The Rakehell Regency Romance Collection Volume 2

Chapter One



Late April 1814



As her horse trotted briskly along the road toward the Brimley vicarage, Sarah Deveril sat back in her carriage seat with the reins firmly in her hands and went over her mental list of important chores.



Her schedule had been severely disrupted and wildly hectic this past month. Now that her brother Jonathan was safely married to his lovely blond wife Pamela, things would finally get back to normal.



Or as normal as they ever could be in a large, busy parish. She only hoped that none of the several local women due to give birth any day had come looking for her whilst she had been over at Eltham Castle enjoying the wedding festivities and then helping with the newlyweds' send-off.



She hurried home in their small gig, her spirits bubbling. She was delighted the ceremony and reception had gone so well. The happy couple were even now heading north for their honeymoon.



Their closest friends the Elthams and Stones had also just departed, going to Ireland for the summer, so she would have few social distractions for the next few weeks and could catch up on her many chores. She could perhaps even have a bit of a holiday of her own once she did.



This happy thought was interrupted by a low growl reminiscent of an animal in pain. She glanced up at the sky quickly. The odd rumbles of thunder she had heard as she had set off for home from Eltham Castle continued even though the sun was shining, except they sounded much closer now.



Sarah whipped up the horse smartly, and pulled into the drive next to the gray stone vicarage a few moments later. She called to her manservant Caleb to put the gelding and gig in the stable, and hurried into the house through the covered front portico.



A small elderly woman with silver hair greeted her in the long narrow hall. "Glad you got home before the storm, Miss Sarah."



She flicked a few stray drops from her shoulders and long fall of midnight-black hair. "Yes, indeed, Jenny. How is everything?"



"Just fine. Beautiful wedding, so it was."



Sarah smiled and nodded enthusiastically. "It was indeed." Sarah shed her pale blue cloak and bonnet and hung them on the hook in the hall, flicked the last of the raindrops off herself, and placed her reticule on the small shelf below the clothes pegs.



"Did the Elthams get away all right?"



She slid off her shoes and scuffed into a comfortable pair of black slippers which she kept underneath the clothes hooks. "Yes, thanks, and the Stones. Plus the Ashtons' house is all closed up now too."



"You're a wonder, Miss. Don't know what everyone would do without you to keep them straight."



Sarah smiled. "Thank you, Jenny. I don't know what my brother and I would do without you keeping both of us sorted. No emergencies?"



The older woman shook her head. "Not a peep."



"Remarkable. Well, it certainly will be quiet around here with all of the Rakehells away."



"It will indeed, Miss. But I daresay you'll find something to keep you busy. Not a waif nor stray comes past this house that you don't help."



She shook her head. "I do little enough. You make me sound like a saint."



The older woman smiled at her fondly. "You do a great deal more than most. It was a wonderful day when the Duke gave your brother this parish."



Sarah smoothed down the skirts of her dark blue day gown and inspected her ebony hair in the small pier glass. "Thank you. We both love it here and count ourselves very fortunate indeed."



"I've emptied your overnight case and hung up your wedding finery. You looked a treat as a bridesmaid. Mark my words, some lucky man will soon come along and--"



She shook her head. "Now, now, none of that. There's far too much work around here to start thinking along those lines. How would Jonathan ever manage without me?"

"He has a wife now, or hadn't you noticed. I know she wasn't much to write home about in her younger day, but Miss Ashton as was has certainly come up to scratch now. And you know what folk do say. No matter how well you get along with her, there aren't many married women who tolerate another woman interfering in her home. Certainly not a spinster sister."



The maid's well-meaning words drew Sarah up short. She had been so delighted for her brother and Pamela that she had never even stopped to think what the marriage might mean to her once they returned home. The vicarage was roomy enough for a bachelor and his sister, but add a wife and children to the equation and it could start getting far too oppressive for all parties concerned....



But now was not the time to worry about that. Only time would tell, and in the meanwhile, time was getting on.



She shook of Jenny's words as she strode into the chamber she used as a small study. "Well, there might not have been many callers, but I'm sure there's a mountain of correspondence to sort though."