Heiress in Regency Society. Helen Dickson

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СКАЧАТЬ content to wait until she was ready to make her move, fully prepared to wait all night if need be. He stared at her tight shoulders, at the taut, slim fingers moving her chess piece, each one exquisitely carved and depicting a character out of one or another of Shakespeare’s plays. He watched her lift a finger to her lower lip and begin to nibble her nail in a characteristic gesture that made his blood run warm.

      ‘That’s a bad habit,’ he chided softly.

      She raised her eyes in surprise, the familiar, distant look of concentration in their dark depths. Her lips were slightly parted.

      ‘What is?’

      He smiled, looking down at her. ‘Nail nibbling.’

      ‘Oh—it helps me concentrate.’ She flushed softly and quickly lowered her hand to her lap when his gaze lingered hot and hungry on her lips.

      ‘Then try not to concentrate too hard, otherwise you will not have any nails left—and I will lose to you yet again.’

      He sighed, beginning to enjoy himself as she took her time over her next strategic moves. It required every ounce of his self-control to concentrate on his own game. His pulse began to quicken as he dwelt on the graceful sweep of her neck and the mobile curve to her lips—so ripe, so soft, so kissable. Instantly his body began to hum a willing, familiar song and he wanted to toss the board and all those irritating little pieces aside and join her on the carpet right there in front of the fire and crush her against him.

      ‘Check!’ Angelina suddenly cried, cornering his black king with her white queen.

      Alex grinned. ‘Mate,’ he responded, knocking his king over in final, willing defeat.

      ‘That’s two games to me to your one,’ she told him.

      The triumphant joy on her face was so startling, so captivating, that Alex was tempted to let her win every time. It would be well worth it to see her look like that. ‘I admit defeat and consider myself well and truly trounced.’

      ‘Will you not play another game to try to get even?’

      Alex threw up his hands in mock despair. ‘Alas, no. Don’t you think I’ve been punished enough for one evening? We’ll play again—perhaps tomorrow—and for your impudence I’m afraid I shall be forced to deal with you as you deserve,’ he chuckled. He rose and went to his aunt, bending down and kissing her cheek. ‘I will bid both you ladies goodnight and retire to my rooms to lick my wounds in private. As you know, Verity and Nathan will be arriving tomorrow—a day ahead of the other guests. I have business in St Albans in the morning so my secretary Hawkins and I will be away first thing. I should be back early afternoon.’

      ‘Alex, wait,’ said Angelina, scrambling to her feet and halting him as he was about to go out, remembering she had a request to make of him. With his hand on the door knob he turned and looked at her, waiting for her to speak.

      ‘May I ride? You have so many fine horses in your stable. I’ve asked Trimble if I may ride one, but he told me to ask you first.’

      ‘Of course. As long as you remain within the vicinity of the house you may. If you wish to ride further afield, a groom or myself must accompany you.’

      ‘Why?’

      ‘Because it is not done for young ladies to ride alone, that’s why. There are also gypsies in the area, so I do not want you to venture too far.’

      ‘Are they harmful?’

      ‘As a rule, no. They have my permission to be on Arlington land just as they had from my predecessors—to come and go as they please, providing they behave themselves and abide by the law of the land while they are here. Unfortunately the gypsies encamped on the other side of the woods are strangers and therefore unpredictable. My bailiff has told them to move on. With luck they will have gone before the end of the week.’

       Chapter Six

      ‘I’m glad to see the two of you are getting on,’ Patience said when Alex had gone.

      ‘Yes, we are, but he never talks about himself. Despite his self-assurance, I sense a deep sadness in him, something frozen and withdrawn. He gives of himself sparingly. The only thing I know about him is that both his parents are dead.’

      ‘Gerald, his father, is—but Margaret—his mother, is very much alive,’ Patience told her with uncharacteristic bitterness. ‘After the death of her husband, Margaret married a Spanish count and went to live in Spain.’

      Angelina was surprised. ‘Oh, I see. Did Alex not approve of this? Is this the reason why he refuses to speak of his mother?’

      ‘There’s much more to it than that.’

      ‘And I should not ask,’ Angelina murmured sagely. ‘I’m sorry, Aunt. I don’t mean to pry.’

      Patience smiled. ‘It’s only natural that you are curious—and maybe I should tell you. Alex wouldn’t want us discussing something that he considers to be a purely personal and private matter, but, if you know something of his background perhaps it will help you understand him a little better and not judge him too harshly.’

      ‘I don’t judge him at all. What was his father like?’

      Angelina listened avidly as Patience told her how Alex’s mother had married Gerald, Henry’s younger brother. Pampered and spoiled, she’d had her sights set on Henry, but Henry—who was deeply in love with someone else—didn’t want her. To spite him, Margaret married Gerald, who loved her to distraction. Being lamentably weak, Gerald was forced to endure her many affairs, which she flaunted shamelessly.

      For some malicious reason of her own—which Patience suspected was because Alex bore such a striking resemblance to Henry—she had hidden nothing from Alex. He was young and impressionable and adored his father. Gerald began drinking heavily to blot out what Margaret was doing, until it became too much. One day when he was in his cups he shot himself. Alex was fifteen at the time and witnessed the whole dreadful business.

      Angelina listened in horror, seeing her aunt’s eyes cloud with pain and bitter memory.

      ‘Because he sensed it could destroy him, Alex refused to submit to the anger and anguish that raged inside him. In Henry he found warmth and understanding. But no one has been capable of unlocking that closed compartment inside his mind where he keeps his pain. Margaret distorted his mind, inflicting mental injuries on her son no mother should. She fostered in him a loathing and terrible bitterness against the female sex. It will take an exceptional woman to succeed where all others have failed. Alex needs someone to love—and someone to love him unconditionally in return.’

      Angelina felt a lump of constricting sorrow in her chest, deeply moved by what Patience had revealed to her, which went a long way to helping her understand Alex. She also realised that the same demons that chased her were chasing Alex, and that it was as hard for him to talk about what had happened to him as it was for her.

      The following day saw a deterioration in the weather, with rain fluctuating from a drizzle to a torrential downpour. Disappointed at being unable to ride, Angelina’s spirits drooped. Undecided about what to do with her time, she decided to take a bath.

      Unthinkingly СКАЧАТЬ