The Rake Read Online Free Page B

settled before my own, dear daughter, especially
when she is nigh a year your senior, but I did not feel it wise to
play fast and loose with your future, my dear, by putting him off
until after Phoebe’s engagement had been announced.”
    Demi looked at her aunt blankly. “Phoebe is
engaged?”
    Alma Moreland reddened. “Sarcasm is most
unbecoming in young people, particularly when directed at their
elders. You know very well she is not--not yet, at any rate. I
expect she will be soon. In point of fact, it occurs to me that it
may take no more than the announcement of your engagement to Mr.
Flemming to inspire others to capitulate.
    “ But, enough of that. I
know you are on pins and needles to hear the particulars of your
own match. I assured Mr. Flemming that you would welcome his offer
and invited him to luncheon today so that he may be private with
you afterward while the young people are all off enjoying their
picnic.”
    “ But … I do not welcome his offer!”
Demi blurted out suddenly.
    Alma Moreland looked at her in stunned
amazement. “I beg your pardon?” she demanded coldly.
    A wave of fear washed through Demi, but she
was far more fearful of finding herself wed, and completely at the
mercy of Jonathan Flemming. If there had been any doubt in her mind
that he was of the same ilk as her aunt, she might have been
willing to consider it, but she was certain he was every bit as
controlling and demanding as her aunt, possibly even more so. Of a
certainty, he could also be kind, but that was only when everything
was going as he pleased. At any time he was displeased, he was
enraged. He hid it reasonably well--now. Once she was under his
control he would have no concern about giving vent to it, she was
certain, and his size alone was unnerving. He was built far more
like a blacksmith than a cleric. “As much as I appreciate his
offer, I cannot accept it,” Demi stammered.
    Alma Moreland’s eyes narrowed. “You have
options I am unaware of? A dozen beaux waiting in the wings to snap
you up? A dowry? Or, perhaps you were thinking more along the lines
of entering service? In which case you must have references I am
not aware of. Talent that might qualify you to instruct young
ladies of family? An education that would make you acceptable as a
governess perhaps?”
    Demi stared at her aunt in dismay, knowing
even without her aunt’s cutting remarks that she had no options
open to her. Her father had been a charming rogue, but neither wise
nor frugal. Her mother’s portion had been gone, she felt sure, even
before her birth. Her father had inherited even less. The youngest
son, his father had purchased his colors and shipped him off to
India to seek his fortune.
    She’d spent the better part of the past year
trying to think what she might do to support herself once Phoebe
had married, for her aunt had made it clear almost from the first
that she was looking forward to discharging her obligations to her
sister’s child. She had not been able to come up with a solution,
unfortunately, and had come up empty of any idea except a vague one
that Phoebe would perhaps consider allowing her a place in her own
home.
    She might have been willing to consider it,
but as headstrong as Phoebe was, she was as cowed by her mother as
Phoebe and would not directly oppose her if her mother forbid her
to do so.
    She licked her dried lips. “I had thought,
since Phoebe is to be settled soon, that she might find a place for
me in her household.”
    Alma Moreland gave her a look. “Are you mad?
You might well consider becoming a servant in your cousin’s home,
and I make no doubt that dear Phoebe is kind hearted enough to take
you on, but I will not have it said that I did not do my best to
see my niece comfortably settled in her own home.”
    “ I am quite accustomed to
seeing to Phoebe’s needs. I shouldn’t mind it at all, and certainly
no one could doubt your generosity to me or your earnest efforts to
keep my best interests