Philip cleared his throat. “I realised that I love Bridgitte, but it was too late to back out of the marriage.” His voice dropped low as if he finally felt a bit ashamed of his actions as well. “I needed the dowry to start a new life.”
“You were going to take my dowry and leave me,” Priscilla said as she filled in the blanks. “You both were going to vanish and leave me humiliated.”
Bridgitte tried to say something else but Priscilla was not listening. She did not need to hear anything else. She was shamed enough by their words, their actions. “Not only did you plan to do that, but when I fell you thought what? That you could just carry on, and get away with it?”
Priscilla turned on her heel and headed into the house, leaving the couple to do whatever they wished. She wanted to be as far away from them as she could be. Priscilla raced up the stairs, but she did not go to her room. She went instead to Doctor Rowley’s room.
He looked around in surprise as Priscilla burst into his room. “Priscilla,” he whispered as he rose from his reading chair.
Priscilla let the door close behind her as she ran toward him. She did not stop until she collapsed against his chest. “They did it together,” she whispered, her voice ragged from her tears. “They were going to run away together after Philip got my dowry.”
He wrapped his arms around her. His voice whispered into her hair. “It is over.”
She shook her head against this coat. “It will never be over. They lied to me. How can I trust people?”
“You trust me, do you not?” Priscilla looked up at his question. His brown eyes searched her face for doubt. There was none there to find. Priscilla trusted him implicitly.
She whispered, “I trust you.”
His fingers ran through her hair. “You should not be in my room though.”
“I had to find you,” Priscilla whispered. “I needed you.”
George gave her a smile, but it was not one she had seen before. There was something in that smile that made her breath catch and her pulse quicken. The next moment he was kissing her and she kissed him back just as desperately.
She did not care about whether it was proper. She did not care about much of anything. What had society ever given her?
Priscilla tugged at his coat and he let her push it off his shoulders. She shivered at the feel of his fingers at the buttons of her dress. It did not give her pause, not at all. Priscilla had never been more certain of anything in her life.
This man was the one she was meant for. He was hers, and she his. This was natural, pure.
It was not until her dress puddled around her feet that she took a second for introspection. She found it a waste of time and was swiftly against George with her arms around his neck. “Priscilla,” George was whispering to her. “We should think about what we are doing.”
“I do not want to think,” Priscilla said haughtily as she brought her face level with his. “I want to kiss you and be yours. It is natural, this thing between us.”
George eyed her for a long moment before he kissed her. Priscilla could have fallen into that kiss forever. She clung to him, but she wanted so much more. She knew there was more from some place of instinct deep within her.
She walked back toward the bed, leading George with her. When her legs hit the bed she gave him a sweet smile. “Are you afraid to take this step with me?”
George shook his head. “No.”
“Do you not fear for my reputation?” Priscilla asked the question with a smile.
George smiled back at her. “I will protect your reputation no matter what comes.”
Priscilla leaned up onto her toes and brushed her lips against his lips. Her stay felt like so much nothing between them, but even that felt too much distance. She helped George remove his waistcoat and then while he disrobed she shed her stay.
The cooler air of the room made her shiver. She found herself wrapped up in George’s bare embrace and thoughts of being cold fled under the assault of his kisses. His lips seared the skin of her neck and she gasped at the feeling of his fingers on her bare waist.
He nudged her toward the bed and she climbed back up onto the soft mattress. She crawled back and he crawled over the top of her. She smiled up at him.
“Last chance to bring reason to the insane,” he whispered to her.
Priscilla shook her head. “I shall leave myself in the good doctor’s care.”
George gave a soft chuckle. Priscilla bit her lips as he nudged her legs apart; she instinctively sought to wrap them around him but he pushed her hips down to the mattress with one hand. His other hand sought out what was between her thighs.
Priscilla gasped as his fingertips touched the outer lips of her womanhood. Her hands came up and clung to his shoulders as he slid first one finger then two inside of her. “What are you doing?” She whispered the question to him.
George whispered back, “I do not want to hurt you anymore than is necessary. Relax.”
Priscilla had no idea how he thought she could relax. The sensations going through her would not let her breathe, let alone remain calm. After some time, George must have thought her ready, because he stopped his administrations.
She gasped when she felt the tip of his manhood pushed against her. Her wide eyes met his brown gaze. “Breathe,” George coaxed.
The next moment was a blur of sensations. There was a shock of pain, and then a warmth, a steadily growing warmth in her belly. She clung to George at first, afraid to move. Then her womanly instincts began to take over as she moved with him.
Whatever she was doing, George must have approved because his eyes would roll back into his head when she pushed against his thrust. There was no time for talking though, only actions.
Soon she could no longer tell what she was feeling. There was a frantic urge that pushed her on and on until it unspooled within her like a coil relaxing. She felt filled with a warm, heavy sensation.
George collapsed next to her a few seconds later. She leaned her head to the side and smiled at him. He drew her to him and they lay together for a long while. “All my bones are gone,” Priscilla said in amusement, her chin lying against George’s chest.
He chuckled. “I know what you mean.”
Priscilla lay there for a long while in her warm contentment before she said, “I feel a fool.”
“Is that some insult?” George asked the question with a chuckle.
Priscilla shushed him. “No, of course not. It is just that I was so upset earlier about Philip and Bridgitte. Why was I so upset?”
“Well, they were two people that you thought you could trust who ended up betraying you in one of the worst ways.” George sighed heavily. “I think it was an understandable reaction, given how much stress you have been under.”
Priscilla nodded and ran a fingertip over George’s chest. “Odd thing is, I really do not care. I feel relieved actually.”
“Really?” George sat up and although Priscilla protested, she went with him and sat up.
She nodded. “I never wanted to marry Philip. I knew that even when I lost my memory. It did not feel right.”
“Yes, you did seem adamant about not marrying,” George agreed. “Why was that?”
Priscilla bit her lip. “I think it goes back to the fact that I had already fallen in love with someone else.”
“That’s simply scandalous,” George said with a laugh.
Priscilla stuck her tongue out at him. “Well, imagine my surprise when I woke up in my bed after the fall and there was the man I adored staring at me.”
George looked at her. “Really?”
“Really,” Priscilla agreed. “I wish we had spoken to each other at that ball.”
George agreed with a nod, “I do too.”
***
George was surprised when Gwen showed up at his door. Priscilla had gone to her room a while ago to freshen up before going to see her father and let him know her memory had returned. He stood awkwardly in the doorway. “Can I h
elp you?”
Gwen folded her arms. “I might help you if you don’t try to lie to me about what happened between you and Miss Morton.”
“Ah,” George said with a sigh and stepped aside to let the maid in. “Told you, did she?”
Gwen nodded. “Not much she doesn’t tell me. Mind you, I thought she was just having a bit of a crush with ya.”
“I assure you that I have very honorable intentions,” George said.
Gwen waved off his words. “Oh, I’ve watched you. I know you are smitten with her. Now, let me get this room cleaned up so that none of the other maids catch on to what happened, yes?”
“Bless you,” George said with a sigh. He had been pondering how to explain his sheets.
Gwen chuckled as she gathered up the bedclothes. “I’ll get these cleaned up and have a new set brought up here.” She turned as if she were going to leave, then paused. She looked at him. “I’ll be watching you, Doctor.”
George gave her a bow. She could watch all she liked. George had no intention of doing anything dishonorable.
After Gwen left, George made his way downstairs. He tried to not act differently. After all, no one else there knew what had taken place between him and Priscilla. And with Gwen’s help, perhaps no one would have to know until the time was right that he adored the young lady.
The doorman waved to him as George went by. He knew he would be needed to corroborate and verify his patient’s story. Her memories would be questioned, of course, and George needed to be ready to defend their validity.
The door to the study opened and the butler came out just as George came into view. “Oh, Doctor Rowley. His Lordship has just sent me to search for you.”
“Thank you,” George said. “I had a feeling he might.” He entered the study to find Lord Chaplin with a frown upon his face. Lady Chaplin stood beside Priscilla with an arm around her shoulders.
“Doctor Rowley,” Lord Chaplin said with considerable relief. “Priscilla says she has regained her memories but these are most disturbing claims.”
George nodded. “I know what she has told you, for she uncovered her memories during a session with me. She wanted to come to you alone first. I agreed because it was a sensitive subject and I felt it was a family subject first.”
“We appreciate your discretion, Doctor Rowley, However, the consequences are clear and I cannot take them lightly.” Lord Chaplin’s face was most grim as he eyed George.
George agreed, “They are most dire, but the memory is certainly a real one.”
“I told them that,” Priscilla said. “I told them I went to Lord Ridlington and Bridgitte to confirm it.”
George came over and put a calming hand on Priscilla’s shoulder. “It is a hard thing for parents to hear. I can confirm that I told her she should verify with Lord Ridlington and your other daughter before she came to you with this.”
“It is so horrible,” Lady Chaplin whispered. “To think Bridgitte would do such a thing. And Philip was always such a polite young man.”
George did not think the conversation was particularly helpful for Priscilla, as he could see her hands clenching in her skirt. “As upsetting as it is to you, it is more so to Miss Morton. I think it might be wise if she were not here when you spoke to Lord Ridlington and Miss Bridgitte.”
“That might be wise given all she has been through,” Lady Chaplin said with a worried frown.
Lord Chaplin grumbled, “Yes, of course. Doctor Rowley, will you see her to her room?”
George nodded and offered his arm to Priscilla who accepted readily. She was eager to leave the room and George did not blame her. Once they were out in the hallway, she leaned on him heavily.
“Quite alright?” George asked the question with a little smile.
She looked up at him and nodded. “Thank you for getting me out of there. I always feel like everything is my fault.”
“I think parents just sometimes make us feel like that, even if it is not their intention,” George told her.
She huffed. “My mother had the nerve to tell me not to worry that they would find me a husband.”
He could not stop the chuckle, even if it did earn him a slap of her hand against his arm. “My apologies,” he said with a grin.
Priscilla frowned. “What do you think will happen to Lord Ridlington and Bridgitte?”
“Well, your father will give them a good talking to then Lord Ridlington will face his own family…” George’s voice trailed off and he waved his hands as if to dismiss the affair.
Priscilla pressed, “George.”
“More than likely they will be disinherited and sent away.”
Priscilla gasped. “That is horrible. I wish I had never said anything.”
“They would have done the same thing to themselves,” George reminded her. “What do you think would have happened if they had disappeared together? They would have been disgraced and disinherited.”
Priscilla fell into silence and George escorted her to her room as he was asked to do. He held open the door for her to enter, but she lingered on the threshold for a moment. She looked up at him. “Thank you for staying.”
“Of course, I might have to go into town today though. I have word that my brother is in and I need to meet him.” George assured her, “I shall not be gone long. I was actually going to ask your father if they might stay here so I can be here to support you.”
Priscilla smiled. “I would get to meet your brother?”
“Yes, and apparently the woman he is to marry,” George said with a grin. “I was supposed to meet her when I went home.”
Priscilla frowned. “But you had to stay and tend to me. I really have messed up things for you.”
“I would not go that far,” George said with a smile. “But you have changed my plans a bit.”
Priscilla looked interested, but a maid came bustling down the hallway carrying some towels. Priscilla cleared her throat. “Thank you for escorting me to my room, Doctor Rowley.”
“Of course, Miss Morton,” George said with a bow. “Get some rest.”
Priscilla nodded. “I always follow doctor’s orders.” She disappeared into the room with a smile.
George turned on his heel and went back to Lord Chaplin’s study. There would be no major decisions going on at that time certainly, so he felt safe when he knocked. “Enter,” called Lord Chaplin.
The Lord and Lady Chaplin looked up at his entrance. “Pardon me for intruding again. Especially as I come with a request.”
Lady Chaplin eyed him with interest. “What would that be?”
“I have to be here for the next few days to monitor Miss Morton to make sure she does not relapse due to her recent revelations, but my brother and a guest are due to arrive. I had no time to reschedule and I was hoping that despite all the turmoil, you might find two rooms for them.” George gave Lady Chaplin his most charming smile. He hoped it worked on her as well as it did the bread vendors that roamed the streets near his home.
It seemed to as she smiled at him. “There is plenty of room, Doctor Rowley. I do apologise that this has once again cut into time with your family.”
The Awakening 0f A Forbidden Passion (Historical Regency Romance) Page 26