The Rake to Reveal Her. Julia Justiss
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paquet in arms.
Curiosity was soon submerged by a lingering irritation over yesterday’s unwelcome visitors. ‘You didn’t admit her, did you?’
‘No, sir. Following your instructions, I closed the door—in her face, as she refused to move, a thing I’ve never done in my life, sir!’
‘Sounds like problem solved,’ Dom said. ‘Eventually, she’ll tire of waiting and go home. Will you have that tray brought up, and some more coffee, please?’
The butler lingered, looking even more distressed. ‘You see, sir, as the young lady arrived at just past eight this morning, while you were still abed, I felt no hesitation in refusing her. But it’s now nearly two of the clock and...and she’s still waiting.’
Annoyed as he was to have yet another person try to intrude upon his solitude, Dom felt a revival of curiosity which, as he reluctantly reviewed the situation, intensified.
He hadn’t mingled with society here for years, and only a few knew he’d returned to Suffolk. He had no idea who the woman might be, or what matter could be compelling enough to prompt her to come alone and wait for hours to consult him.
Arguing with himself that he would do better to ignore the caller, and losing, he finally said, ‘Who is it? Not the girl from yesterday, surely.’
‘Oh, no, sir,’ Wilton said, sounding scandalised. ‘Miss Wentworth’s mama would never allow her to call alone on a single gentleman. The Young Person didn’t give me her name, saying it wouldn’t be known to you anyway.’
It would be scandalous for an unmarried girl to call on him, Dom belatedly realised. He’d been out of England so long, he’d initially forgotten the strict rules governing the behaviour of gently born maidens.
Maybe she wasn’t so gently born.
There might be possibilities here, he thought, his body now taking an interest. Not that he was sure he was yet healed enough that such pleasant exercise wouldn’t cause him more agony than ecstasy. ‘You called her a “young lady”, though. Why, after such brazen behaviour?’
‘Well, she is young, and in speech and dress, she appears to be a lady, however improper it might be for her to come here.’
‘Alone, you said.’
‘Yes, sir.’
‘What has she been doing all this time?’
‘When I last glanced out, she’d seated herself on the brick wall at the end of the courtyard. She appeared to be reading, sir.’
‘She hasn’t knocked again?’
‘No, sir. I suppose, sitting where she is, she knows the household must be aware of her presence.’
So his unwelcome caller had been waiting for hours. Without trying a second time to force herself upon them.
Reading a book.
Persistence he understood, but he knew few men, and no females, that patient.
After an irresolute moment, that bedevilling curiosity overcame his body’s urging that he remain seated. Dom rose from his chair and paced to the mullioned windows.
Glancing out, he could see, below to his left, the three-foot wall that set off the courtyard spanning the space between the two Tudor wings projecting from the main block of Bildenstone Hall. Sitting there, wrapped in a cloak, was a female, her figure so foreshortened by height and distance that he couldn’t accurately estimate her shape or stature.
The day, already gloomy when he’d made his way to the library, had darkened further. As he gazed at her, a gust of wind rattled the window.
‘It’s going to rain shortly,’ he said, after a soldier’s inspection of the clouds. ‘That should send her on her way. I’ll have that tray now.’
‘Yes, sir,’ Wilton said, looking brighter. Apparently feeling that, having discharged his duty to the fairer sex by informing his master of the girl’s presence, he could now absolve himself of responsibility for her welfare, he trotted off for the tray.
A responsibility he obviously felt he’d transferred to Dom. Though his will tried to tell his conscience he wouldn’t accept the charge, within a few minutes of seating himself again, he felt compelled to return to the window.
The rain he’d predicted was pelting down from clouds that didn’t look likely to dissipate for some time. The girl was still there, though she’d tucked the book away and huddled in upon herself, as if to provide the smallest possible target to the besieging rain.
Her choice, he told himself, returning to his chair.
But after a few more minutes of reading the same paragraph over and over without comprehending a syllable, he tossed down the book and returned to the window.
She sat as before, huddled on the wall.
Uttering a string of oaths, Dom stomped to the bell pull and yanked hard.
A few moments later, Wilton reappeared, panting. ‘I came as fast as I could, sir!’
Dom walked back to window and stared down at the female, still sitting immobile as a gargoyle rainspout on a cathedral roof.
Probably didn’t shed moisture as efficiently, though.
‘Damn and blast!’ he muttered before turning to Wilton. ‘I suppose we’ll have to admit her before she contracts a consumption of the lungs.’
‘At once, sir!’ Wilton said, sounding relieved. ‘I’ll show her to the small receiving room.’
‘Better put some towelling down to protect the carpet. She must be drenched.’
Wondering when he was going to find the solitude he sought, angry—but more intrigued than he wanted to admit by the mysterious female—Dom exited the library and headed for the receiving room.
After entering, he took up a commanding position before the cold hearth—the lady might have won the first skirmish, but Dom had no intention of looking defeated—and awaited his uninvited visitor. Underscoring the caller’s lack of pedigree, she was being conducted to a small back parlour, rather than the formal front room into which the Squire and his ladies had been shown yesterday.
Dom wondered if she’d recognise the subtle set-down.
He heard the murmur of approaching voices and his body tensed. To his surprise, he found himself looking forward to the encounter.
But then, this female had already shown herself a skilled campaigner. Using neither force nor threat nor any of the tears and tantrums upon which ladies, in his experience, normally relied to soften male resolve—relying instead on his own sense of honour and courtesy—she’d induced him to yield.
The female entered. He had only a quick impression of a tall girl in an attractive, if outdated, green gown before she bent her head and sank into a curtsy.
‘Thank you for receiving me,’ she said, her throaty voice holding no hint of the reproach he would have anticipated from someone subjected to so long and discourteous a wait.
His unwilling admiration deepened. Yet another good tactic—unsettle an opponent by not responding in the expected manner.
Noting she was not, in fact, dripping on the carpet, as she rose to face him, he said, ‘I suppose I should apologise, but you seem no worse for a drenching, Miss...’
‘No need to apologise. My sturdy cloak has protected me through many a...’
Her voice trailed off and her eyes widened as Dom’s brain added together luminous brown eyes, pale skin, and slender form.
‘You!’ she cried at the same moment Dom realised he recognised his persistent visitor.
The girl from the lane.