Regency Makeover Part I: The Bride Behind the Curtain (A Regency Makeover Novella) by Darcie Wilde

Author:Darcie Wilde [Wilde, Darcie]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: InterMix
Published: 2016-03-15T00:00:00+00:00

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The great problem with a resolve to immediately embark on a process of publicly visible reformation was that there seemed to be so many hurdles to be got over before a man could even find that straight and narrow road.

First there was the genuine physical problem of the snow, which was followed by a spell of deeper than usual cold. The house party dragged on for a five solid days before the roads cleared enough for horses and carriages to venture forth.

During that time, James did his best to make himself scarce. He did not want some careless look or word to betray Adele, or him. There were, though, inevitably times when they must come face-to-face. James might take his breakfast on a tray in his room, and he might decide to forgo luncheons, but he must join the rest of the house for supper. What he ate at those painful meals he was never to remember. He was too busy making charming conversation with whoever his hostess asked him to lead in and trying to keep his eyes from straying to the end of the table where Adele sat, usually with the oldest gentlemen among the party.

Patience, however, proved surprisingly easy to avoid. She clearly was ready to believe he was playing aloof to intrigue her and was ready to return the favor. When they spoke, it was little more than sparring. Every one of her friends took this for sophisticated flirtation, and Patience basked in the witty innuendo they lavished upon her. This kept her contented, and from making additional discomfort for Adele, or so James hoped.

Octavius Pursewell proved more difficult to put off. Trapped in a country house for an additional five days, the cardsharp could imagine no other way to spend his time than taking as much money off his fellow prisoners as possible. By the end of the third day, the only one willing to sit down with him was Valmeyer, but even Pursewell had his limits as to how long he’d play on promissory notes alone. Coming across Valmeyer hectoring his stepsister for “just five pounds more, blast you, Maddie . . .” James suddenly found his vow of reformation that much easier to bear.

It was the nights that were the worst. At night, James lay awake and listened to the wind outside, and thought about Adele. She was a bare few yards away, as the crow flew. The wing where he and the rest of the bachelors had been lodged was at right angles to the family wing, and he could see her window from his. Not that her careful maid ever left the drapes open, damn her. But he’d caught the movement of Adele’s shadow on the panes, and once, he saw her face as she gazed across the snowy yard below.

Those tiny glimpses fired his imagination. In the long dark hours that followed, James undressed Adele in his mind, slowly, lovingly. He ran his hands across her sweet curves. He savored the taste of her mouth, and more.

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