The Rake's Handbook by Sally Orr

Author:Sally Orr
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Published: 2014-09-01T16:00:00+00:00

Thirteen

The walnuts had soured. Sitting at the breakfast table, attempting to enjoy a bumpy piece of her favorite butter cake, Elinor hastily swallowed to remove the taste of bitter walnuts. She had been caught in an embarrassing embrace with a reputed rake and seen by the entire county of Cheshire. “Entire county” might be an exaggeration, but only a small one.

Engaged, heavens.

Other than standing before the congregation on Sunday morning and shouting, “Pardon, Reverend, while I kiss my neighbor,” there was no greater public forum for her ruin. She had played with fire. She excused her behavior as childlike affection or normal physical attraction and got burned. No doubt everyone in the village would hear of her recklessness soon enough, followed by immediate censure. Once again, like her mourning period, she’d find herself cast into seclusion from society. Only this time, there would be no foreseeable end.

What would she say to him today? The only possible answer was “no.” Her fidelity and love for William demanded it.

Picking up her knife, she teased the offending walnuts from the dense cake onto the white porcelain plate. She then pushed them over the lip to drop on the table. Finally, she moved her plate a few inches to hide the bitter nuts from view. The remaining cake felt dry on her tongue, so she gulped her tea, hoping the scalding brew would remove the taste of horrid cake and make her troubles tolerable.

Berdy entered the morning room the very minute she could no longer wait for his appearance and remain sane. Watching him eat his meal, she wondered how to explain the situation, and if the words would spill out before she cast up her breakfast. She tried to remember every detail of yesterday’s transgressions, but failed. Her recollection of the fair’s events had been purposefully forgotten, shoved back, entombed. Just flashes of unwanted memories intruded, like the sight of his blue eyes betraying the fog of shared desire. She gathered up her courage and attempted a casual tone. “How do you feel today?”

“Funny thing that, m’ head hurts this morning.” He scratched the back of his head before rubbing his rosy cheek where a light ginger-colored whisker growth shadowed his jaw. “I’m not sure why. Must be the excitement of your betrothal yesterday.” Before she clarified her current situation, he spoke again. “I really must remember to compliment Cook on this cake. I’ve never tasted better.” He tossed another, larger piece into his mouth.

“Cook meant it to be a lighter cake, but two of the eggs were off. Love, I need to speak to you.” She twisted her napkin into a long cylinder before recounting some, but not all, of the incidents in the carriage he had not witnessed. Despite her nervousness, she was pleased her voice sounded even and its cadence instructive, as if the events were just facts.

Berdy dropped his jaw, his mouth open wide. Thankfully, it appeared empty.

“You need to understand the behavior of men like Mr. Thornbury. His

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.