The Governess and the scandalous Duke (Clean Regency Historical Romance)
Page 6
“Pray tell, what are you about?” Arianna whispered through dry lips. She wished she could have sounded as indignant as she felt, but her mouth was too parched. She could barely get any words out. Tentatively, she tried to move her head slowly to the side. She was instantly hit by a migraine the likes of which she was sure she had never experienced.
“Careful, you were just in an accident,” the stranger cautioned her. Moments later, Arianna felt lukewarm water running along her lips. Grateful, she opened her mouth, swallowing as much of the water as she could.
“Very well, that’s enough. We are going to need the water on our way back,” the stranger said, as he brought her head back to the ground. She opened her eyes again, cautiously turning her head sideways. All she could see was a beach and a breath-taking cliff. As she searched her memory for a location, she came up blank. She didn’t have any recollection of how she had come to this hot inferno. Was she in the colonies?
As the thought finished forming in her mind, she realised she had missed an even more integral question. Who was she? Before full-blown panic set in, she was distracted by the very large man who was still hovering above her.
“You gave us quite a scare. An entire rescue party has been out looking for you for the last four hours, Miss Delaware.” Upon hearing the name, Arianna felt nothing. Was that her name?
“Don’t be afraid. I’m Terence Grantham, the Earl of Marvencroft, your fiancé.”
Arianna’s confusion only increased. She tried to sit up. Terence stretched out his hand, and she took it gratefully. Finally no longer on her back with the sun in her eyes, she sat and gazed up at her rescuer.
The Earl appeared quite tall. He wore breeches and stockings that fit him like a glove. As her eyes continued upwards, she noticed his broad shoulders were encased in a dark blue shirt. He had big, well-kept hands; at that very moment, they were arranged in a leisurely manner in his breech pockets. Rather, not so much inside his pockets as around the pommel of his sword, and he had a gun stuck in his belt. She gulped hard. Somehow, she knew she wasn’t used to seeing anyone carrying this much weaponry.
Finally, her gaze settled on his face, and her breath caught in her throat. Despite not having any other memories, she seriously doubted she had ever seen a more ruggedly handsome man in her life. He had a square jaw, covered by a midnight shade, as if he hadn’t bothered getting the shaving blades out for a couple of days.
A black hat was on top of his head, shading his face. Absentmindedly, he removed his topper and wiped his brow with his handkerchief, then put it back in his front pocket. His blond locks tumbled around his face like a crown. On anyone else, they would have looked feminine, but on the Earl, they looked anything but. Arianna felt butterflies take flight in her stomach.
Although she was clearly in a precarious situation, she had an irrational wish for a mirror, a comb, and five minutes to pull herself together. Arianna shook her head and tried tentatively to get up from the ground. What am I thinking? He could be a highway robber, for all I know!
After her second unsuccessful attempt, Terence impatiently bent over and pulled her up.
“Thank you, my lord,” she muttered in reply. He did not verbally acknowledge her response, only nodded in her general direction and went back to staring at her with a slight frown. Her saviour clearly had some manners to learn.
“Miss Delaware, you were very foolish to attempt to tackle that highwayman. Why in heaven’s name did you not just give him your jewellery instead of risking your life and everybody else’s?” At his accusatory tone, Arianna took offence. She still had no idea what this handsome but exceedingly annoying man was prattling on about.
“Well, first of all, Lord Marvencroft, I don’t remember tackling a highwayman; secondly, if I did, I probably had good reason,” she replied sweetly. So there.
It was now clear to Arianna that, whoever she was, she was used to speaking her mind.
“Now if you would be so kind as to answer my question – who exactly do you believe that I am?”
“Stop playing games, Miss Delaware. You know full well that you are my arranged fiancée, Miss Elizabeth Delaware. For someone who attended Lady Ashford’s School of Comportment, your manners are lacking,” he continued as he walked off to his horse.
Arianna stared at his retreating back with her mouth wide open.
“Unless you intend to sleep here with the foxes and seabirds, I suggest you make haste,” he added, with not a backward glance.
Arianna finally looked around and noted that the rough cliff terrain stretched for as far as the eye could see. The nearest village seemed miles away. Panic slowly creeping in, she looked down at her clothes and could see she was wearing a luxurious blue travel gown and at least two petticoats. This supported the theory that her parents had been able to afford a boarding school.
With trembling hands, she touched her face – she had regular features, so she was likely not ugly. Taking a deep breath, she pulled a lock out of her elaborate hairdo and noticed it was a rich dark-blond. Very well, it appeared she was a not-ugly, dark-blond-haired, well-dressed woman stuck on a countryside beach?
Terror continued to rise at the back of Arianna’s throat. Since waking up, she hadn’t yet answered the very important question of who she was. She searched her brain, but the answer to her identity was nowhere to be found. Despite what the gorgeous grumpy man said, she didn’t actually remember being Elizabeth Delaware. The name did not so much as spark a whisper of memory. She didn’t recall anything!
While she was sorting all this out in her mind, the Earl had clearly continued his lecture about her long list of infractions. Somehow, she found her voice and shouted, “Please stop!”
She anxiously wrung her hands. This man might not be whom he purported to be, but he seemed to know her. She could express her displeasure about his lectures some other time.
“I…I don’t know who you are. I cannot recall your features,” she finally confessed in a small, scared voice. Terence stopped dead in his tracks. With a frown, he turned around and looked at her.
“I cannot seem to recall anything of who I am,” she whispered, looking at him desperately. “I do not think I am Miss Elizabeth Delaware.”
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