Royally Deep (Going Deep Book 2) by Virna DePaul

Author:Virna DePaul [DePaul, Virna]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Going Deep Book 2
Publisher: Virna DePaul
Published: 2017-01-09T18:30:00+00:00

Chapter Nine

Arabella stared at her plate. Beautifully cooked scallops and the most tender of vegetables graced the fine china, but her stomach twisted at the sight. Or maybe it was the conversation flowing around her that was making her sick, all the talk about her future without anyone asking her for input.

“Are you unwell?” Count Frederic leaned over and asked in a murmur. In his early forties, the count was still a bachelor, and a prime one at that. Of the Salasian aristocracy, he wasn’t related to the royal family, but his blood was almost as blue as Arabella’s. With his dark eyes and dark hair—albeit somewhat thinning—he presented an appealing, put-together kind of man who was also kind and thoughtful.

Arabella liked him. She did. He was solicitous, polite, and always wore the neatest of suits, and his mustache was always trimmed to perfection. If he had gray at the temples, so what? It lent a distinguished look—at least that was what her mother said.

Arabella forced herself to smile. After all, there was nothing terrible about dining with the count—again. “I’m fine,” she answered quietly. “Merely a little tired. It’s been a busy few days.”

Frederic smiled in return. “That it has been. Be sure to try the scallops. They’re perfectly cooked.”

Of course they are, she thought morosely. When were they not? In fact, when was anything not perfect in her world? The dining room was perfect, the chandelier overhead was perfect, her gown was perfect, the food was perfect. Not a speck of dust, not a chipped cup, nor a dirty fork in sight. Laughter and wine surrounded Arabella, but it was like she was encased in her own shiny bubble. A bubble-cage, really. A cage she desperately wanted to escape.

After returning home from New York City, her mother, Elisabetta, had been enraged at Arabella for going off on her own, and when Mother was angry, it was in a cold, ruthless kind of way. “You ran off with a man you hardly knew,” she’d hissed, lecturing her daughter all afternoon the second she’d arrived home at the palace.

I’d gotten to know Kyle better than Count Frederic, Arabella thought now.

“You gave us all such a fright that I’m not certain I can ever forgive you! How could you, Arabella? How could you disregard duty, respect for yourself, your family and lineage? How could you endanger yourself in such a way? Not only that, but you were seen kissing this strange man! You had to play the whore along with everything else?”

She’d flinched at her mother’s harsh words, but had said nothing. What could she say? Mother had made up her mind, and nothing Arabella could say would change it. Instead, she found refuge in thoughts of Kyle, in his azure eyes, the memory of his commanding kisses, and before she knew it, her mother’s lecture had disappeared into the background.

What is he doing now? she’d wondered. Did he still think of her? Or had he already moved on with another woman? At that thought, her heart contracted painfully.

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