A David Romance Part 2

    Waking in a strange man's arms wasn't pleasant.  I struggled briefly with David until he gave me a tender squeeze.  His gentle touch was like nothing that I had experienced since the death of my father.

    David slipped gracefully to the ground and then lifted me gently into his arms, for I was still weak from the beating that I had received.  He carried me through the huge doors of the manor house and into a grand hall.  He turned off and went into a small, cozy sitting room, where he laid me down on a low divan.

    A stately blond woman, her hair beginning to go gray, sat in a large wing chair.  "This is Danesbury's daughter?" she asked David.  "She has been ill-used indeed, as you told me."

    David nodded in response to her question.  "Dawn, this is my mother, Shirley.  She wants a daughter, and I thought that you would suit her very well, as you actually have noble blood."

    Shirley smiled.  "I hope we will have many good times together.  But now, David, take her to a room to rest.  You have been sorely beaten, child.  Here, you can recover without fear of another attack."

    "I'm just glad that her inheritance will finally be going to feed and clothe her decently," David said, clenching his fist.  "I had to fight to free her though, and I would gladly do it again for the honor of a lady as beautiful," He looked at his torn shirt, which flopped open over his bare chest.  "Her money was going to provide those two pig-women with the means to appear as the fine lady that Dawn is in reality."

    Shirley snorted.  "They are as awful as their father.  You remember it well, David, do you not?  The way in which he courted me after your father's death?"

    David nodded.  "I do.  You gave him other ideas...he's still after the Catesby fortune, he encourages his daughters to... ugh!" David shivered in revulsion.

    "I know, David.  I know.  I know what he did to me..."  Shirley started.  "See to her, David!  She's fainting!"

    David's strong arms went around me and the warm, spicy scent of his body enveloped me.  He carried me up a broad flight of stairs and into a luxurious bedroom, where he laid me down on the huge oak bed.  David pulled up the cover and kissed my forehead as I slipped away into unconsciousness.

    Several hours later, I was wakened by a knock at the chamber door.  I opened the door to see a servant holding a tray of food, oddly enough, with two plates.  Then I understood--David appeared out of the shadows.  My heart thumped for him; he wore the evening clothes of a gentleman, a black waistcoat and creamy white cravat.

    David sat down in a chair by a small table.  Outside, the sun was setting in a blaze of red and orange, sending fiery lights through the window and across his glossy hair.  David lit the candles on the table as the servant lit a fire in the big marble fireplace.

    "Care to join me?"  David asked, gesturing to the second set of plates.  "You must surely be hungry by now, you've had no lunch, I would believe."

    I was hungry, and the stewed beef in the bowls smelled delicious.  But I still felt shy being around the Catesby heir.  Certainly, I had more of a right to be sharing his dinner than my cousins, but long years in their home, receiving lesson after lesson in my own inferiority, had taken its toll on me.

    "You stand there like you've been frozen," David said, his tone jesting, but gentle.  "Come here, and let me try to thaw you out."

    "I am no lady fit to dine with a fine gentleman such as yourself," I said, gesturing to his  elegant evening wear and then to my own torn and dirty gown.

    David's dark eyes flashed with temper.  "Tomorrow, my mother will make a lady of you.  Tonight, I wish to make you my friend, and for that your clothing does not matter."  He stood, his eyes gentling again.  "I am sorry for that.  Sometimes my temper gets the better of me.  Please, join me.  I don't care about your clothes.  Your face is beautiful enough for me."

    I sat down with him.  The brief spurt of his fiery temper had only endeared him more to me.   I began eating, and David watched me, obviously thinking of something.

    "Do you like horses?" David asked out of the blue.

    Taken aback by his sudden question, I stammered out an answer and hoped I didn't sound like an idiot.  "I... I do.  My uncle wouldn't let me learn to ride though."

    "Why does that not surprise me?"  David responded.  "Would you like to learn to ride?  My mother wishes for you to learn the equestrian arts, and she is grown too old to teach you, so I will have to."

    "Oh!  I would love to learn to ride!" I exclaimed, and David rewarded me with a dimpled smile.  He was looking forward to the riding lesson as much as I was, I believed.

    As we continued our meal, David watched me intently.  His eye was gentle and kind, with a hint of masculine interest that sent a bit of pleasant heat coursing through my body.  I wished that he had worn his handsome riding gear, as it would have put me slightly at ease.

    When I finished my bowl, David stood and embraced me, evidently oblivious to the state of my gown next to his velvets and satins.  "Remember this," he whispered into my ear.  "I care about you and so does my mother.  Here, you are loved, and don't you ever forget it."

    I began to stammer again, and he silenced me.  "There is no thanks needed, or excuses that your ugly cousins are better matches for me.  My affections are in my keeping alone!"

    "I'm sorry, David," I murmured against his cheek.

    "Good," he said, his expressive dark eyes twinkling with laughter.  "Now, get some sleep.  Your body needs to recover from the beating you've received.  And remember, it is my right to choose the next Lady Catesby."

    The next morning, I woke to a knock on the chamber door.  A maid was waiting outside, with a lady's beautiful gown over her arm.

    "I'm Karen," she said.  "Lady Catesby sent me to help you get dressed.  The lady and her sons are in the conservatory, awaiting your company for breakfast."

    It was pure heaven for me to be dressed in a beautiful clean gown that actually fit me for the first time in years.  I found my way easily to the conservatory where the Catsbys were eating, by following the sounds produced by the brothers while they were eating their breakfasts.

    David was seated next to his mother.  His attire was more casual for the day, but still elegant.  He wore a blue velvet tunic that laced up the front.  He gestured to an empty seat, evidently unaware of how much I wanted to snuggle up to him and bury my face in the soft velvet covering his shoulder.

    As I ate, David introduced me to his younger brothers.  Both of them had gained some of the same fierce, wild handsomeness that David had, but not nearly as strongly.  When I had entered, Ryan had been mischievously stealing a piece of bread off of Jack's plate.

    Ryan was the middle child, and the tallest.  His hair was blond like Shirley's and he had plain brown eyes.  He also had an ego the size of the stable behind the house, although his brothers called him by the ridiculous nickname of "Ry-Ry" which he obviously hated.  The youngest brother was Jack, who had his mother's piercing blue eyes and the same brown hair that David had obviously gained from their father.

    Upon discovering his bread gone from his plate, Jack released a birdlike squawk and grabbed Ryan's fork.  Ryan grabbed repeatedly for the fork, calling Jack a disrespectful pip-squeak.  Jack threw the fork, which landed with a loud clatter on my plate.

    Ryan settled his vengeance by shoving Jack into a potted palm tree.  He turned to retrieve his fork off my plate, but was distracted by Jack springing at him like a tiger from amid the foliage.  Ryan planted his hand firmly to keep his balance, shoved Jack away, then took his fork and began attempting to eat.  I stared in shock at Ryan's palm print in my breakfast, unsure of what to do or say.  David was stifling a laugh with his hand, and Jack was attempting to murder Ryan with a spoon.

    Fed up with her sons' misbehavior, Shirley banged her pewter mug on the table.  The loud bang silenced the three brothers.  David quenched his smile, but it still danced in his dark eyes.  Ryan and Jack restored their utensils to their proper places and resumed eating.

    Later in the afternoon, David reappeared.  He had spent the morning in the billiard room, trying to instill some gentlemanly manners in his two younger brothers, which was a losing proposition to say the least.  Once I had changed into clothes suitable for riding, he led me out to the stables.

    David helped me mount properly onto a tall bay mare.  He was wearing his leather riding trousers again, and he looked incredibly handsome as he sat tall in the saddle of a gray gelding.  His tall black stallion waited for a day when I could keep up with him.

    David showed me how to handle the reins and then took me out into a broad meadow, where the soft grass would cushion my falls.  And falls did happen, as I was totally unused to the peculiar balance of a sidesaddle.

    After several falls, I was sore and aching, and I wanted a rest.  David noticed the soreness in my movements and brought me to a soft mossy spot beneath a spreading rowan tree.  I laid down on the soft moss, enjoying its comfort.  David settled next to me and encouraged me to lean on him.

    I rested my head on his velvet-covered shoulder.  Before I realized what was happening, he had leaned in and his lips were inches from mine.  Then those warm lips clamped firmly over my mouth as his strong arms wrapped around me.

    I gave myself up to his passionate kiss, the kiss that my cousins would have pawned their souls for.  He gently licked my lips, his tongue trying to enter my mouth.

    As we kissed, I could hear hoofbeats getting louder.  They were light, it sounded like a small pony.  I tried to pull away from David, who was on top of me by now, so that we would not be caught in such a compromising position.

    "What's gotten into you?" David growled into my mouth.  "Don't pull away from me!"

    "Mama is gonna whup you two!" Jack's voice crowed above us.  I groaned.  He was right there, sitting on his piebald pony.  He laughed and turned back to canter toward the house.

    David sat up and swore.  "Mama won't be happy.  She may not let me take you riding again, though I swear that I would never deflower you."

    "I heard him coming, David, but you wouldn't let me pull away."

    David gave me a sheepish grin.  "Next time, I'll listen to you, instead of taking it as an insult to my manhood."

    "Good.  Because it wasn't.  I didn't want to give up that kiss any more than you did.  You are good at kissing."

    "I should hope so, I've certainly had enough practice." David said.  "Though never on a girl as pretty as you are."

    "Flatterer."

    David gave me a teasing look out of his dark eyes, and his black lashes stood out starkly against his creamy cheek.  "I only flatter girls whose company I enjoy and who are beautiful."

    "By that definition, I might be your sister."

    "Sister! Never!" David said, taking me in his arms and gently nuzzling my neck.  "I flatter girls who I just .... might ... love!"  On 'love' he gave me a firm squeeze.

    "You cannot love me, you barely know me!  I know nothing of you but what I have seen today and learned from my cousins."

    "But I have watched you long.  I knew your noble ancestry and the horrid uncle that you put up with and the gross cousins who enslaved you.  You were the most beautiful girl in the English countryside."

    "Still, I know little of you but your handsome face and your inheritance.  There is no love between us, not yet.  Attraction of the flesh, yes; but not love."

    David bowed his head and his fair cheeks crimsoned.  "You are right again.  I will not cease courting you, however.  And I will take responsibility for the incident under the tree.

    Slowly we rode back to the house, not looking forward to Shirley's wrath.  As soon as we entered, Shirley gestured coldly for me to go to my chamber.  I fled in tears, knowing that Shirley thought me a fortune hunter.  I only hoped that whatever David had planned, his scheme would prevent us from being separated...

tbc...


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