Rebecca was silent for a minute.
“You think because I am unmarried, Arabella, that I don’t understand desire?”
“No, of course not, I just ... no.”
“Of course not, because you are unmarried yourself.”
“Yes, of course.”
“You have just fallen into the habit of thinking of me as a younger sister. You should not.”
“No.”
“So here we are. Two unmarried women who understand desire.”
There was a very long pause here that Arabella sensed was important. But she did not know why. She looked at Rebecca who was still seated, looking at her, waiting. Gauging her reaction somehow.
And then Rebecca bit her lip and looked away.
“And I don’t know what Juliana told you yesterday,” Rebecca said. “But I do know some of why you left London. And I know Lord Morpeth was the one. I heard the Marquess of Painswick whisper it to Mr. Swinton.” Rebecca brought her eyes back to Arabella’s. Arabella could see sympathy there and she was so grateful to her friend. But there was something else there, too, wasn’t there?
“You know then that I am not an innocent and have not been one for years,” Arabella said.
“Yes.”
“And your parents regret your family’s connection to me.”
“Well, I don’t!” Rebecca’s voice became very loud. “I only regret that I did nothing to help you afterward.”
“You are very kind, Rebecca.”
“No, I’m not.” Her tone was mutinous.
This was the second time in the last three days that Arabella had thanked someone for being kind, and that person had refused the compliment. The other person had been Alasdair, just before he kissed her for the first time in the carriage.
She gazed at Rebecca. How strange that she felt almost the same tension coming from her friend.
“But youarekind, Rebecca, and I am most grateful for it.” She didn’t know why, but she felt it was very important that she stay away from Rebecca, stay on the other side of the room.
And then the tension deflated and Rebecca was her friend of old. Indeed, tender-hearted Rebecca’s eyes were filling with tears.
“You are safe with me, Arabella.”
Arabella crossed to her and held her hands.
“Of course I am.”
Rebecca smiled through her tears. “And when the snow stops, I will do everything I can to help you get to Sommerleigh. To your real sister. But please, I beg of you, reconsider.”
“Reconsider what?”
“The doctor. Punish him only briefly. Unlike most men, he is educable, I believe.”
Alasdair sat on the edge of the bed in the room that he had shared with Arabella for two nights now. He waited. He had delayed in putting his shirt back on, remembering his dream of Arabella putting her face to his chest in his sleep. And this morning, before she had lost her temper, how she had sighed when he had faced her with no shirt on. And how she had said that lust had driven her to ask him to turn around.
The swathe covered part of his chest but not all. Perhaps enough of his chest still showed to draw her close to him. And she might kiss him again in that wild, unconstrained manner as she had just before his shoulder had gone back into place.
She must have overestimated the time he would sleep. He hoped she would return to the room shortly. Because he wanted to tempt her. He thought he could.
