Loving Miss Tilney: A Forbidden Love Regency Romance by Heather Moll

Author:Heather Moll [Moll, Heather]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9798986612904
Publisher: Excessively Diverted Press
Published: 2023-08-01T04:00:00+00:00

When they returned to the village of Longtown, they immediately went to the inn. It was unlike those coaching inns in town with a central courtyard to let down passengers or with a gallery in two stories outside rows of rooms. It was a small establishment, with an internal staircase that led to a few sets of rooms. Eleanor thought that their party and their servants had hired out the entire inn.

Sir Charles immediately got himself a room and arranged a private dining-parlour so they could all have dinner together. Lord Dryden hired Alice’s rooms—a parlour for them to share and each their own bedchamber—and Eleanor supposed Philip did the same for her. They still had not spoken, and his studied avoidance was becoming unbearable.

The hostess showed her to her room, a neat drawing room with a bedchamber attached. Alice, Dryden, and Sir Charles were on the floor above them, the servants in the attic above that.

“Will this do, ma’am?” the innkeeper asked.

“Mr Brampton engaged a comfortable apartment, thank you.”

“His lodging room is just on the other side of your shared parlour, but he has his own door to the corridor.” Eleanor tipped her, and she left. She suspected Philip would not step foot into this parlour if it meant he would have to speak with her. Sighing, she went to the bedchamber to ready herself for dinner.

She looked at her reflection, again considering what was worse: betraying Philip, or staying at Northanger. At home, she was a motherless, sisterless woman, with no female company, no companion, no friend; not even Catherine was welcome any longer.

“I am still virtuous, still strong, if I marry in order to secure some power over my own life,” she said to the glass. She had nothing to prove to anyone, and if she had reached her limit in quietly resisting her father’s subjugation, that did not make her weak.

But will it make me resentful, bitter? She had never felt any bitterness due to her father’s subjugation, so it was not likely she would become that way with a husband. And she had the strength of mind not to blame Sir Charles for not being Philip. But embracing Sir Charles had been unpleasant, unnatural, and that was what she would have to overcome, and quickly.

They dined at five, and, as Eleanor expected, Philip was near silent. It was not his typical shyness. When he was in a large group, or amongst those he was not close to, Philip’s silence was watchful. He was attentive, often waiting for a moment to share an opinion, ready to answer when addressed. Tonight, his silence was a vexed fury she immediately saw through his clipped replies, taut shoulders, and the tightness around his eyes.

“I suppose this dinner is rather good,” Sir Charles said after they sat, “although I cannot say that the exacting General Tilney would approve.”

Lord Dryden laughed and then, looking at Eleanor, stifled it. He then winced, and Eleanor wondered if Alice, who sat across from her brother, had kicked him in the shin.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.