Scandal by Carole Mortimer

Author:Carole Mortimer
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Published: 2019-07-30T18:30:00+00:00

CHAPTER SEVEN

There was absolutely no reason for Rachel to have to pretend to have a chill the following day, when she only had to think of her planned meeting with Gray later today for her cheeks to flush and her eyes to gleam too brightly.

In fact, her symptoms of anticipation and arousal appeared so similar to those of the chill she was claiming she had that her mother had hesitated to leave Rachel alone for the afternoon. Rachel insisted her mother must go when all she intended to do was sleep anyway.

It was a little after three o’clock when Rachel’s parents and her aunt and uncle set out aboard the carriage that had been adapted to serve as a sleigh for such times as these. It had ceased snowing during the night, but the carpet of white remained on the ground from yesterday. Several lamps were lit along the sides of the sleigh to add to its appearance of festive warmth. There were boxes of food and drinks for the adult tenants, and presents and clothes for their children, piled high inside the carriage with the two smiling couples.

Previous years, Rachel would have accompanied them and enjoyed doing so immensely. But Gray, and the thought of the few hours they would spend alone together in the privacy of his cottage, was a far more exciting prospect.

In truth, Rachel had spent part of the day fretting that Gray would find some way to let her know she was not to visit his cottage today after all. Quite how he would go about doing that, she had no idea, perhaps by having a letter delivered to her surreptitiously by one of her parents’ maids or footmen. When no such note had arrived by three o’clock, Rachel lost no time in requesting her maid draw the curtains before then dismissing her, with the assurance Rachel intended to sleep for the rest of the afternoon and evening.

For authenticity’s sake, she positioned two pillows in her bed to make it look as if she was happily buried beneath the bedcovers. After that, it was a case of dressing in warm clothing before moving stealthily down the servants’ stairs and out through a door at the back of the house.

It was only after she had crept into the stables, saddled Snowball, and was safely on her way to Gray’s cottage without mishap that Rachel realized the full extent of what she was about to do.

Oh, not the being alone with Gray in his cottage; that she was perfectly happy about. And anything that came after.

But she was also the one, after their time together at the church yesterday had been interrupted, who had pursued Gray relentlessly by insisting he dance with her at the wedding and then inviting herself to his cottage today. All while making no attempt to hide the fact that she intended them to continue from where they had left off in the church.

What if she had forced Gray into this second liaison

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