Captain Rockford's Reckoning by Susan Lodge

Author:Susan Lodge
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Published: 2018-04-03T21:00:00+00:00

Chapter Fourteen

The members of the sewing circle committee were assembled in the blue drawing room. Confined to the house, Esmie had begun to feel like a felon, compelled to lurk in the shadows until Rockford offered for her. Life had become excruciatingly awkward. Of the three women sitting looking at their embroidery, only Patience industriously stabbed a neat line of stitches. Since that hideous blackmail threat, all betting had ceased. The last piece of correspondence, informing the patrons that no more wagers would be accepted this season, had been dispatched by Celia via her footman, Harper. The girls hoped this would help deter any further blackmail attempts.

Celia, viciously tugging a thread into submission, suddenly muttered, “She has the personality of a turnip.”

Her cousin was in a foul temper, having discovered that Julia Grant had been seen talking with Sheringham at the British Museum the previous afternoon. It had been reported to be a lively and animated meeting and, as no-one could remember Miss Grant to be anything other than beautifully boring, this was alarming news.

Esmie, not inclined to indulge her cousin, replied, “You can hardly blame Lord Sheringham, Celia. You have been keeping him like a puppet on a string. We all know it is you he is in love with, but he won’t wait for ever. I wager he is just doing what you do to him all the time – trying to make you jealous.”

“Don’t preach to me, Esmie. Aunt hasn’t recovered from the shock of your scandal with Captain Rockford. She has had some tricky conversations to conduct to keep you from becoming the latest scandal, especially now Rockford has disappeared over the horizon.” She paused to attempt a stitch before adding, “You kissed him! What a ludicrous hair-brained thing to say. You made yourself sound like a lightskirt.”

“But I don’t want to marry him. And, as it was I who kissed him, he shouldn’t feel trapped into offering for me.”

“Trapped? Pah! You said he pulled you into the room, Esmie.”

“Hush! Keep your voice down. Rockford didn’t offer for me, and has no intention of offering for me in the future.”

“Because you gave him a way out.”

“Yes, I did – but my point is that he shouldn’t need an excuse, not if he had any feelings for me. I have already been rebuffed by Captain Rockford.”

“When you were fourteen!” Celia gave a harsh laugh. “Look in the mirror, Esmie, you have developed a few attributes since then.”

Esmie winced as her needle rebelled against the linen and stabbed into her finger. “That may be so, but even at that young age, his rejection hurt enough to ensure that I never sent any romantic overtones his way again.”

“Fustian,” Celia snarled. “As if you would not consider the handsome, eligible, kind war hero that he is. Of course, you would rather be a spinster! Hah!”

“You have no idea, Celia, how things are between the Captain and me. So, please keep your stupid observations to yourself.”

Celia opened her mouth to retort but, after exchanging glances, seemed to change her mind.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.