The Rakehell Regency Romance Collection Volume 2(247)
She certainly hoped so, but all the same, her dreams were filled with recollections of the passionate interlude they had shared, and the warm desirous glowing of his incredible hazel eyes…
The following morning, after a restless night filled with dreams of the handsome Dr. Sanderson, Arabella rose early and got dresse in the plain gown she had arrived in the previous day. There was no sense in getting any of her new frocks dusty or damaged while she moved.
With the help of her new guardian's kind servants, she pack up the last of her things and her brother's from his rooms, and transferred them to her new home, the elegant London townhouse she had suddenly found herself in thanks to her step-brother Peter.
Her new chamber became full of clothes, ornaments and books. She smiled fondly at some of the objects. Peter loved to collect things in his travels. They were an eclectic mix of French booty and trinkets he had purchased for himself, a card case, a pipe, a human skull.
She arranged them and all of her new thinks to her liking, then wrote to her old home in Somerset to tell them of her news, mitting the coach accident so they would not worry.
Then she settled in for more reading, and the excellent meals the servants were constantly bringing her without her even ever having to ring the bell. Things certainly were done on a tight schedule, and always punctual, she noted, impressed, if still somewhat ueasy as to just how strict and severe old Mr. Blake would be.
Thus the time passed quickly for Arabella, haunted only occasionally by recollections of the incredible Dr. Sanderson and all they had shared.
Only on New Year's Eve, after attending her fittings at the dressmaker's, did she feel she had cause to repine.
1815. Fancy that.
What would it bring for all of them? A great deal of happiness, she hoped. But it was rather sad to be all alone in the big house with no one to speak with except the servants.
Not that the house was gloomy; far from it. The music and drawing rooms, the library were all elegant. Apart from the two little sitting rooms, the gold and the burgundy, which flanked the entry way, and the dining room, she had yet to explore fully the rest of the large house, waiting for a guided tour from her guardian as Travis the butler had instructed.
But she was more than comfortable, and the bathroom adjoining her chamber had all of the most modern facilities, including running water.
Another guest room lay beyond. It was masculine and devoid of any sign of personal ornaments, and she wondered once again what manner of man Mr. Blake was.
As soon as she arrived back at Berkeley Square from the dressmaker's that afternoon, she discovered she was about to find out. Travis informed her that the Master had just returned from Bath unexpectedly and was upstairs dressing.
He had ordered a special dinner in honour of the occasion, for New Year's Eve also. She was to put on a clean frock and join him at four.
She went upstairs and undressed quickly, trying to decide what she should wear for her first meeting.
She decided upon the russet gown, and then twirled her hair into an elaborate twist at the top of her head before teasing out some curls at the nape of her neck and over her brow.
As the clock struck four, she straightened her back and went downstairs to meet her new guardian.
CHAPTER TWELVE
Blake was chagrined to admit that the only reason he was so eager to get to Bath was so that he could leave it again. He was eager to finds out more about Mr. Samuels, the apothecary in Bristol, with a view to somehow locating Belle and… what?
Suggest she become his mistress?
It was the easiest solution in the short term, for it would slake his lusts and still not entrap him, force him to make a capital error which might destroy any chance of happiness either of them might have.
But he had always vowed he would not be a rake. Never ruin a young girl without any regard for her future. He knew too well the disasters which befell young girls and women when they lost their virtue and reputation.
It was the height of hypocrisy of course for him to have dallied with the married women who had offered themselves to him. But he had never compromised their reputations. Marriage covered a multitude of sins, as he had discovered from hearing the latest on-dit about Rosalie Crane Stanton at Bath.
Word had it that she had paid a seemingly virginal young cousin of hers into tricking Stanton into bed, so they could be discovered in flagrante delicto in order to help Rosalie gain a separation. If it proceeded to divorce, Robert would be forced to admit fault, and would not only have to grant her a huge settlement, but might never be permitted to marry again.
Poor Stanton could have had her declared to blame a hundred times over if the books around Boodle's were to be believed. They were all laying odds on which of her numerous swain Rosalie would wed.