Her Beguiling Butler by Cerise Deland

Author:Cerise Deland [DeLand, Cerise]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Amazon: B0135ZLZAU
Goodreads: 26019461
Publisher: W J Power
Published: 2015-07-29T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Ten

Alicia stood beside Wallace at the churchyard, the rector praising her dear Lucille.

The day had dawned crystal clear, the snow clouds chased away by blazing sun that reflected off the snow. No wind blew. The world, it seemed, was silent. As if—Alicia lifted her face to the warm sunlight—as if the world smiled this morning.

After last night, Alicia thought she would smile each day forevermore.

And here before her were the remains of the one woman who had taught her to grasp what happiness she could.

Even the rector spoke of that quality Lucille exhibited. The woman, though an advanced seventy-two years of age, had continued to inspire children in the township’s orphanage. With the annuity from her previous charges over the course of her lifetime, Lucille had managed to live a humble life in a decent little cottage on the main road to Sevenoaks.

Alicia looked out upon the numbers of little girls here, their heads bowed, some weeping, others fidgeting while the rector enumerated the deeds of this fine lady. Lucille had not only gone daily to read to the children at the orphanage, but had also taught many how to cook and to garden.

Alicia smiled, recalling Lucille’s instructions about the growth of flowers.

“Careful tending daily will profit you, Alicia,” she had said. “Pull the weeds. Give them no quarter.”

At once, she frowned, remembering her conversation with Wallace yesterday about the poisonous plants in her tiny garden behind her townhouse. She had lost interest in the small plot and left its care to the servants. Closing her eyes, she remembered looking out her window in the back of the house from her sitting room and seeing Mrs. Sweeting in that garden. If the cook knew the nightshade was there, why had she not pulled it immediately? Wouldn’t she realize that to leave it there was dangerous? What if any part of the plant, had blown into a collection of herb snippings meant for the table?

She stiffened at the horror of the possibility that poison might have mixed with their food.

Wallace reached over and hooked one finger around her own.

She smiled to herself at his discreet show of affection. Then she bit her lower lip in ripe remembrance of their mating last night. His lips on her throat, his hands on her breasts, his male organ filling her in white hot ecstasy had been beyond her girlish fantasies of romantic love. She swallowed with some difficulty as her nipples peaked and her belly swam with ardent need. Dear me. She was delighted she’d insisted on a carnal union. He was skilled in his ardor. And she? She was enraptured with this man.

Could she believe he loved her?

Of course, she could. Did. He had a noble mien, his care of her natural. Dare she say, spontaneous? Uncontrived.

She had not known any man like that. Oh, perhaps, a few existed, but she’d not heard of them. If they had wives who were the recipients of such instinctive amour, Alicia doubted the ladies would tell it abroad.

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