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Authors: Kate Rothwell
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again. You go too far in each direction.”
“Perhaps I’m finally growing up,” she muttered. “It’s time I learned how to balance properly in the middle.”
“What happened in there?”
She pushed her head under a pillow and feigned sleep.
Eventually she sank back into real sleep. Instead of nightmares, she dreamed of breath-stealing kisses and Nathaniel’s warm body covering hers, filling her. She moved with him, drawing him deeper into her...
She heard pounding at the door. “You must pack,” her brother bellowed. “It’s a long journey back to London, and it’ll take nearly an hour to get to the station. You awake?” The door handle rattled.
“Yes, yes, all right. I’ll be ready soon.”
She stared up at the ceiling and recalled the dream, which in turn brought back the nagging question. Why had she allowed a strange man to take her virginity? No. To be truthful, she’d begged him to take her.
But perhaps she needn’t understand the incident. Florrie could go on as she always had, as if nothing had taken place. Certainly it must be a once in a lifetime experience.
That was a reason, of course: one ought to find out what the fuss was about. She blushed when she vaguely recalled using such an argument with Nathaniel.
Now she knew and now she’d return to the real world. Eventually her cheeks would stop burning red every time she thought of him. Perhaps someday she might even stop thinking of him, though it was hard to imagine that possibility.
She climbed from the bed stopping to notice the thick ache between her legs before dragging up her portmanteau bag. Really, she should be happy to shake the dust of Derbyshire from her skirts, but her heart, and other parts of her body, felt sorely heavy as she folded her dressing gown.
Chapter Five
His friends had actually instituted a search for him. When Nathaniel appeared barefoot and wrapped in a sheet at the vicar’s back door, he was astonished to discover Peter Johnston had contacted the vicar several days earlier. Johnston and his three companions arrived that very day.
Reverend Carter, a widower with grown children, welcomed them all to take up residence in the large rambling vicarage. Johnston announced that this was an ideal plan, and the five young men settled in for two weeks.
Nathaniel, surrounded by his delighted friends, realized they would have eventually found him, although they might have only stumbled across his corpse. No doubt Grub would have murdered him rather than allow him to perhaps reveal the truth. And Florrie? Grub would have murdered her without a moment’s hesitation.
When he was alone, the horror could creep back, along with the symptoms of the illness created by the appalling muck he’d been drinking and eating.
His companions wouldn’t leave him alone.
The horror quickly turned to irritation.
A few days after his escape, the shaking, the sweating and his unnaturally quick temper showed he was still prisoner to the poison that had been fed to him.
“I assure you, Johnston, I am much improved,” he snapped when Peter found him wandering the halls of the rector’s house at two a.m. and insisted on accompanying Nathaniel back to his room.
“I heard you snarling at your valet this evening,” Peter said. “Not your style.”
“I gave the man a week off, and when he returned, he didn’t bother to alert anyone to my absence.”
“He assumed you were off ‘doing some jollification.’ That’s the phrase Short used.”
Nathaniel pushed his mouth into a smile because he knew Peter was watching him too carefully and Short’s words would once have amused them both.
They walked into Nathaniel’s shabby, comfortable bedroom. Peter shoved a glass of green liquid at him. “Take it. You had that strange fit of convulsions just two days ago. If you really want to convince the lawyers tomorrow that you’re sane and competent, you’ll have to take Dr. Marsh’s concoction. Just until you’re settled
“Perhaps I’m finally growing up,” she muttered. “It’s time I learned how to balance properly in the middle.”
“What happened in there?”
She pushed her head under a pillow and feigned sleep.
Eventually she sank back into real sleep. Instead of nightmares, she dreamed of breath-stealing kisses and Nathaniel’s warm body covering hers, filling her. She moved with him, drawing him deeper into her...
She heard pounding at the door. “You must pack,” her brother bellowed. “It’s a long journey back to London, and it’ll take nearly an hour to get to the station. You awake?” The door handle rattled.
“Yes, yes, all right. I’ll be ready soon.”
She stared up at the ceiling and recalled the dream, which in turn brought back the nagging question. Why had she allowed a strange man to take her virginity? No. To be truthful, she’d begged him to take her.
But perhaps she needn’t understand the incident. Florrie could go on as she always had, as if nothing had taken place. Certainly it must be a once in a lifetime experience.
That was a reason, of course: one ought to find out what the fuss was about. She blushed when she vaguely recalled using such an argument with Nathaniel.
Now she knew and now she’d return to the real world. Eventually her cheeks would stop burning red every time she thought of him. Perhaps someday she might even stop thinking of him, though it was hard to imagine that possibility.
She climbed from the bed stopping to notice the thick ache between her legs before dragging up her portmanteau bag. Really, she should be happy to shake the dust of Derbyshire from her skirts, but her heart, and other parts of her body, felt sorely heavy as she folded her dressing gown.
Chapter Five
His friends had actually instituted a search for him. When Nathaniel appeared barefoot and wrapped in a sheet at the vicar’s back door, he was astonished to discover Peter Johnston had contacted the vicar several days earlier. Johnston and his three companions arrived that very day.
Reverend Carter, a widower with grown children, welcomed them all to take up residence in the large rambling vicarage. Johnston announced that this was an ideal plan, and the five young men settled in for two weeks.
Nathaniel, surrounded by his delighted friends, realized they would have eventually found him, although they might have only stumbled across his corpse. No doubt Grub would have murdered him rather than allow him to perhaps reveal the truth. And Florrie? Grub would have murdered her without a moment’s hesitation.
When he was alone, the horror could creep back, along with the symptoms of the illness created by the appalling muck he’d been drinking and eating.
His companions wouldn’t leave him alone.
The horror quickly turned to irritation.
A few days after his escape, the shaking, the sweating and his unnaturally quick temper showed he was still prisoner to the poison that had been fed to him.
“I assure you, Johnston, I am much improved,” he snapped when Peter found him wandering the halls of the rector’s house at two a.m. and insisted on accompanying Nathaniel back to his room.
“I heard you snarling at your valet this evening,” Peter said. “Not your style.”
“I gave the man a week off, and when he returned, he didn’t bother to alert anyone to my absence.”
“He assumed you were off ‘doing some jollification.’ That’s the phrase Short used.”
Nathaniel pushed his mouth into a smile because he knew Peter was watching him too carefully and Short’s words would once have amused them both.
They walked into Nathaniel’s shabby, comfortable bedroom. Peter shoved a glass of green liquid at him. “Take it. You had that strange fit of convulsions just two days ago. If you really want to convince the lawyers tomorrow that you’re sane and competent, you’ll have to take Dr. Marsh’s concoction. Just until you’re settled
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