Free The Long Road to Love by Lynn Collum Page A

say you to breakfast in Throcking? This business of rescuing a damsel in distress leaves one rather sharp set.”
    Angelica laughed. She liked the feel of Richard’s arm beneath her hand. Suddenly the future was again bright.
    She would stay with Lady Blackstone until she reached her majority. Then what?
    Looking up at Richard as they made their way back to the Wigginses’ cottage, Angelica knew she didn’t want to think beyond the present. She would merely enjoy her time in Bath with the earl and his mother. A future without Richard suddenly looked dreary.

*   *   *
     
    Augusta, Dowager Countess of Blackstone, resided in a comfortable house on Great Pulteney Street in Bath. Her decision to move from the family home had come a year earlier when, arriving unexpectedly at their town house in Berkeley Square, she’d come upon a party of her son and his raffish friends, each with an extremely vulgar actress in tow. She’d promptly turned on her heel and ordered the carriage to take her to her cousin in Bath, vowing not to set foot in any of her son’s residences until he had a proper wife.
    After staying with her cousin for six months, Augusta at last gave up waiting for her son to fall in with her plans and leased the house in which she currently lived with her outspoken sister, Mrs. Gertrude Harris. Though the dowager’s sibling had inherited a comfortable income at the death of her husband, she’d been delighted to join Lady Blackstone in Bath.
    On this warm August afternoon the ladies were seated in the drawing room, waiting for tea to be brought. Gertrude, red-haired with a smattering of freckles on her plump face, sat reading the Bath papers. She lowered the news and inquired, “Do you wish to go to the theater this week, Augusta? The newspaper states they are doing a revival of Sheridan’s The Rivals.”
    The dowager, a handsome woman who’d grown stout and grey with age, looked up from her book of poetry, thoughtfully tugging at the lappet on her frilly white cap.
    “Perhaps on Friday, my dear.”
    The door to the drawing room opened at that moment and Bergman, the butler, entered. “My lady, Lord Blackstone and a young lady are here.”
    Hope swelled in Augusta’s heart as she sat up. While Richard had visited her regularly, he’d brought no one with him before. “Show them in quickly, Bergman.”
    Within minutes Richard and a young lady dressed in the black of mourning entered the room, crushing Augusta’s plans for a possible marriage for her son. She eyed the woman closely, thinking something was familiar about her.
    Richard surveyed his mother to gauge her mood. He was pleased to see her smiling. Looking back at Angel encouragingly, he thought her very pale in her black traveling dress and bonnet, her eyes looking more violet than blue. He fought the urge to take her in his arms to reassure her, for he suddenly realized that her welfare had begun to occupy his thoughts constantly. Turning to the seated ladies, he said, “Good afternoon, Mother, Aunt Gertrude.”
    The dowager arched one brow. “What a surprise, my dear. I thought you were off to some house party in the country.” She leaned a mildly lined cheek up for her son to kiss.
    “I had an unexpected change of plans.”
    Gertrude Harris eyed the beauty in black with hostility.Her opinion of her nephew’s lifestyle couldn’t be lower and she always let him know it.
    “Richard, this is a new low for you. Always before you allowed the gentleman to get cold in the ground before making off with the widow.”
    Richard opened his mouth as if to give his aunt a tongue lashing, but he knew he’d be wasting his breath. His concern was getting Angel settled, and his aunt’s comment had left the young lady with pink cheeks. He smiled reassuringly at her, ignoring Gertrude’s jibe.
    The dowager was stunned at Richard’s acceptance of the barb, for he usually returned his aunt’s rude remarks with equal sharpness.
    “Mother, you remember Miss