A Ramshackle Start

by Heather Boyd

  A Ramshackle Start

  Heather Boyd

  www.Heather-Boyd.com

  Contents

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  Copyright

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  More Regency Romance From Heather…

  About Heather

  His sister’s wedding was supposed to clear the way for his courtship of the woman he adores…not end it before it can even begin.

  A regency romance short romp.

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  Copyright © 2020 by Heather Boyd

  ISBN: 978-1-925239-86-7

  Editing by Kelli Collins

  All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced nor used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for use of brief quotations in a book review.

  This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be resold or given away to other people. If you are reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return it and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or are used facetiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or locales is entirely coincidental.

  Chapter One

  Saying goodbye to Mr. Robin Cooper was very much on Tessa Abbott’s mind as her last full day in his home ended. Unfortunately, her cousin’s mind was focused on an entirely different gentleman.

  “Oh, please say yes to William’s brother’s offer of marriage. We could be sisters then, not just distant cousins,” Anna Cooper pressed as the candle sputtered and died, leaving them in complete darkness in Tessa’s bedchamber. “I know you like George Leven enough to at least consider him,” Anna argued without the faintest idea she was so very wrong.

  Tessa was, unfortunately, already in love, and to give George false hope, or marry him, would be cruel in the extreme.

  Tessa lay on her back and stared into the darkness above her head as she grappled with the best way to decline her cousin’s suggestion without revealing her reasons for doing so. “I don’t like him enough to marry him. I was only being polite for your sake. I never meant to encourage a serious attachment,” she revealed in a whisper.

  “Well, George is mad for you, no matter what you did or didn’t do. He talks about you all the time. He’s even talked about leasing a property on the same street where William and I will live, too,” Anna assured her as they lay under the comforter of Tessa’s bed together, as they’d done on so many other nights before this one. Tessa had been a guest of the Cooper family for some time, a recipient of their charity and surprisingly warm affection. “You have to marry someone eventually to have a family of your own. Why not marry George?”

  Of course, Tessa wanted a family, but it didn’t seem likely that she could marry Robin Cooper. The object of her affections was oblivious to her admiration. “Perhaps I will meet the love of my life in Begley,” Tessa suggested.

  Begley Cottage was a world away from London. It was where Anna’s crotchety grandmother, Tessa’s great-aunt, lived all alone.

  Anna burst out laughing, and Tessa quickly slapped her hand over her cousin’s mouth to quell the sound before the noise of it traveled too far. She did not want to bring Mrs. Cooper into her room tonight or disturb Robin. “Quiet, or you’ll wake them.”

  Mrs. Cooper and the unattainable Mr. Robin Cooper had been her two favorite people, but they were also the people who had the power to hurt her most of all. She was entirely at their mercy.

  “Mama can sleep through anything at this time of night,” Anna complained. “But heaven forbid we disturb his peace.”

  “Shh, you’ve no right to complain about your brother,” Tessa insisted. “Robin has been very generous to allow me to stay this long.”

  “Not long enough for my liking,” Anna whispered angrily, citing a well-worn topic of private complaint. “Robin has funds enough to keep you, and yet he still hasn’t expended the energy to set up a dower, even when he hinted he might.”

  It was inevitable that Robin had been unwilling to dower her, but as an orphan and a very distant relation, she had no right to expect anything at all. She was lucky this family had allowed her to live with them for this long.

  To every other relation, she’d been considered nothing more than an unpaid drudge. Convenient until they had no use for her.

  Anna had declared Tessa her sister right from the start. She was deeply offended by Robin’s reluctance to dower her, reducing her appeal to potential suitors. However, no man truly gave her a second glance once they learned she was a charity case.

  “I suppose if I am ever to marry, I will have to attract a suitor with my smile and my flirtatious wit,” she joked.

  Anna hooted with laughter. “Timid little you? Flirtatious? I swear you and my brother are the two souls most likely to never be described as having great wit or to flirt, and certainly not ones to ever let anyone know your deepest, darkest feelings.”

  Tessa liked Robin a great deal for all of those reasons, so she silenced Anna again with her hand over her mouth. She liked Robin’s quietness, his unchangeable nature, and also their secret conspiracy to dampen Mrs. Cooper’s theatrics. Robin claimed that no greater source of entertainment could be found in England than when his mother was outraged.

  Tessa did agree with Robin perhaps too much, which unfortunately had rendered her somewhat invisible to him. Robin had never noticed that she’d fallen for him almost on the very day they’d met.

  “Please say you will write to me every day. I dread to think of how much quieter you will become in that dreary place.”

  Tessa very much dreaded living with old Mrs. Cooper, but she didn’t dare reveal how much. She didn’t want to spoil Anna’s wedding day tomorrow. “Will you be content to know I plan to run around the Begley Cottage once a week, laughing at nothing at all.”

  “She’ll think you wild and might just send you back to us.” Anna huddled closer, resting her chin on Tessa’s shoulder. “I will miss you,” Anna whispered in her ear. “I tried to convince William to let you come and live with us in our new home.”

  “I will miss you, too, but I would never follow you to your new home. You’re to be a newlywed.” Tessa fought back the tears by laughing. “I expect you will be too busy leading William a merry dance.”

  Anna gave her a tight squeeze. “You may be right about William and me.”

  Tessa’s tears fell, but she dashed them away with the back of her hand. Anna was loved. Tessa was not. She forced her sadness away. “When you marry William tomorrow, I want you to start off on the right foot. You’d better let him catch you a time or two.”

  “Oh, I will.” Anna giggled softly. “I know what to do. Mother and I had the talk about doing my solemn duty to my husband the other night.”

  Tessa twisted up and around on her bed to stare at her cousin in shock. “No!”

  “Oh yes,” Anna chuckled evilly. “I have all the details that I know you’re dying to hear. Shall I tell you now so no one else can embarrass you?”

  “Yes, please,” Tessa begged. She’d been waiting for, and fearing, the talk for as long as she could remember.

  Anna leaned close and began to explain how a lady went to bed an innocent and woke up a woman with the hope of a family inside
her—adding many intimate details of what happened between men and women in the privacy of a bedroom. Tessa was blushing twenty shades of pink by the time Anna finished. Tessa could only imagine her fantasy—the sandy haired Robin—touching her in that manner.

  “Oh my,” she gasped.

  “I couldn’t stop laughing at Mother’s expression when we met with William for tea after the talk. Every time her eyes dipped from his face, I wondered if she remembered what she said we would do together. It was simply too horrifying for words to contemplate.”

  “I’m glad I missed it.”

  Anna gripped her hand tightly. “You were stuck with Robin as he sorted through those old newspapers looking for that story he mentioned.”

  Tessa smiled at the happy memory. Time spent alone with Robin was precious and very rare. “He never did find out who was investigating the thefts.”

  “If there ever was such an article to be found.” Anna wriggled again, throwing the heavy comforter off her legs. “Do you ever wonder if he makes up those strange searches for information just to avoid speaking to us?”

  Tessa did not have to wonder. She was well aware that Robin often made up excuses to be alone or away from the house, so he didn’t have to deal with his mother and sister. Tessa didn’t mind it so much when it was a task she could become involved in, too, like a futile search through old newssheets. There were days when Mrs. Cooper and Anna, even though Tessa loved the two women dearly, tried her patience, too.

  Tessa nudged Anna’s shoulder. “You should get yourself to bed.”

  “I know, but I don’t feel that I could possibly sleep a wink tonight.”

  “Well, I have a longer journey than yours tomorrow. I need my rest.” She sighed. She would miss this house and the few happy memories she’d made here over the past two years. She would miss Robin’s company most of all. Sometimes when he looked upon her with his warm brown eyes and rueful smile, she thought she might just melt into a puddle at his feet. She had been foolish to hope those looks meant he might return her regard. Clearly, he did not. “Goodnight, my dear Anna.”

  Anna embraced her, squeezing nearly all the air from Tessa’s lungs. They drew apart, both sniffing back a tear. “Sleep well, Tessa, and dream of good things.”

  As Anna slipped from the room, a tear slipped down Tessa’s cheek. “I only ever dreamed that Robin might love me.”

  Chapter Two

  “Is everyone ready?” Robin asked of his butler as he donned his best waistcoat. He was giving away his sister today, and he couldn’t be happier that the moment had finally come. Three long months of watching Anna sigh and fret over her suitor’s intentions had grown wearying until William had asked for her hand.

  “More or less, sir.”

  In the act of doing up his buttons, Robin paused. “What do you mean, more or less?”

  “Everyone but Miss Abbott seems ready for your guests to arrive.” The butler held out his coat. “Your mother and sister are in the morning room, waiting for the knock of your guests. But the young miss is still in her room. I know you do not appreciate tardiness.”

  Robin frowned severely at the news that the one person he counted on to never let him down might disappoint him today, of all days. “Miss Abbott is never tardy without reason.”

  “True. Perhaps it’s merely a case of nervous excitement about her appearance. It is an important day.”

  “So it is,” Robin agreed, shrugging the garment into place. He would finally be rid of his sister today. At long last, the giggling distraction would have a husband to plague instead of him and Tessa Abbott.

  Their bedchambers shared a wall, so he knew Tessa been awake since first light. He’d heard her moving around quietly, opening her bedchamber window as she always did, and then leaving the room later in a rush—all before he’d even brushed the sleep from his eyes. More than likely, his sister and mother had run Tessa ragged all morning. Tomorrow, that would stop.

  “The guests will arrive at any moment. She must be there to greet them with me. Quickly return downstairs and do all you can to distract any guests should they arrive before we get there.”

  “Very good, sir.”

  Robin shooed the butler away and then slipped quietly along to Tessa’s bedchamber door. He tapped lightly. “It’s only me,” he whispered urgently.

  Light footsteps rushed toward the door from inside. “What’s wrong?”

  “That’s what I want to know. You’re running very late, Tessa,” he warned. “The guests could be here at any moment.”

  “I know, and I am so sorry.”

  The door opened a crack, revealing Tessa had at least changed into her best blue day dress. This particular one was Robin’s favorite of all. It enhanced her blue eyes and complimented her pale skin. Her dark hair seemed different today, more intricately arranged about her head. The style made her more beautiful.

  She leaned her cheek against the door. “Anna needed the hem of her wedding gown mended,” she confessed.

  Robin sighed, eager for this day, this wedding, to be over and done with. He leaned toward Tessa, drawn to her as he always was. “And I suppose Mama couldn’t do it, or one of the maids, so you might dress, too.”

  A soft smile touched her lips. “I volunteered. I want everything perfect for Anna’s big day.”

  “I am sure everything will be perfect because of your efforts,” he agreed. “But the day will not end well if you miss the beginning of the festivities.”

  “Her happiness means the world to me.” Tessa let go of the door and twisted her arm behind her back awkwardly. “I’ll be down as soon as I can, I promise.”

  He frowned at how she continued to twist and stretch. “What are you doing behind your back?”

  She groaned softly. “I cannot reach the very last button on this gown. I should have asked a maid to come up and help me change, after all.”

  Robin smiled. “If it’s just the one, I can do it for you.”

  She looked surprised by his offer. “Are you sure you wouldn’t mind?”

  “Not at all. I’m more than capable of buttoning you up in a pretty dress.” And would become adept at getting her out of them, once today was over, if he had his way.

  “There really is just the one button.” She smiled hesitantly. “Thank you, Robin.”

  “No thanks are ever needed between us,” he promised and gestured for her to turn around. The door widened as she turned slowly, still pointing awkwardly at the row of buttons on her back.

  Robin almost laughed aloud at the mess she’d made of doing herself up. She must really have been rushing to change. He cleared his throat. “There’s a bit more of a problem here than you realize.”

  She tried to peer over her shoulder. “There is?”

  To fix Tessa’s gown, he’d have to unbutton her first and then start over. The thought of undressing her made him suddenly very hot. He wished his cravat had been tied much looser.

  He glanced down the empty hall. If they were found while he was helping her, her reputation would be in tatters, and she would have no choice but to marry him. Robin wanted Tessa to choose him over anyone else of her own free will.

  There simply wasn’t time to send for a maid. “Let me in, so I’m not seen doing this,” he whispered. “I’ll set you right again as quick as a wink.”

  Tessa uttered a soft wail of despair but allowed him to slip into her room and close the door. Robin looked around the chamber quickly.

  It had been a very long time since he’d been in this bedchamber, and it was prettier than he remembered. There were hatboxes and trunks still in the room, as there had been that first day she’d arrived, but there was also a gown of Tessa’s lying across the bed and, next to it, her warmest coat.

  Before Tessa had come to live with them, this had been his own room. He’d chosen to move to his late father’s old bedchamber next door, against his mother’s wishes, just so Tessa could have a bedchamber of her own for the first time and not have to share it with
talkative Anna. He inhaled deeply and sighed. The room smelled of Tessa’s perfume, a scent that had grown most dear to him.

  “My gown?” Tessa queried, reminding him he was here to do good.

  Robin quickly unbuttoned Tessa’s dress and then buttoned it properly, occasionally skimming her undergarments with his fingertips. His fingers brushed her spine and he bit his lip at the softness of her flawless skin. When she was perfectly attired, he let out a shaky breath that he’d managed to hide how much she affected him. Damn, how he wanted to hold her and promise to love her forever.

  He jabbed a finger under his cravat and tugged in an effort to compose himself. There was still another hour or more before he could pursue the woman of his dreams, and then he would see. “All done,” he murmured in a shockingly husky tone. He quickly cleared his throat, hiding that he was horribly attracted to her.

  From the day he’d met Tessa, he’d known that he had to take things slowly with her. She’d been initially wary of his overtures of friendship, and he’d surmised very quickly that the families that had taken her in before she’d come to him had treated her very poorly. He’d taken great pains to make her feel comfortable and wanted in his home, part of his family. Then he’d set out to become her friend and confided in her often about his own small concerns. Once she believed she was family and not about to be sent to scrub pots, Tessa had seemed to enjoy the time they managed to spend talking together as much as he did.

  “Thank you,” Tessa whispered.

  Robin stood before her, feeling awkward and exposed, yearning for what he couldn’t yet ask for. He leaned toward her. “What were you and Anna giggling till all hours about last night? I could hardly get to sleep for the noise you were making. It must have been vastly amusing.”