Page 47 of Taming of the Rake
The waning light of dusk usually filled him with energy and excitement. Most days, it hurried him through his evening toilette and a hasty dinner so he could get to Regina. Tonight, David dragged his feet through the entrance hall, shoulders slumped and a frigid weight heavy in his chest. Even the pleasant aroma of new beeswax candles and lemony floor polish—a sure sign that matters were starting to improve in the Graham household—couldn’t lift his spirits. The closer he came to setting things right around here, the closer he also came to losing Regina for good.
“Welcome home, Master David,” called Mrs. Moffat’s cheery voice. She glanced to the half-open door to the blue salon. “There’s a visitor, but you needn’t worry. Your mother and sisters are entertaining her.”
David’s gaze darted toward the room, head tilting as he listened to the murmur of female voices from within. One was clearly his mother, and then the tangled tones of the twins as they spoke as one and finished one another’s sentences. Then, a pause after a question, and a fourth voice that made his chest constrict.
Regina. She was alone in a room with his mother and sisters, who were likely regaling her with embarrassing anecdotes of his childhood or trying to pry into their relationship.
His panic must have shown outwardly, because Mrs. Moffat patted his shoulder. “Not to worry. Mrs. Graham made the twins promise not to put their little noses in your affairs. They simply wish to show her kindness. She hasn’t any friends in the county at all, you know. Except … well, there’s you, innit?”
Clearing his throat, David tried to smooth his expression into a serene one before meeting the housekeeper’s questioning gaze. “Indeed. Thank you, Mrs. Moffat.”
“Hmm,” she murmured, eyes narrowing as she seemed to try staring straight through him.
Ignoring her probing look, David made his way toward the salon. He didn’t think his mother would be able to hold Petra and Constantia off for much longer without his interference.
Four pairs of eyes landed on him as he lingered in the doorway, now feeling like an unwanted intruder in his own home. Regina stood out as the only one not wearing stark black, a becoming gown of deep burgundy velvet enhancing her flawless complexion. It made David want to help her out of it—a disturbing thought to have while standing under the scrutinizing eyes of his mother and sisters.
“Oh, David,” his mother murmured with a smile. “There you are. Mrs. Hurst arrived half an hour ago, and the girls and I thought it would be the perfect opportunity to make her acquaintance.”
“Besides, we haven’t had a visitor in ages,” Petra chimed in, giving David a teasing grin over the rim of her teacup. The little minx was clearly enjoying his discomfort. “And Mrs. Hurst is ever so lovely, isn’t she, Con?”
“Oh yes,” Constantia replied. “Why have you been hiding her from us, David? How wicked of you not to introduce us yourself.”
“It wasn’t my intention to keep you from meeting,” he said, doing his best to keep his voice level. “There just never seemed to be a good time.”
He met Regina’s gaze, and found she looked far more comfortable with this turn of events than he was. Perhaps she thought nothing of it because she was simply meeting her neighbors, women she might encounter again once they were all out of mourning and able to be social again. They would never know about her affair with David, or that her child had been sired by him. They would never truly know Regina, because as he well knew, she allowed very few people to get close.
“It is wonderful to see you again, Mrs. Hurst,” he added with a slight bow, finally regaining hold of his senses as well as his manners. “Forgive me for not being here when you called. I had a matter of business to tend to before I could return for the night.”
“Not that you’re ever here for long before you go dashing off to do God-knows-what,” Petra muttered into her teacup before taking a long sip.
David glared, wondering if she even realized how her voice carried. What had been meant as a whisper to Constantia had carried across the room to him, which meant his mother and Regina had heard it.
Wonderful. Now he would have to suffer his mother’s questions about whether his evenings away from home had anything to do with Regina. If she hadn’t been suspicious before, she certainly must be now. For a widowed woman to indulge in an affair wasn’t unheard of, or even particularly scandalous. But if Regina’s baby were born with any distinguishing features such as his bright blue eyes or swarthy skin, and his mother caught wind of it … Christ, why hadn’t he thought of this before?
Because he needed the money. Because he never intended for Regina to ever come face to face with his mother.
Because he was a bumbling idiot. It was a wonder he’d survived as long as he had without wandering off the edge of a cliff or walking into the path of a carriage and team.
“Mrs. Hurst will be joining us for dinner,” his mother said. “I insisted, and she accepted my invitation.”
“Your mother was quite convincing,” Regina added with a shy smile.
There was a silent question in her eyes, as well as a bit of reticence—almost as if she worried he wouldn’t want her here. David wanted to laugh as he was forced to admit he wanted her to stay more than anything, and not just for dinner. Even as her immaculate dress and beauty put the drab environs of the faded blue salon to shame, David was seized with the urge to drop to his knees and beg her to stay forever. Not just to brighten this room, but his entire world and everything in it.
He was going stark raving mad.
“I am glad to hear it,” he mumbled, running a hand over his jaw, which had begun to sprout a fine spray of stubble over the last several hours. “If you will excuse me, I should go make myself worthy of sharing a table with four such lovely women.”
Petra and Constantia shared communicative looks, while his mother reached for the teapot to refill her cup.
“Of course. Mrs. Hurst will be just fine in our company until you return. Won’t you, dear?”
“Just so,” Regina agreed. Her head dipped in a slight nod when she met his gaze again, and he took that as reassurance.
Leaving without a longing glance back was difficult, but David managed it. His toilette seemed to drag by, though David’s valet moved with his usual swift efficiency. What felt like an hour seemed an eternity, until at last he was clean, shaved, and dressed for dinner. By the time he returned to the salon, dinner had been announced and the ladies had risen to trek to the dining room. David discovered them on his way down the stairs, his sisters flanking Regina with their arms linked through both of hers. Regina was smiling and laughing as the twins chattered about something or another. David could hardly hear them, so entranced was he at the sight of her walking the corridors of his home as if she belonged here. What had felt like a cold and dismal place became something more with her here—not a place to be escaped, but one to be nurtured and shaped and made worthy of her.
“I like her.”
