is
me you're talking to. What's happening? There's a dreadful
atmosphere downstairs, and here you are lurking in your bedroom. I
know when something's going on, and it's not just the flu, is it?"
Charlotte took a breath so deep it hurt. Her lungs and throat were on