Read Online Rebecca's Refusal by Amanda Grange - Free Book Online Page A
Authors: Amanda Grange
Tags: Fiction, Romance, Historical, Regency, Large Type Books, London (England), Large Print Books, Luddites, Cotton manufacture
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looking at her, it was something that could not be said in front of Hetty and Charles.
Endeavouring to shake off the feeling she turned her thoughts away from Joshua and gave her attention to the scene that met her eyes. Everywhere she looked people seemed to be enjoying themselves. Some, like her own party, were people of fashion, out unusually early in order to savour the novel experience of the Fair. Others were people from less exalted walks of life: apprentices with their sweethearts, servants on their half-day holidays, and grubby urchins revelling in the noise and confusion of the scene.
And then there were those who were making their living from the Fair: the hawkers and the piemen who walked confidently across the ice with trays of pies on their heads, and a string of stray dogs following hopefully behind them! There were stilt walkers and fire eaters who roused the admiration of the onlookers with their amazing skills; and pedlars who sold ribbons and ballad sheets from trays hung round their necks.
The scents were no less varied. The food on offer filled the air with the smell of pies and cakes, chestnuts and gingerbread, roast meat and apples.
It was a wonderful occasion.
My dear?' said Charles, offering Hetty his arm.
Hetty took his proffered arm with alacrity, and Rebecca realized with a sinking feeling that she was going to have to take Joshua's arm.
Sure enough he offered it to her, an unfathomable gleam in his eye.
Acrobats tumbled past them as they walked across the ice. Jugglers threw multi- coloured balls into the air and caught them again, displaying their skill.
Hetty and Charles stopped to watch the printing presses turning out the latest satirical prints, making fun of the coldness of the weather, and at last they all sat down at an open-air coffee house and had steaming hot drinks.
Fortified by the coffee, they risked eating slices of "Lapland Mutton" from a stall - 'although it's no more from Lapland than I am!' laughed Charles - and followed it with steaming hot rolls.
She would have been enjoying it, Rebecca thought, if not for Joshua's unsettling presence. Because, despite the fact that his nearness should mean no more to her than the nearness of any other gentleman, it was playing havoc with her insides. It kept throwing up the memory of the previous evening, when he had taken her into his arms; and the unsettling realization that, as his mouth had hovered mere inches from hers, she had wanted to feel his kiss.
Having refreshed themselves they set off again and soon came upon a stall renting out skates.
'Oh, wonderful!' exclaimed Hetty. It's ages since IVe been skating. Do you skate, Joshua?' she asked him.
1 do.'
Then you must skate with Rebecca,' said Hetty, 'for I am not very good at it, and I will need Charles's arm to support me.'
It will be my pleasure,' said Joshua with a purposeful look in his eye.
Before long, Rebecca had fastened on a pair of skates and was heading out to the centre of the ice on Josh's arm. He skated well, with long, powerful strokes. Once in a clear space he drew her towards him in one smooth gesture and put his arm around her waist. Then, taking her hand he set about guiding her across the ice.
The ice was as smooth and as slippery as glass. The sweeping boys had done their jobs well, plying their birch brooms to keep it free of slush and debris, and brushing it clean of the churned- up ice the skates left in their wakes.
Joshua glanced towards Hetty and Charles. He and Rebecca were still in sight of them, but they were now so far away that their conversation could not be overheard.
'Rebecca,' he said, breaking the silence that lay between them, *we have to talk.'
'Of course we do,' said Rebecca hastily. She did not know what he was going to say, but some instinct warned her not to let him say it, so pretending she thought he'd meant, We can't skate round in silence, she said conversationally, Tell me Joshua, when will you be going to Manchester?
Endeavouring to shake off the feeling she turned her thoughts away from Joshua and gave her attention to the scene that met her eyes. Everywhere she looked people seemed to be enjoying themselves. Some, like her own party, were people of fashion, out unusually early in order to savour the novel experience of the Fair. Others were people from less exalted walks of life: apprentices with their sweethearts, servants on their half-day holidays, and grubby urchins revelling in the noise and confusion of the scene.
And then there were those who were making their living from the Fair: the hawkers and the piemen who walked confidently across the ice with trays of pies on their heads, and a string of stray dogs following hopefully behind them! There were stilt walkers and fire eaters who roused the admiration of the onlookers with their amazing skills; and pedlars who sold ribbons and ballad sheets from trays hung round their necks.
The scents were no less varied. The food on offer filled the air with the smell of pies and cakes, chestnuts and gingerbread, roast meat and apples.
It was a wonderful occasion.
My dear?' said Charles, offering Hetty his arm.
Hetty took his proffered arm with alacrity, and Rebecca realized with a sinking feeling that she was going to have to take Joshua's arm.
Sure enough he offered it to her, an unfathomable gleam in his eye.
Acrobats tumbled past them as they walked across the ice. Jugglers threw multi- coloured balls into the air and caught them again, displaying their skill.
Hetty and Charles stopped to watch the printing presses turning out the latest satirical prints, making fun of the coldness of the weather, and at last they all sat down at an open-air coffee house and had steaming hot drinks.
Fortified by the coffee, they risked eating slices of "Lapland Mutton" from a stall - 'although it's no more from Lapland than I am!' laughed Charles - and followed it with steaming hot rolls.
She would have been enjoying it, Rebecca thought, if not for Joshua's unsettling presence. Because, despite the fact that his nearness should mean no more to her than the nearness of any other gentleman, it was playing havoc with her insides. It kept throwing up the memory of the previous evening, when he had taken her into his arms; and the unsettling realization that, as his mouth had hovered mere inches from hers, she had wanted to feel his kiss.
Having refreshed themselves they set off again and soon came upon a stall renting out skates.
'Oh, wonderful!' exclaimed Hetty. It's ages since IVe been skating. Do you skate, Joshua?' she asked him.
1 do.'
Then you must skate with Rebecca,' said Hetty, 'for I am not very good at it, and I will need Charles's arm to support me.'
It will be my pleasure,' said Joshua with a purposeful look in his eye.
Before long, Rebecca had fastened on a pair of skates and was heading out to the centre of the ice on Josh's arm. He skated well, with long, powerful strokes. Once in a clear space he drew her towards him in one smooth gesture and put his arm around her waist. Then, taking her hand he set about guiding her across the ice.
The ice was as smooth and as slippery as glass. The sweeping boys had done their jobs well, plying their birch brooms to keep it free of slush and debris, and brushing it clean of the churned- up ice the skates left in their wakes.
Joshua glanced towards Hetty and Charles. He and Rebecca were still in sight of them, but they were now so far away that their conversation could not be overheard.
'Rebecca,' he said, breaking the silence that lay between them, *we have to talk.'
'Of course we do,' said Rebecca hastily. She did not know what he was going to say, but some instinct warned her not to let him say it, so pretending she thought he'd meant, We can't skate round in silence, she said conversationally, Tell me Joshua, when will you be going to Manchester?
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