A Rake by Reputation (Westham Chronicles Book 1) by Osborne Rachel

Author:Osborne, Rachel [Osborne, Rachel]
Language: eng
Format: azw3
Tags: Regency Historical Romance, clean and wholesome romance
Publisher: Rachel Osborne
Published: 2019-02-28T16:00:00+00:00

DEVEREAUX HAD BEEN a little cautious of coming to call again on Admiral and Miss Sudbury. Politeness dictated he ought not to be so often amongst his neighbours as to make himself unwelcome, but he found he was unable to stay away from there for long. He craved the company of the admiral, the first and best friend he had made since leaving London, and, if he were honest with himself, he longed to see Amelia again. He swallowed. The admiral had not been wrong in recounting their conversation, although Ben rather wished Amelia had not been there to hear it. It made him appear weak. Worse, it confessed that she was often a topic of conversation between the two gentlemen. Yet she had not seemed to mind, nor really to notice the implication of such an admission on her father’s part. Ben sighed. She had also not stirred herself to deny her father’s assertions, to summon some excuse to explain that her absences whenever Ben set foot in their home were mere coincidence and not an attempt to avoid a gentleman she did not wish to see.

This pained him more than he cared to admit. It angered him that anybody would shun him without knowing him, although he had come, during the last few days, to expect such treatment. Everyone seemed to know of his past misdeeds, or the rumours surrounding him. No doubt his stepmother had seen to that but even if she had not, rumours took on a life of their own and the sudden disappearance of the young Benjamin Devereaux would have been conjured its own explanation. That the young gentlemen had remained absent this past ten years, never even returning to the home he had grown up in for holidays was likewise suspicious and must have given some truth to the stories. He lived with them, now, and was very much aware of the curious stares that greeted him in town, the parents who edged a little closer to him so that their daughters would not. The conversations that were drawn hastily to a close before they even really began.

I do not care, he told himself, holding his head high and refusing to demonstrate any kind of reaction. What does it matter to me if provincial people judge me on stories I know to be untrue?

But he did care. He cared that he was judged so swiftly and completely. He cared that the stories that were nursed as truth had but a germ of reality to them and he was afforded no chance to clear his name.

Not so for the admiral. If his friend had heard the stories, he made no reference to them, but greeted Ben as a welcome addition to their small hamlet, grateful to have a neighbour he could also consider a friend.

The door opened, and Amelia returned, slipping noiselessly into a seat opposite her father.

“The tea will come shortly,” she murmured.

Devereaux smiled his thanks at her, before turning his attention back

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