Ecstasy Read Online Free PDF Page B

sodden. Seemingly from nowhere, a post-chaise and four dashed by at such pace that the more docile horses drawing the carriage were thus highly vexed, and ran the vehicle off the road. The carriage tilted and Miss May banged her head. – What …
    – Miss May, Lorraine held her hand, – are you all right?
    – Yes, yes, yes, girl … I thought the carriage was going to tilt over … what, pray tell, has happened?
    Lorraine looked out of the window to see Tam Greig shaking his fist and cursing in a guttural Scotch, the likes of which she never heard before. – Ye devils, ye! Ah’ll cut oot yer feckless English herts!
    – Mister Greig! Miss May barked
.
    – Begging your pardon, ma’am, I was fair scunnered by the recklessness of the men in yon coach. Officers they were too. Officers, but no gentlemen, I’ll wager ye
.
    – Perhaps they were in a hurry to get to some posting, Miss May said. – We too should be in a hurry
.
    – I’m sorry, ma’am, but yon horse has gone lame. He’ll have to be replaced in Grantham, and I’d say it’ll take some time to make yon arrangements
.
    – Very well, Miss May sighed. – Oh, Lorraine, I am so vexed by this journey!
    It took longer to get to Grantham than expected, due to the lameness of the second horse. There was no room at the Blue Inn, so they were forced to billet in a much less genteel lodging. As they disembarked, Tam the coachman cursed as he saw four officers, the occupants of the post-chaise which had caused them their grief, pass them
en route
to a tavern
.
    One of the soldiers, a dark, handsome chap with an arrogant twist to his mouth, raised an eyebrow in Lorraine’s direction which caused her to look down and blush. Miss May noted the officer’s gesture and nodded approvingly to herself at Lorraine’s response
.
    The stop-off in Grantham held them up for another two days, but the final part of the journey to London was uneventful and they reached Earl Denby and Lady Huntingdon’s grand town home of Radcombe House in Kensington in fine spirits
.
    Lorraine was overwhelmed by London; its size and scale were beyond anything she could have conceived of Lady Huntingdon, a strikingly handsome woman, and much younger-looking than her thirty-six years (for Lorraine’s mother Flora was the same age as her friend), proved to be a most amenable hostess. Lorraine also had Miss May, whom only Lady Huntingdon addressed by her Christian name of Amanda, keeping a watchful eye on her during her induction to society. Earl Denby was a dashing, handsome man, and he and his wife together seemed so full of vitality and gaiety
.
    The dinners at Radcombe House were grand affairs, even on the occasions where few guests were present. – Isn’t this wonderful? Lorraine said to Miss May, ever present by the young Scotch beauty’s side
.
    – This is rather modest. Wait until you see New Thorndyke Hall, my girl, she smiled. That was the family’s country seat in Wiltshire, and Lorraine eagerly anticipated going there
.
    At a smaller Radcombe House dinner one evening, where only a few guests were present, Lorraine’s attention was caught by the flirtatious eye of a handsome young man. He seemed strangely familiar, and she fancied that she might have seen him before at one of the earlier dinners. This man, an erratic young sprig of fashion, fixed his friend and host, Earl Denby, with a mocking eye and demanded in theatrical, rallying tones: – Well, Denby, you old rogue, you promise me a champion time down in Wiltshire with the hounds this weekend, but what, pray tell, do you offer me for my entertainment this evening? The young blood smiled over at Lorraine, and she instantly recalled where she had seen him before: he was one of the officers from the post-chaise which had so disrupted their progress to London, the one who had gestured at her
.
    – My cook, said Denby, rather nervously, – is generally thought of as an artist in her own line …
    – But, interrupted the young