The Rakehell Regency Romance Collection Volume 2(296)
"No sneaking about with your cousins or Philip."
"I never sneak!"
"No, you openly kissed Philip on the terrace for anyone out there to see. You go about with-"
Arabella turned to leave.
He snatched her elbow. "I'm not finished!"
She yanked her arm away, tearing the sleeve of her charcoal grey gown in the process. "But I am."
She stormed out of the room and fled to her own chamber. Was he speaking as her guardian, or as a man? In any case, he had no right, not when he had spurned her. Had kept Leonore as a lover…. Perhaps even Rosalie.
For word had reached her that both women were in fact in the district. Rosalie had taken rooms near Pulteney Bridge, and Leonore was with her sister, a semi-invalid, in Cheap Street. She had run into them at the Pump Rooms not long after the news had reached her.
She had immediately wondered if Blake had really been at Millcote all the time, or if he had used the three-day visit as a pretext for being away overnight, the better to…
She sighed and rested her head against the poster of the bed. Drat this. She would go to the Jeromes and find out the truth. She would soon know if he had been there all night, every night.
She hated to spy, but she had so many doubts. Her little chat with her housekeeper Maggie had worried her more than she had cared to admit at the time. Once a rake, always a rake?
She needed time. Time to think. To be with Blake and discover the truth. She would be charming and cheerful to all, and never let anyone suspect for a minute that her heart was breaking.
She congratulated herself on getting quite good at the art of looking as if she were having a wonderful time even when she felt like she was dying inside.
Two days later their coach pulled up into the drive of what would eventually be Blake's new home. Jerome Manor was quite a modern house in the Gothic style, with several small crennellated towers and high vaulted ceilings. The ground floor was a veritable maze of public rooms, from the grand hall and drawing room, to the ballroom and chapel.
Arabella thought it was something straight out of Mr. Walpole's or Mrs. Radcliffe's novels, but the room furnishings were lighter brocades and silks, so the feel was one of comfort and fashion rather than oppression.
Arabella was given a sunny room with her own bath and dressing room, situated on the first floor and overlooking the topiary gardens. The décor was sumtuous peacock blue and gold. She considered it one of the most splendid rooms she had ever seen.
The elderly mama and papa were the souls of kindness, taking her in like a long-lost daughter, and never asking any awkward questions. Like the rest of the friends in Blake's set, they minded their own business, nor did they gossip about anyone in the district.
There were two younger Jerome siblings remaining in the house, Ellen and Georgina, sixteen and fifteen respectively, and angelic with blonde hair and blue eyes. Then there was their eldest sister Josephine Stone, Henry's wife, who was a modest and quiet woman a few years older than herself, and very devoted to the Jerome family.
There were also two cousins visiting from the next County, including one tall dashing army officer introduced to her as Samuel Jerome, and his gaunt and grim older brother Martin, who kept to himself most of the time and was obviously ill. He looked as though he were perpetually haunted by some unseen horror.
It was a novelty for Arabella to be in such a large family set, and she was a bit overwhelmed at first. She had enjoyed the peace and quiet and congenial company at Michael Avenel's and the Elthams'. The mood at the Jeromes was one of almost forced hilarity at times. She knew grief took different people in different ways. The family had experienced a great deal of tragedy in a short time, and she did her best to be kind to them all.
Arabella had not expected to feel so at home immediately, but they were good-hearted people. The girls were so close to her own age that it was hard not to be swept up in their fun. They enjoyed walking, riding, hunting and fishing. Though Arabella did not believe in the latter two simply for sport, she was more than happy to contribute to the dinner table.
Blake saw a whole new side to Arabella as she reveled in the outdoors. The more he got to know Arabella, the more in love with he became. He could see how much in her element she was in Somerset.
He had always been a town dweller, but he had had some chances to hunt, shoot and fish when he had stayed with school friends, and also in the Peninsula, so he acquitted himself well. He also agreed with her that hunting should not be a wholesale slaughter for the so-called entertainment of house guests.
Though Blake began to see just how much he and Arabella had in common, there were so many rivals for her hand, with her friends from London and now the new local men she was introduced to, that it was nearly impossible for him to be alone with her. He had to restrain himself at times from simply throwing her over his shoulder and carrying her off to his bedroom.