Naomi and the Purloined Journal: A feel-good Regency Romance (The Wild Marchmonts Book 1) by Alicia Cameron

Author:Alicia Cameron [Cameron, Alicia]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: anonymous
Published: 2023-08-14T16:00:00+00:00

The next day Eliot, riding back from the village, saw the Wild Marchmonts together as usual on a walk which appeared to have broken into a run. His path lay by the narrow brook, an offshoot of the river that traversed the estate, and they were walking on a much higher path, bounded by trees, so that he could see only glimpses of their unruliness among the woodland and hear only the loudest of calls. Berthe ran ahead as always, and stood at the top of a steep bank that swept down to the other side of the brook. Eliot halted his mount to look. Berthe, with a quick look over her shoulder, crouched suddenly and made herself into a ball to roll down the hill in a shockingly dangerous manner. Eliot held his breath. A cry went up, and Stephanie burst forward, red curls flying, bonnet hanging by its strings around her neck, and followed the rolling motion of her sister only a second later. Phoebe and Naomi were next to appear, calling out, then, with a quick grin at each other they too threw themselves down in unison. Richard and Roseanna arrived, and Roseanna called something to them, before hitching her skirts and trying to walk down. Before the steepness of the hill caused her to reach terminal velocity and lose her balance, Richard caught her — but he was rear-ended by Tabitha, also trying the descent on her feet, and they were tipped forward all, with Eliot still unable to catch his breath at the sight. Perhaps four seconds had passed.

As heads began to lift and bodies to untangle, Eliot watched and heard Tabitha scream ‘You are all stupid!’ which, since her own brown gown was around her waist, displaying her petticoat, and the hood of her short cape was twisted and was obscuring one eye, seemed peculiarly humorous. It did not shock Eliot to see that a wave of anxiety-fueled laughter shook them all, sending Phoebe and Naomi onto their backs again, laughing at the blue sky.

Stephanie was at the bridge, touching the end post and saying, ‘I won!’

As Eliot rode over the bridge, Berthe called, ‘I would have won!’ And she crawled to the bridge desolate, touching the same stone and raising her eyes to her sister. ‘But I bashed my head.’

As Eliot arrived, the others were standing and brushing themselves off, still laughing. ‘Are you quite alright, ladies?’ he said pleasantly, his eye resting on Naomi, who ignored him. ‘That seemed a little dangerous.’

‘Not ladies but hoydens, you mean,’ said Richard.

‘Berthe wanted to cheat in the race to the bridge by risking her life,’ said Naomi, ‘so we could not but follow her.’

Richard had swept up Berthe in his arms, examining her head. ‘Just a bump!’ he said, carelessly. ‘And you deserve it. Never do so again.’

This seemed redundant as he had followed suit, but Eliot was silent. Richard swung Berthe up towards him on his horse. ‘Take her back, Eliot!’

Eliot smiled at Richard’s authoritative tone, for he was several years younger.

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