Total pages in book: 102
Estimated words: 95222 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 476(@200wpm)___ 381(@250wpm)___ 317(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 95222 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 476(@200wpm)___ 381(@250wpm)___ 317(@300wpm)
‘Definitely not.’
She laughs. ‘You men. Of course there is. That woman has worked her way through Belmore Square, including my husband and my brother.’
I cringe, but I do not deny it.
‘Sampson is fresh meat, but he’ll soon get bored of her.’
‘Or she him,’ I muse, as Clara joins us. ‘How are you, sister?’
‘I’m having the most wonderful time!’ she sings.
‘You are?’ I ask, surprised.
She rolls her eyes. ‘Of course I’m not. I’m as bored as one could be. The only benefit I am taking from this, and Eliza’s wedding too, of course, is that I may marry whom I choose when my time comes.’
I laugh. ‘My dear, sweet sister.’ I put an arm around her shoulders and pull her close. ‘Have you missed the fact that Eliza’s husband is a duke and my new wife is a lady?’
Her face drops. ‘Are you saying I may marry whom I chose so long as they bear a title, no matter if they are a suspected murderer or a highwaywoman.’
I feel my face blanch, and I dart my eyes around the room, looking for listening ears. ‘Clara!’ I scold, and she shrugs, nonchalant.
‘Bear the fact of my knowledge in mind, brother, when you come to force me into marriage.’ Her eyebrows jiggle as she dances off.
‘The little …’ I have not the right word for her, nothing effective enough for how I feel about the youngest of my sisters.
‘Well, she certainly has you backed into a corner, doesn’t she?’
She does. Thank God I have one more season to figure out how I may deal with her. Hopefully in that time, she will forget that my wife was a highwaywoman. ‘I am bored of pretending I am having a lovely time.’
‘Are you not?’ Taya asks.
‘No, because there are far better things we could be doing.’
Her body tightens before my eyes. ‘Oh?’
‘Do you think you can manage?’ I ask, hopeful. It has been weeks since I have taken her. Weeks! It has been a backward blessing, I suppose, since her brother, the Duke, on agreeing to me having her hand, laid down one condition after dinner that eve. I must abstain until she is my wife. I had made a point of being insulted. The Duke had made a point of ensuring I knew that he knew of the difficulties in holding oneself back from something one thrives on, which only made me point out, gladly, that he should for that reason understand my plight.
Nevertheless, he upheld his condition, said something about it making him feel better for failing in his duties and honouring their father. It was with those words I knew I could not disobey his request, so when Taya tried to seduce me a few evenings later while I was bathing her – he never said I could not do that – I was tossed into a conflicting position, my body screaming for me to accept, my integrity forbidding it. So, as you can imagine, I was truly relieved and most thankful when Taya hissed in pain and relented to her body’s refusal to cooperate. But now …?
I get her upstairs to her room and shut us inside and go straight to the window to draw the drapes. I freeze, my hands on the taffeta ready to pull them across, when I see a horseman across the road.
Alf.
He’s looking up at the window, and when he sees me, he raises a hand, and I raise one in return, sure he will know Taya is fine. Sure he will have watched us be wed. Lifting his hat from his head, he bows, rests it back in place, and then yells, whipping the reins, and canters out of the square. I smile and silently wish him well as I close the drapes and turn towards Taya, pulling at my gold cravat as she begins to squirm and pant where she is. Oh, how I have been waiting for this. ‘I hear it is to be a beautiful sunset this evening,’ I say, and she stills. ‘Perhaps we should ride into it later.’
Her smile is as blinding as the sun surely is. ‘I would love that.’
‘Me too,’ I agree, tearing off my new jacket carelessly and tossing it aside. ‘Tell me something.’ I approach the bed and she claims me with her good hand, yanking me down onto her.
‘What?’
I am nose-to-nose with her, my senses being bombarded in every way. ‘Who were the highwaymen?’
She stills, looking me directly in the eye. ‘A lady never tells,’ she whispers huskily, pulling my mouth down to hers.