"In fact, I believe his mother was brought up in the district. Surely she would be perfect person to approach for help."
She nodded. "Yes, so long as no one gets their nose out of joint. I don’t want to play off a Duke against an Earl."
"No indeed."
They had by now reached the outskirts of Bath, so Ellen drew back on her gloves and immediately felt bereft at the loss of contact with Ash’s soothing hands.
What was it about him that had her heart hammering in her chest every time she looked at him?
She had met many promising young men, but the way his golden gaze rested upon her, it was as if she could almost hear his thoughts. He admired her. A man as good-looking and intelligent as that actually liked her.
"You ladies can do much better in the couturiere without me. I shall get my shirts at the tailor and meet you there when you’re finished."
"Very well," his aunt agreed. "We can go into raptures over the gowns without feeling the least bit guilty."
Ellen had to admit she had a fine time even without Ash. His aunt was a kind soul, easy to get along with, and not very many years older than herself. She had excellent taste and a ready wit, and really did manage to make her feel very attractive.
"Such lovely honey-blond hair. And those eyes. Not to mention your figure, my dear. Ash is right. You are far and away better looking than Georgina. She is far too hard, worldly. And very brittle. Not to mention, well, shop-worn I think is the kindest way I can put it. You, on the other hand, seem like a untouched little blossom."
Ellen sighed. "If only I had been untouched."
"You must let Ash or my sister teach you how to defend yourself. The martial arts can come in very useful."
Ellen gazed at Leela in horror. "Oh, I could never be violent."
Ash’s aunt shook her head. "It doesn’t have anything to do with that really, except as a protection against it. If someone accosts you again, you can turn his own force against him. My sister is always telling women they are far more powerful than they give themselves credit for. Men fear this power. They hate and despise what they can’t control. The man who attacked you—"
Ellen’s eyes widened and she sushed her.
Leela looked around and lowered her voice. "Oh, don’t worry, we shan’t tell a soul. The man who attacked you was trying to coerce you into what? Marriage? Or just ruining you? Or did he not even stop to think of anything other than what he wanted?"
She shook her head and nervously fingered the folds of an emerald silk draped on one of the tables. "I don’t know. I certainly didn’t encourage—" "Ah, but sometimes innocence in itself is perceived as encouragement. The man who wants to sow his wild oats but have a virgin as his wife. The man who wants to despoil something which is untouched just to debauch it. Women don’t do that. Or very few. The prisons and penal colonies are full of violent male criminals, not females."
Ellen blinked, never having thought of it that way before.
"But I’m glad you and Ash are friends," Leela continued with a warm smile. "He can show you that not all men are lewd and vicious rakes. Though of course he is an awfully handsome and loving man, and not to be despised as a beau."
Ellen blushed. "Oh, no, surely not that."
"Perhaps not now, but in time?" Leela said with a knowing look.
"Perhaps," Ellen admitted. "But we’re so different in so many ways."
Leela gave an airy wave, and held up a lovely bronze silk to Ellen's chest and hair. Then she shook her head and did the same with a sapphire blue and nodded.
"Never fear. I wouldn’t dream of matchmaking or breaking a confidence, for all he is my nephew. Just be warned, the road will not be an easy one. Many people look their nose down at us for not being English. And you being so fair, and him so dark, it makes the contrast doubly striking. You uncle Timberlake would be most vocal were he to discover you keeping company with Ash."
Ellen raised her chin in the air rebelliously. "I don’t care. He’s a pompous old windbag."
"You might come to care, though," Leela warned. "If your children ever came home from school after having been called ugly names, for example."
Ellen turned the colour of beetroot. "Now let’s not get ahead of ourselves here. I’ve only just met Ash, and you’re talking about future offspring?"
"I’m sorry. You’re quite right. I’m getting ahead of myself. But it’s what we would call being mindful. Being aware of the consequences. I wouldn’t like to discover that he had grown attached to you only for you to have changed your mind, not realised the pitfalls until it was too late."
Ellen looked her right in the eye. "I am no tease, Madam. I would not lead him on only to leave him in the lurch."
Leela smiled. "So glad to hear it. I didn’t think you were that type. I don’t mean to sound so accusatory. I know I speak for my sister here too. We love him and would not like to see him hurt because you are, well, playing with new and daring things," she said gently, probing even further without Ellen being aware of it.
Ellen threw her shoulders back now, bristling defensively. "I am no irresponsible child, and Ash is not a plaything to me. He is a mature man. I know the consequences all too well if we keep company. But how am I ever to know if I like him in the romantic sense if I’m never allowed to spend any time with him? Must constantly be on my guard about what people think?"
Leela nodded. "That’s true. Which is why I agreed to come to Bath with you both. As I said though, do not be at all surprised if you meet with hostility. Also be aware that you can’t fight every battle. It will be too wearing. Some you’ll win, others you’ll always lose no matter how hard you try."
"One may lose a battle or two, and still win the war."
The older woman smiled sagely. "One must also learn when to engage the enemy, and when to sue for peace."
"Hopefully it won’t come to that. I never imagined myself having enemies before."
"You are most fortunate. I hope it doesn’t come to that as well. But just so long as you and Ash are not at odds with each other, all will be well. I feel confident that you are a girl with good backbone and strength of character."
"I only wish I’d had more. If I did, I never would have allowed my sister Georgina to persuade me to go out in the carriage with Bridges, and none of this would have happened."
"Ah, but then you wouldn’t have got to meet and know Ash quite so well. So it’s fate, destiny. At the very least you will have made a good friend of your cousin’s step-son. And all of us."
"Thank you, Leela, you’ve been very kind."
The older woman winked. "Blunt, more like."
"But you’re right. I need to know more about the world and the way it works. I can’t keep hiding away like a nun."
"Believe me, now that you’re friends with Ash, he certainly won’t let you."
Chapter Eight
Ash came into the shop a short time later to join Ellen and his Aunt Leela, and bowed politely to one and all.
Ellen noted some of the women gazed at him with open-mouthed awe, whilst others turned their backs coldly. She gave a small triumphant smile as some rather envious-looking young women nearly turned green when he took her hand and kissed it.
He cast his eye over the frocks she had put into one pile with an expert gaze. "Most defintely the blue, not the yellow, and this rose-coloured silk rather than the pink. You are old enough to carry the darker colours well. And with your figure it is absurd to try to dress in plain white or pastels as if you were an ingenue .
"Ash, really." Ellen blushed. "You are nothing if not direct, sir."
"True, but it does save an awful lot of time in the long run, and a lot of hot air. Now there is a gown," he breathed, looking at the one she had put back on the end of the rack.
It was far and away the best thing in the shop, but for an unmarried woman it was not even to be contemplated.
It was a deep blue, almost midnight in intensity, but with the most elaborate gold embroidery and
braid, and a train that easily had to be six feet long.
"Oh, you simply must get that one. It is almost as if it were made for you."
She looked completely scandalised. "I couldn‘t possibly wear—"
"Why not? It is so dark as to be almost funereal in aspect."
"B-b-but the decolletage—"
"Nothing a little gold lace insert would not improve. Oh, go on, I can see you’ve been dying to try it. Have her alter it so that the bosom is more commodious whilst still keeping the line of the bodice, and it will be perfect."
She coloured up at the word ‘bosom’. He had noticed her endowments? And knew enough about women’s gowns to see it was too narrow in that area? Just how much of a ladies’ man was he?
Yet Ash seemed oblivious to the stares of the other women, and even their approaches to try to get to know him.
"She who hesitates is lost, Miss Jerome. You simply must have that dress to go with your eyes."
"My eyes are not that colour."
He leaned closed and whispered, "Ah, but they darken with deep-seated emotion. I should very much look forward to knowing what is in your heart when your eyes do match that gown."
"You are too bold, sir," she hissed, wishing she had a fan to flutter, for suddenly the shop was unbearably hot.
"I’m sorry. Just truthful. You are not a little girl any longer, but a grown woman. Yet you still seem to be in a cocoon. I would like to see the butterfly which emerges with the right nurturing."
"I cannot believe you would have the audacity to flirt with me. I thought we were better friends than that!"
Seeing all eyes were upon them, Ash stepped back. "We shall continue this conversation in the carriage. But for the moment, all I want to say is, buy the gown, please? You'll regret it if you don't, I'm sure."
She hated to admit it, but he was right. It was the most spectacular dress. She couldn’t believe her luck that someone had had it made up and changed her mind.
So in the end she nodded and went in the back to try it on, and have the adjustments made as he had suggested.
Then, with a light heart, she had it put on her account, and they departed.
Ash took her arm carefully as they crossed the notoriously dangerous Cheap Street.
As soon as they were back in the coach, Leela closed her eyes and pretended to nap, leaving them to sort out whatever issue had clearly arisen between them and caused Ellen to look stiff and strained despite her clear delight over the lovely new gown.
Ash, sitting next to his aunt, leaned forward to say, "I am sorry if you misunderstood anything I said in the shop. Flirtation is a casual and insincere interest. We are friends. I was not flirting."
"But it is not appropriate to—"
"Want to see you happy?"
She compressed her lips and sighed. "When you put it that way it seems so simple, but—"
"But what?"
She shrugged one shoulder. "Well, I don’t know. I’m just afraid that I’ll end up exactly as I did in the woods yesterday."
Ash went white. "Never . I believe the cornerstone of relations between men and women is civilised behaviour, respect. You are not just an object to be cavaulted and cast aside. I have never, ever assayed any woman’s virtue in a predatory manner. I am hardly going to start with my step-father’s own cousin."
He sat back in his seat now looking black as a thundercloud, and the journey ended in silence, with Ellen feeling so wretched she had all to do not to cry.
She was almost beside herself when he instructed the coach driver to head up the drive to Jerome Manor.
"But—"
"You are evidently feeling much better, and the company in my home is seemingly not very congenial after all," Ash said shortly.
"Oh, but—"
"No, it’s my fault. Intimacy on any level, social or otherwise, cannot be forced. It was a pleasure having you to stay, Miss Jerome. But I find you do not trust me, and have to confess that whilst I understand some of your reasons for it, it is rather wounding to my amour propre."
Ash rose as soon as the carriage came to a standstill and opened the door.
He reached up and handed her out, and escorted Ellen to bottom of the stairs leading up to the front door.
"Won’t you and your aunt at least come in for tea?"
"I think not. Some other time perhaps," he said stiffly.
"Ash—"
"Good day, Miss Jerome."
"Ash, I’m sorry!"
"So am I. Both about any rudeness or embarrassment I may have caused you, and for you." He bowed, and left.
Only as the carriage reached the top of the drive did she realise her mouth was still hanging open. With a brisk snap she clamped it shut and stormed up the stairs to the house.
She was raging, both with herself and him. He had been forward—but she was the one who had let him escort her, allowed him the liberty of a hand massage. She had trusted him up until that point. So what had changed?
The other women in the shop all ogling him, she had to admit. But that had not been his fault. He had not spoken to a single one of them, even though they had been desperate to catch his eye.
That was, however, one of the pitfalls of a good-looking man. Everyone wanted to know him, married or single. How could she ever compete?
Yet he had been there with her, had said warmly appreciative things about her figure and person. And he never said anything he didn’t mean. That was part of his trouble, surely, but he was refreshingly honest compared to most of the other people she met.
He fit in well with the Rakehells set, though of course he was much younger than they. But was that not a sign of his maturity and decency?
Thomas Eltham, the Duke of Ellesmere, was most particular about the company he kept. None of them gambled, hunted, or wenched, and all were involved in politics and charitable works for the improvement of society, from literacy lessons for adults to clinics and orphanages.
No, she could not imagine Ash taking girls on carriage rides in order to force his unwanted attentions upon them.
But whatwas she to do now that she had made such an utter ass of herself and so grievously offended him?
Ellen rested her hand on the latch of her front door, but paused before pushing it open. She dropped her hand to her side, squared her shoulders, with a decisive spring to her step, she turned and headed to the stable block.
Chapter Nine
The head groom looked at Ellen in surprise as she entered the stables and requested a mount. "Surely you don’t wish to ride on a day like this, Miss. The wind—"
"I’m not going far. Please saddle my mare. Men’s saddle."
His brows rose Heavenward but he said nothing. He had no idea what had got into the demure young lady, who rarely rode except to exercise the animal, and certain had not ridden astride since she had gone into long skirts.
A half an hour had Ellen back at Ash’s home. She was not going to allow their quarrel to fester for days. To do so would be to risk the fragile friendship they had already formed, and which she had to admit she was loath to lose.
When she arrived and was shown in by the maid, she could hear Ash's voice in the drawingroom.
"It’s all right, Nelly, don’t announce me. I don’t want to interrupt."
She listened and peeped in on him as he sat with his brother Ranjeet and sister Jayashri on one of the sofas, an arm around each one of them, and told stories. He had just come to the end of one, and his little brother said, "Valli, Valli. Elly-phant."
A warm smile lit Ash’s handsome face. Ellen felt hot desire course through her veins, and pressed her legs together to try to quell the fierce flood between them and the trembling of her limbs. It was not his fault she felt so aroused, for he did not even know she was there.
"All right, the story of Valli it shall be. Here, finish your milk first."
He patiently held the glass whilst the little boy did as he was told. When the child had finished, Ash put the tumbler down and beg
an.
"Legend has it that the Ghat region of Tamilnadu was ruled by Nambirajan, the king of the Kuravas or the hill tribes. Nambirajan worshipped Shiva the destroyer and giver of life, and prayed for a daughter. His prayers were answered and it was revealed to him that he would discover a baby in the nearby woods, and that she would be his daughter.
"Accordingly the Kurava king discovered ‘Vallinayaki’ in the woods and brought her up as his own. Valli grew up to be a beautiful maiden and Skanda, the son of Shiva and his consort Parvati the mountain goddess, sought her hand in marriage.
The Rakehell Regency Romance Series Boxed Set 5 Page 45