“I’m hosting that dinner to thank my friends for their support during my stay in the country.” He’d come up from Crawley two months ago when he’d finally decided to end his mourning for departed wife. “The menu is set. Or Cook assures me so. Come sit down, for goodness sakes. You’re overwrought, sweetheart, and that’s not good for your condition.”
“I am not overwrought,” she snapped at him. “Sorry.”
He took her by her wrists and led her to his settee. There he sat beside her and stroked her cheek. “I know you hate that you will miss the big day.”
“I must go south. I cannot stand through the ceremony. I just can’t.” She put a hand to her bulging stomach and swallowed back tears.
He put his arm around his sister’s lithe shoulders and hugged her close. Then he dug from his waistcoat pocket his small handkerchief and pressed it into her hand. “Of course not. All those hours. You must take care of your baby and yourself. Randolph would not have it any other way.”
She dabbed at her tears. “He’s been such a bear about this.”
“As well he should be.”
“I’m grateful to him.”
“As well you should be.” He patted her hand. “Come now. Tell me why me taking on this maid is so important to you.”
Her blue eyes went wide as she met his gaze. “You must, Charlie. A favor to me.”
“If she is so good, why don’t you hire her, hmm?” He graced her with a consoling smile. “You like a good dessert. Especially when you’re expecting a child.”
“I can’t.” She gulped.
Her husband, Randolph Sibley, was a kindly fellow who loved his wife, his oldest child Reese, and his estate, in that order. He was the fourth Baron Oxley. With more than twenty thousand a year, the man was rich as Midas and as liberal with his affections as his money. So adding another maid would be to him a mere trifle. “Is there something wrong with her?”
“Wrong? Wrong? Oh dear, no, Charlie. She is perfectly wonderful. As ever. But she cannot go down to the country with me. She must stay in London.”
“Now you have me over a barrel, Lydia.” His housekeeper Mrs. Moseley could be an absolute hell cat about her rule over the female staff. She’d learned how from his wife. He preferred to let the woman to it and not interfere. After all, why should he? The house ran perfectly well. “Why must I have her?”
Lydia pursed her lips. Blinked. And swallowed once again as if she were tongue-tied.
“I give up.” He slapped his hands to his thighs. Humoring his sister was the easy route forward. He stood. “Send her to me.”
“She’s here.”
“Where?’
“She came with me. I had Peters to put her in the cloak room until you agreed.”
His butler had uttered not a peep of this, but only announced the arrival of his sister. He would have a word with Peters about this. ‘No surprises’ were Charlie’s first rule of the house. “Dearest girl, you surprise me.”
“I know.” She pushed herself to her feet. “I’ll get her.”
“No.” He put up a hand. “Stay there. I’ll ring and Peters can fetch her.”
“Oh, please. Let me.” She didn’t wait for his agreement but waddled from the parlor to the hall. In a thrice, she was back and behind her stood a young woman he had not seen in years. Seven. Seven long years.
A woman so known to him, so unknown, that she seemed a glimpse of his past, a ghost of his youth. Gone. Treasured.
But definitely here in the flesh.
When last he’d had the honor of gazing at her, she’d been a slip of a girl. Oh, her hair had been as golden, long strands of it pale as jonquil petals in the sun of Sussex. Her oval face had been thinner. Her cheeks pink then as now from her perpetual laughter. Her brown eyes dark as chocolate nibs. Now, her form in the serviceable grey cotton gown was fuller than when he’d bid her adieu. Now, she stood before him astonishingly beautiful and even more arresting than when she kissed him goodbye on his way to his regiment, the battlefields of Spain and what he assumed would be his certain death.
“Jessica?”
“Good afternoon, Lord Rockingham.”
Who is Cerise DeLand?
Cerise DeLand loves to write about dashing heroes and the sassy women they adore. Whether she’s penning historical romances or contemporaries, she has received praise for her poetic elegance and accuracy of detail.
An award-winning author of more than 50 novels, she’s been published since 1991 by Pocket Books, St. Martin’s Press, Kensington and independent presses. Her books have been monthly selections of the Doubleday Book Club and the Mystery Guild. Plus she’s won nominations and awards for Best Historical of the Year, Best Regency and scores of rave reviews from Romantic Times, Affair de Coeur, Publisher’s Weekly and more.
To research, she’s dived into the oldest texts and dustiest library shelves. She’s also traveled abroad, trusty notebook and pen in hand, to visit the chateaux and country homes she loves to people with her own imaginary characters.
And at home every day? She loves to cook, hates to dust, goes swimming at least once a week and tries (desperately) to grow vegetables in her arid backyard in south Texas!
Also by Cerise DeLand
Regencies
Lady Starling’s Stockings
The Stanhope Challenge, Regency Quartet, box set
Regency Romp Series:
Lady Varney’s Risque Business, #1
Rendezvous with a Duke, #2
Masquerade with a Marquess, #3
Interlude with a Baron, #4
Christmas Belles, Series:
The Earl’s Wagered Bride, #1
The Viscount’s Only Love, #2
The Duke’s Impetuous Darling, #3, coming August, 2019
Delightful Doings in Dudley Crescent Series:
Her Beguiling Butler, #1
His Tempting Governess, #2
His Naughty Maid, #3
Erotic Regency Romances:
His Delectable Cook
Sense and Sensibility
Victorian Romances
Those Notorious Americans Series:
Wild Lily, #1
Daring Widow, #2
Sweet Siren, #3
Scandalous Heiress, #4
Miss Bereston’s Last Beau, #5, 2019
Medievals
Swords of Passion Series:
At Her Service, #1
For Her Honor, #2
With Her Kiss, #3
* * *
Military Romances
7 Brides for 7 SEALs Series:
You Were Always Mine, #1
No Getting Over You, #2
SEALs Going Hot, box set
Burning for Nero
Conquering Zeus
A Long Time Comin’ (erotic romance)
Hard Drivin’ Man (erotic romance)
Contemporaries
Is That a Gun in Your Pocket? (erotic comedic suspense)
Tall, Hard and Trouble, box set
Tall, Hard and Mine, box set, Coming Soon!
Tall, Hard and Fierce, box set, Coming Soon!
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His Tempting Governess: Delightful Doings in Dudley Crescent, Book 2 Page 20