Page 4 of Disguised Desires of a Scarred Duke
“Come on, it will refresh us both!”
The two sisters laughed under their breaths as they snuck downstairs together. They passed the sitting room where Lady Whitfield was resting across her favourite chaise longue and snoring away.
Giggling more as they snuck past their mother, the two girls made their exit through the back door without even the nosy housekeeper knowing they’d gone.
“My goodness, it’s pouring out here! Eleanor, this is not proper!” Regina said, using more melodic laughter, which made her older sister smile.
“How on earth will you ever spread your wings if you only do proper things, Sister? Live a little!” Eleanor stretched her arms wide and dared Regina to take a bold step into the blanket of soft, wet grass.
“I’m going to regret listening to you!” Regina shouted, then bounded out into the garden with her arms flapping wildly like a newborn bird.
Eleanor yelped with glee and ran after her. The beloved sisters were drenched within minutes as they jumped in puddles with their bare feet. The sounds of distant thunder made the night seem more magical somehow, as if angels were beating their drums to the rhythm of the Whitfield sisters’ dancing feet.
“See? This is practice for the next ball!Step, two three. Step, two three.Just imagine the man of your dreams is holding you close under the moon!” Eleanor shouted into the wind.
Regina laughed again and took her sister’s hands to waltz with her around small round beds of blooming dahlias and hyacinths.
“The man of my dreams will take me to Scotland to dance in a palace full of redheads!” Regina announced, as her long auburn hair stuck in tangled ringlets to the shoulders of her sopping wet burgundy dress.
Eleanor nearly fell over with laughter. As a young child, Regina used to dream that she came from a magical land where they grew all the redheaded babies. So, of course, Regina’s dream husband would whisk her away to the only place she could think of where there might be double the redheads milling about.
However, the elder Whitfield daughter’s idea of an ideal mate was a bit spicier. “The man of my dreams will dance like a pirate when he discovers my buried treasure!”
Regina let go of Eleanor’s hands and pressed her own to her flushed cheeks. “Eleanor! You are too brazen for your own good!” But the younger sister soon lapsed into a giggling fit again when Eleanor stuck out her tongue. And when she scooped up a fistful of mud, then smeared it on Regina’s arm.
“How’s that for brazen, Sister?” Eleanor dared.
Within minutes, both Whitfield ladies of polite society were muddied from head to toe. They laughed harder than they had since their dear father was still alive.
Then, a loud cracking noise followed by an electric bolt of lightning filled the sky with brilliant light. As the sisters looked up, they heard a terrifying scream coming from somewhere down the street.
Eleanor’s protective reflexes kicked in immediately. She grabbed Regina and pulled her back to the house and into the safety of the vestibule.
Neither girl spoke for a few minutes as they panted and searched through a side window for signs of someone in danger out there. But there were no other sounds or stirrings besides the thunderous storm.
Eleanor put her index finger to her glistening lips to signal that the sisters stay silent. She then led the way back through the hall.
When they passed the sitting room again, Lady Whitfield was no longer there.
Assuming Eleanor’s stepmother had gone to bed, they proceeded around the corner to the staircase and stopped cold. Waiting at the top of the stairs was Margaret, still in her formal black dinner gown.
Regina and Eleanor held tightly to each other at the bottom of the stairs, rain dripping from their clothes on the hardwood floor. Eleanor looked down at her dress and knew the expensive peach fabric with tiny white daisies was ruined.
But to her, it was worth every moment of bonding with Regina while out from under the control of the woman who ruled their lives.
Much to Eleanor’s surprise, Lady Whitfield said nothing about their rainstorm antics. She didn’t even complain about the tracks of muddy footprints trailing behind them. When Margaret cleared her throat to speak, she looked over the sisters’ heads as if looking right at them brought her too much shame.
“We’ve received word from Cousin Harrison. The Earl of St Coeur requests our attendance at a soiree he is hosting a fortnight from today. You will both attend. You will both be on your best behaviour. And you will both be married to wealthy noblemen by the end of this season. Do I make myself clear?”
Regina nodded her head, then elbowed Eleanor.
When Eleanor nodded her consent, she held her left hand behind her back with her fingers firmly crossed.
Chapter 3
“It’s all forgotten, Mr Byrd. Please don’t trouble yourself further about the matter. I should have let you know I was coming. And alerted you to some … changes in my appearance.”
A few days had passed since the stormy night of William St Clair’s return to his father’s townhouse. The poor footman who’d opened the door and screamed was nearly banished from the household when Mr Byrd, the butler, had rushed to the scene.
