The Ragged Heiress by Dilly Court Read Free Book Online Page A

understood a word I said,’ Lucetta said, giggling. ‘Never mind. You may go now, but come back after breakfast and help me choose my most becoming gown. I want to look absolutely stunning today.’
    Naomi’s doe-eyes widened and she shook her head. ‘
Ma’af, missy. Saya tidak mengerti.
’
    ‘I know you must be confused, my dear,’ Lucetta said sympathetically. ‘I’ll try to make you understand later, but I’m absolutely starving.’ She rubbed her tummy and mimed eating and drinking. ‘Breakfast, please. I’d like coffee, rolls and lots of fruit.’
    ‘Ah!’ Naomi said, smiling. ‘Yes, missy.’ She clasped her small brown hands together and bowed from the waist. ‘I go now.’
    Lucetta could barely restrain herself until the door closed and then she did a little dance, but on catching sight of her reflection in the cheval mirror she came to a sudden halt, staring at the young woman who peered back at her with a surprised expression on her pale face. Slowly, staring at the stranger in the looking glass, Lucetta undid the buttons on her nightgown and allowed it to slip to the ground. The blood rushed to her cheeks as she eyed her naked reflection and she struggled with her conscience. Well brought up young ladies were supposed to be modest and pure in thought and deed. That was the mantra which had been drummed into the girls at Miss Milton’s Academy. Ladies took no pleasure in the lusts of the flesh; that was the province of the lower classes and fallen women.The female form had to be imprisoned by whalebone and covered at all times. Décolletage was allowed in the ballroom but a gentleman must never see so much as the turn of an ankle, let alone a shapely calf.
    Lucetta allowed her hand to stray over her breasts and flat belly, and her thoughts were anything but pure as the warm, moist air caressed her naked flesh. Mama and Lady Boothby had talked about marrying her off to some wealthy suitor, a prospect that had seemed to be so far in the future that it need not be taken too seriously, and she had barely given a thought to the intimate side of married life – until now. Quite suddenly she was seeing herself in a new light. In an instant her whole life had changed.
    Last night a man whom she barely knew had held her in his arms and kissed her. In his tender embrace she knew that she had found a safe haven – she had come home. She could still feel the warmth of Sam’s embrace. The taste of him lingered on her tongue and her whole being was consumed by desire for something that she did not fully understand. She had no clear idea of what constituted married love, just the vague rumours that the girls had hinted at in whispers and giggles under cover of darkness when the dormitory was supposed to be sleeping.
    Lucetta shuddered with pleasure as she felt her nipples harden. She pulled a face at the girl in the mirror who stood with her feet planted wide apart and her back arched. She shuddered as a warm tingling feeling struck her in the most private of all places and she closed her eyes, wrapping her arms around herbody as she tried to imagine that it was Sam Cutler who caressed her. A man’s arms would not feel soft and rounded like a girl’s. Lucetta had seen navvies at work in the streets with their bare sinewy forearms, their bulging muscles gleaming with sweat and rippling as they moved. She opened her eyes again, staring at herself open-mouthed with horror. She would go to hell for such wicked, lascivious thoughts. She seized the bowl of rapidly cooling water and tipped it over her head.
    Trembling with shame and the shock of a sudden drenching, she snatched up her cotton wrap and flung it over the mirror. Water pooled on the tiled floor and she could only hope that Naomi would assume that the spillage was an accident. Having towelled herself dry, Lucetta slipped on her shift and struggled with the laces of her stays, tugging at them until she could hardly breathe. She could hear Miss Milton’s