SoPa02 - Never Resist a Rake by Marlowe Mia

Author:Marlowe, Mia [Marlowe, Mia]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Romance, historical
Publisher: Sourcebooks, Inc.
Published: 2015-04-05T22:00:00+00:00

Eighteen

When I had my coming out, nothing could separate me from my bosom friends, with one notable exception. If a match with an eligible party was in the offing, all bonds of sisterhood were strained to the breaking point.

—Phillippa, the Dowager Marchioness of Somerset

“Thank heaven Somerfield Park isn’t too terribly distant from London. Else I couldn’t bear all the sheep.” Lady Winifred Chalcroft removed the charming little capote from her blond head and settled on the foot of Rebecca’s bed. With un-Freddie-like attention to her wardrobe, she smoothed out her column gown’s sheer overlay to ensure it didn’t wrinkle. “There were simply endless flocks of them on the way here. Honestly, how can anyone enjoy rusticating in the country when there are museums and plays and lectures to be had in the city?”

Remembered pleasure from her time on the roof with John rushed back into Rebecca. She bit her lower lip, trying to avoid a blush. “Country life has its charms.”

“No doubt, if one is content to be a cabbage. I, for one, prefer to improve my mind. Gallivanting along the hedgerows, trying to avoid animal droppings, is not my idea of time well spent.”

“I believe there is an extensive library here.”

“Well, that’s a mercy.” Freddie narrowed her eyes at Rebecca. “You look terribly wan, and there are dark smudges under your eyes. Are you unwell?”

Rebecca pressed her palms to her cheeks. With all the young ladies descending upon Somerfield Park, she had to be in her best looks. “No, I’m fine. I just didn’t get much sleep last night.”

“Oh?”

“I was on the roof for a meteor shower.”

“That’s right. The Leonids. Well, where are your notes? Did you time the event? How many meteorites did you observe per hour?”

Nothing could have been farther from her thoughts at the time the stars began to fall. “I’m afraid I only observed the phenomenon.”

“What? A cow could merely watch the Leonids shower, Rebecca. Where’s your sense of scientific inquiry?” Freddie shook her head. “Well, never mind. The meteorites should return tonight, and I’ll make a detailed record. The roof should be a good vantage point, eh? Perhaps this won’t be a wholly wasted fortnight after all.”

“Does that mean you’ve given up winning Lord Hartley?” Rebecca wandered to the window and looked down on yet another coach pulling up the long drive. Once it stopped, the butler and footman leaped to open the carriage door for the visiting dignitaries and handed them out with aplomb.

“Oh no,” Freddie said, waving a hand airily. “Father is adamant that I give becoming Lady Hartley my best, and you know when I set my mind to something, I rarely fail.”

Rebecca smiled at Freddie’s roundabout way of patting her own back. Then she spared a moment to pity John. All day, carriages like the one below had been arriving at the house’s great double front doors. Some of the finest families in the kingdom spilled from those elegant equipages. If all the young ladies who alighted from those carriages

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