by Abby Ayles
* * *
“What on earth will I do with so many drawing rooms,” Alexandra said with a giggle.
* * *
“I suppose whatever suits you,” Raven replied taking a seat next to his wife.
* * *
He still had several documents to go over before he would be done for the evening, but just for now he thought it best to enjoy his wife’s company.
* * *
They had just arrived at the estate after a long journey across the ocean and then a week-long carriage ride to the country. It shouldn’t have taken so long, but Raven had insisted the driver go at a much slower pace than was usual for Alexandra’s sake.
* * *
She had hoped to return to their home long before the other guests started to arrive. The extended journey barely left her a few days, at the most, before the rest of her family and Lady Rebecca came. How was she to know the house and get it all ready if Raven would not allow her to move except from one drawing room to the next?
* * *
“How long has it been,” Alexandra asked as Raven lifted her feet and set them on her lap.
* * *
“Hm?” he questioned half concentrating on the slippers he was removing one by one.
* * *
Alexandra had been a strong lady from the moment Raven met her. He had expected no less than her determination, and stubbornness, even in her pregnancy. That being said he was sure that she took far too much on herself that could be left to others. Her swollen ankles were testaments to that fact.
* * *
“How long since you have been here?” she asked before relaxing back into the coach as Raven began to massage one foot and then the other.
* * *
“I’m not sure,” he said pondering the question.
* * *
In his concentration, Raven’s hands paused in their motion. Alexandra wiggled her silk-stockinged toes with a smile. Giving her his mischievous grin, Raven tickled the sole of one foot before going back to his rubbing.
* * *
“I would guess I was sixteen, maybe fifteen, the last time I came.”
* * *
“Is it all the same?” Alexandra asked looking around the room.
* * *
She had learned from the moment she had married Raven that his standard of living had been far superior to her own. Lavish houses dotted the British islands. Then there was the plantation in Virginia and the bungalow in the South Indies. Each one of these lavish houses had been furnished with no limitation of funds. Many of the English countryside estates, like the cottage outside of London, would be rented out from time to time to gentlemen.
* * *
“I suppose it is. I can’t remember honestly. We really didn’t come much, my aunt and I that is. I think she worried it would be too upsetting to come back here after my parents died.”
* * *
“Is it?” Alexandra asked suddenly realizing that being here again might bring up painful memories.
* * *
“No,” he said with a reassuring smile. “I don’t remember much of them to be honest. But the memories I do have, they were good ones. I can’t wait to make some of our own as well here,” he added for good measure.
* * *
“And a wedding shall be the first one,” Alexandra mused.
* * *
“Yes, a bit of a strange one, if you ask me,” Raven said with a chuckle.
* * *
“It’s not strange at all. If anything, they have taken far too long in my opinion,” Alexandra said decidedly. “It’s been over two years since our own.”
* * *
“Yes, well I suppose not all men are like me. Swooping in, carrying you away, and claiming you as my own.”
* * *
“If I remember right, I walked on my own accord,” Alexandra corrected him.
* * *
“I suppose you are right,” he smiled back at her.
Two days later the parties began to arrive. First was Lord Grebs with his three youngest daughters. It was a reunion of much laughter and tears shared between all the sisters. Alexandra was so overcome with shock at how her youngest sister had grown and matured in the last two years Raven feared that she might swoon from it.
* * *
The day after, Lady Rebecca arrived with her two companions, Lord and Lady Jocasta. Alexandra didn’t want to admit it, but she was relieved that the latter decided on bringing only one cat with her.
* * *
The final members of their wedding party arrived the same night. Lord and Lady Eagleton had taken extra-long in traveling for the very same reason that Raven had insisted his driver travel slow.
* * *
Lady Eagleton was showing just as much of a swollen belly as her dear friend. After so many years without a child of her own, both she and her husband had been overjoyed when the miracle had happened.
* * *
“Won’t it just be wonderful Regina,” Alexandra mused the following day in the morning room. “Our children will grow up together. They could be wonderful friends as well.”
* * *
“It is wonderful isn’t it,” Regina agreed pushing on her belly where a stubborn body part was preparing to push its way out. “Although I wonder if it is weird for Raven?”
* * *
“What do you mean?”
* * *
“Well, he was such good friends with Young Charles. Now here we are having a child, Charles’s brother, and it will be the same age as Raven’s baby. I wonder if that is strange to him.”
* * *
“I don’t think so at all,” Alexandra concluded. “All I know for sure, however,” she added readjusting herself in her seat, “is I am just glad he has Lord Eagleton to keep him in line. I am almost positive if it weren’t for you, he would be keeping me in bed all day surrounded by pillows.”
* * *
“Trust me, my Charles is no better,” Regina giggled back. “I’ll be lucky if I am allowed to attend the church service tomorrow. He talks of not leaving until the child is born and healthy. Says to go back home would be far too great a risk.”
* * *
“Well, I do agree with him on that point. Not the risk so much as the fact that you must stay until you and the babe are both well and ready. I won’t hear of anything less.”
* * *
“It would be too much of a burden,” Regina countered.
* * *
“Not at all. In fact, it would be a comfort to do it together, I think,” Alexandra said reaching across for her friend's hand.
* * *
Both ladies were in fact allowed to attend the small church ceremony on the following day. With tears in her eyes, Alexandra watched as Lady Rebecca walked down the aisle in a soft blue dress. Standing by the altar was her father.
* * *
If he had seemed a changed man after the first few weeks of Raven’s introduction into the family, it was nothing compared to the man he was now. Alexandra would have liked to think she was once again looking on the man who had lived before her mother’s passing.
* * *
His skin was flushed with life, and his words echoed his happiness with everything he did and said. Alexandra, as well as all of her sisters, couldn’t have been happier to see their father lucky enough to find love again in life.
* * *
As the ceremony ended and the guests filtered out of the small private church on the estate grounds, Alexandra beamed with joy at her gloriously large family before her.
* * *
“What is it, my dear,” Raven said tucking Alexandra’s arm in his for support.
* * *
Gentle tears were dripping down her face, and using a soft white handkerchief, she wiped them away quickly.
* * *
“I’m just happy, is all,” she assured her husband.
* * *
Raven leaned over and kissed his wife on the top of he
r head, breathing in the scent of her chestnut brown hair.
* * *
“I wonder if this is what perfection feels like,” she added looking up at him still glossy eyed.
* * *
“I would imagine so, my love,” Raven said leaning his head all the way down to steal a quick kiss on his wife's lips.
Entangled with the Duke Deleted Scene
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With Love
A Message from Abby
Dear Reader,
Thank you for reading! I hope you enjoyed every page and I would love to hear your thoughts whether it be a review online or you contact me via my website. I am eternally grateful for you and none of this would be possible without our shared love of romance.
I pray that someday I will get to meet each of you and thank you in person, but in the meantime, all I can do is tell you how amazing you are.
As I prepare my next love story for you, keep believing in your dreams and know that mine would not be possible without you.
With Love,
* * *
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Loving A Lady Preview
“May I borrow your gown?” Catherine asked Noelle, already standing in front of Noelle’s wardrobe, holding a lilac dress in front of herself. Being the eldest, Noelle had the largest bedchamber of the five Fletcher sisters. Also, being the eldest, Noelle had the most pressure thrust upon her.
* * *
She was the daughter for whom her parents worked the hardest. She was the daughter whose task it was to find a husband worthy of being the son-in-law to the Duke of Salisbury.
* * *
Her sister borrowing her dress was the least of her worries. Noelle nodded her head at Catherine. “See that you don’t ruin it,” she said with a playful, dimpled smile.
* * *
She envied Catherine – also known to her as Kitty – who was still young enough to be able to go off to balls just for fun. Ever since Noelle had reached her twenty-first birthday, her parents had been giving her looks that they never used to give her.
* * *
The Duke and Duchess of Salisbury were loving, caring parents who wanted their daughters to all marry well. Noelle knew that, and she knew who they had their eyes on, too.
* * *
Practically everyone in their social circle knew that her mother, in particular, admired a handsome and dashing young gentleman named Lord Alphonse Drake, the Marquess of Fairfax, for her daughter. Lord Drake was the son of the Duke of Cumberland, and as such, it was believed that he and Noelle would make a perfect match.
* * *
Her sisters, of course, all thought that it was terribly exciting. She, on the other hand, greatly disliked the idea of marrying some rich Lord So-And-So just for the sake of status and appearances. What Noelle truly wanted in her heart of hearts was to meet a gentleman in a proper way and fall in love.
* * *
Like Catherine very well might do. She had the freedom to do so.
* * *
Edith suddenly appeared in the doorway, looking quite shocked to find Kitty in the room, rummaging through Noelle’s wardrobe. The lady’s maid rushed right over and closed things back up.
* * *
“Milady,” she said to Noelle rather breathlessly, noticing that her lady was still lounging on her dais rather than getting ready for the ball. “The guests will be arriving in only a few hours. We can’t have you still sitting about and not in your gown.”
* * *
The maid was a short, slightly plump young woman with hair the color of wet straw worn up in a tight bun on her head. She wore a bourbon-colored frock with a white apron and matching white cap.
* * *
She’d been Noelle’s maid ever since the lady had come of age, so the two of them had been through many a London Season. “Really, Edith, I find the whole thing quite dull,” Noelle opined.
* * *
Edith gently shooed Catherine out of Noelle’s room, closing the door behind her. Kitty was so gleeful at securing her favorite gown that she didn’t mind being removed from the bedchamber. She got what she’d been after.
* * *
Noelle did her best not to smirk too noticeably as Edith rounded on her with another frazzled expression.
* * *
“Your mother is quite vexed,” she said, going back to the wardrobe and opening it up again, searching through the dresses for a suitable one. “The Viscount of Kent will be here any moment with your father. They’ve been out riding all morning.”
* * *
Pulling out a mint green gown with white lace on the sleeves and collar, she held it up for Noelle’s approval. The lady rolled her eyes and stood up from her dais. It didn’t matter which dress she wore; it wasn’t going to change the ball for her.
* * *
The men she met were all the same. Oh, how charming is Lady Noelle! How witty, gay, and amiable! A lot of good it ever did her. The sorts of men she met at these fetes were always pompous, arrogant, and older than her.
* * *
She stood still and let Edith undress her and put on the clean, fresh gown. This involved much loosening and then tightening of corsets. Noelle gazed at her reflection in the looking glass inside the tall, mahogany wardrobe.
* * *
Her thick, cinnamon hair was pinned up on her head in a high, curly presentation. It wouldn’t be coming down until the evening was at an end. She always felt that she was an artwork in a museum when she had her hair all done up like that.
* * *
Her blue eyes looked back at her, sad and a trifle nervous. It amazes me that I still get nervous about these situations, she thought. I could practically be the hostess at one of these balls myself.
* * *
Satisfied with her dress, Noelle gave a little nod to Edith and then the maid carefully applied some rouge and lip salve to her lady’s face, finishing it off with a few puffs of powder. “You’re a vision, milady,” she said with a smile. “The marquess won’t be able to keep his eyes off you.”
* * *
Noelle blushed a little, hoping that the rouge hid it somewhat. But Edith was her closest confidante. Surely the maid knew her feelings on the matter.
* * *
“I’ve never met the man before,” she said. “I don’t know what he likes or what he’s like. So, I shan’t be getting my hopes up for this evening. Even if Mother does insist upon it.”
* * *
The Marquess of Fairfax knew Lady Noelle’s father. Everyone knew her father, it seemed. It was a wonder he hadn’t been placed in Parliament by virtue of his being everyone’s friend.
* * *
‘It’s not about who I know,’ he oft said. ‘It’s who knows who I know.’
* * *
Noelle didn’t know if it was going to matter that he knew the marquess. Lord Drake was known to many ladies and went to many balls each Season. How could she possibly be worth his attention when he already clearly had so many lady admirers?
* * *
“Don’t put yourself down, milady,” Edith said to her supportively. “I know that I’m biased, but you’re sure to be the loveliest lady there. I fully anticipate his enthusiasm for your meetin
g.”
