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Her Awakening
(A working title - Novel in progress)
© H. Cooper
Chapter Seven
"Oh now Raven, you hush or my new best friend will
begin to think it's the truth!" Catty pouted prettily up at him.
Bella watched the exchange with a niggle of uncomfortable
amusement. She was in a way glad to find out that Catty indeed seemed
to know Raven well. Now she wondered just how well.
"Oh forgive me little Cat, I would never wish to quell
the budding friendship between two young ladies." Ravens mouth curved
in what could only be described as an affectionate smirk and reached
to tug a lock of blonde hair before his gaze slid over Bella's face.
But it didn't linger there, she could barely breathe
as deep emerald eyes traversed, it seemed, every last inch of her.
She swallowed and when his gaze at last joined with her own, she wondered
with breathless fear if he knew. "Something just a bit different about
you this morning, Bella"
His voice was light, a slight cant to his head as she
watched his hand reach to tug at the riding gloves still sleek to
his flesh. She was captured by the grip and flesh of large strong
hands and fought to find an answer to his words, though finally it
was he again who spoke.
"It seems the morning finds you mute" He spoke slowly,
a slant to full lips that brought a roaring blush of indignation to
her creamy flesh.
"I.."
"I think, perhaps you had your first real taste of
grown up society last night, and you are in need of more rest! Come
on Bella, let's go steal a nap before the next round of festivities
begins, yes?"
Bella nearly sagged with relief as Catty came to her
rescue and she merely nodded limply, wondering if both Catty and Raven
could make out the wild beat of her heart or if only she heard it.
A soft chuckle from Raven as he bowed gallantly to
them. "A well rest m'ladies. I will see you both later I am sure."
Raven watched the girls disappear into Bale and stood
a moment longer, reaching down to where Bella had sat to capture a
long fiery strand of hair.
He mused on the gleaming strand clinging to the darker
flesh of his finger. She was mercurial. Stubborn. Innocent.
She was trouble.
She was also on the verge of discovering sexuality
in all of its overwhelming heat. The first forbidden taste that leads
to wanting it insatiably. He could see it in her. He could feel it
in the tremors of her body when he touched her, see it in the quiver
of her mouth, the flush to that creamy flesh. She was ripe for the
plucking and still so naive that she was vulnerable prey to just about
anyone.
Was he suddenly supposed to be the protector of all
vestal virgins? Had he ever cared a wit before? He glared out over
the spacious and exquisitely manicured grounds of Bale. It had to
be some sort of familial duty he was feeling. His mother would have
expected it of him to take the little duckling under his guidance.
"...Raven?"
He turned sharply and his expression shifted into
a more relaxed smile.
"Charles, I was beginning to think you would never
make it out of your bedchamber today" He chuckled.
Charles Delacroix matched the chuckle and dropped
down onto the couch Bella had previously occupied, sprawled in a the
fashion only a man of his late twenties could manage and still look
boyishly handsome. He glanced up and squinted against the sunlight,
and grimaced.
"To much brandy and too many cigars and well you know,
just too much. How do you manage it Raven? Why aren't you feeling
half as green as me?"
Raven could not control the faint smirk of amusement
that shaped his mouth as he looked down at Charles.
"Because I practice something called self-control,
which you don't seem to have grasped yet. But it will come, when some
pretty little piece of baggage has caught your eye and has you posting
the bans"
"Curses on you, Raven! I am a bachelor for life, unlike
you, old friend, I am not the oldest nor the only son, my lot in life
is very clear" Charles crowed, happy in his role as "runner up".
"I will say though, that the new addition to Bale is
more than enough to cause a man to second guess is declaration of
bachelorhood."
Ravens gaze snapped back to Charles.
"Oh, I see....put your claim on her then already, Raven?"
Charles laughed, catching the faint glitter in Ravens gaze and the
sharpness of his head turning to his words.
Raven balked. "Claim? Not at all, I merely feel a
familial tie to the girl and an obligation to keep her out of trouble,
an irritable obligation at that."
"And you are calling me trouble? I am hardly of the
same league as Beaufort and his set." Charles scoffed.
Raven cursed himself for making his surprise at his
friends statement so obvious. Of course men were going to notice the
little fluff. She was glorious. Innocent, and innocence always added
a new level of attraction to a much jaded ton.
He smiled. "No, Charles, you are probably one of the
more respected friends I have managed to make over the years."
"Well no worry Raven, old friend, I shan't be more
than civil friendly to the chit"
"Cha...."
Charles cut Raven off by bounding up, clapping him
on the shoulder with a grin. "No, no, don't try it Raven, I know you
enough to see that there is more than passing interest in the redhead,
I shall leave you to it with no doubt to your" the younger man paused
with a smirk twisting lips "ultimate success."
"Success at protecting the girl from her own curiosity,
that is all, until she is safely married off to some bland bloke worthy
of overseeing her fortune."
"Lucky girl" Charles replied drily.
*********************
The sound of Catty gasping suddenly in their quiet
side by side silence startled Bella for a brief moment.
"What is it?"
Catty turned to her with a smile that could only be
described as nervous excitement.
"Not what, who."
Catty made a small motion of her right hand indicating
Bella should look up. "Thomas Ridgewell, presently the Fourth Duke
of Graymore."
Bella lifted her gaze, having to shield her gaze against
the bright sunshine that for once was dominating the heavenly blue
sky. Even squinting, she could just make out this new figure amid
the gaggle of young ladies surrounding him as they emerged from Bale.
Tall and golden haired, that was all she could see
at the moment. Impressively tall, impeccably dressed, his hair such
a stunning color of blonde that it gleamed beneath the sunshine as
if it were itself a borrowed ray of light.
"Apart from Raven, Thomas Ridgewell is the most eligible
bachelor this side of the ocean."
Bella laughed softly and dropped her hand. "Should
I be smoothing my skirts and preparing to impress? Where is my aunt,
I am surprised she is not yet here to shuffle me off in front of his
Grace for inspection."
"Bella you are such a naughty girl." Catty laughed
the redheads lack of swoon. "I am starting to think you don't ever
want to get married!"
A laugh bubbled brightly over soft rose lips and Bella
turned to Catty with wide oceanic eyes that glimmered with humor.
"I don't!."
"I predict you will be married off and heavy with child
long before one has even caught my eye!"
Bella let out a most unladylike snort and cut a rather
amused glance to Cat. "Would you like to put a wager on that?"
"Gambling? You are so very naughty Bella, I am beginning
to think that it really is me who is the innocent one" Catty paused
and leaned until the shoulders of both girls rested comfortably together.
"Two pounds?"
"Two it is"
Both let out a chuckle and quickly straightened faces
into smooth expressions of innocence as an older Countess strolling
by paused to level a cold eagle eyed look on both girls.
"She may crack, do you suppose we raise our skirts
to keep protected from flying debris?" Bella murmured, smiling still,
nodding very regally towards the ancient crow even as Catty dissolved
into a helpless fit of tittering laughter.
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