The Wicked Game (A Wicked Game Novel) by Olivia Fuller Read Free Book Online Page B

damned she could hear it too. Her stomach lurched. It was tossing and turning as if a storm was raging inside of her body. She had never been drunk before and so she begrudgingly resigned to the sickness it brought. Angela had seen plenty of men go through it before and remembered thinking how brainless they must be for putting themselves into such a horrible position.
    Now she was the brainless one.
    Angela eased herself up onto her elbows and blinked her eyes several times to try to get them used to the light. It didn’t work. She was squinting. Her stomach did a somersault and she quickly lay back down.
    She tried to recall something of what had passed. She couldn’t have been drunk last night, could she? They had only rendezvoused in their dark corner twice and they had only taken a few sips each time. No. She was kidding herself, it was three times, and now that she thought about it, she had more than just a few sips. Damn it all! She supposed she had been drunk. How could she have let this happen? Her mind raced. Someone must have figured it out. She needed a story. An explanation. Something to...
    “Best be getting up, Miss Bennett. Your mother sent me to wake you and tell you she would be up here to see you soon.”
    Leave it to mother to notice. Nothing escaped her prying eyes and now Angela was going to pay. She didn’t know how but there would definitely be a consequence and the sickness she felt right now would pale in comparison.
    While Angela nervously waited for her mother, she revisited her dream. She put her aching head in her hands, still in shock. It was one thing to innocently flirt with a servant and fawn over his good looks. It was another thing entirely to dream about him in such a wicked way. What a good thing it was indeed that no one could see her innermost thoughts!
    There was a quick rap on the door and her mother entered the room. She waved stiffly in Sarah’s direction motioning for her to leave. Sarah looked disappointed but hurried out nonetheless, and shut the door behind her. Angela forced herself, with all her strength, to sit up.
    “Good morning Baroness Isabella. What brings you to my room so early?”
    Lady Cheston raised an eyebrow. “If half past ten is your idea of early. Though I know that on any other day it is not.”
    Angela did not say a word. She knew better. Her mother’s piercing eyes locked with her daughter’s, as she slowly moved closer and sat down on the edge of the bed, crossing her hands purposely on her lap.
    “The Duke of Corning has been invited to dinner tonight. He will be calling on you.”
    The Baron’s daughter turned her head sharply. This was certainly a shock. Her head had been swimming with drink last night but she was fairly certain she had done nothing to give him the impression that she might be interested in him. In fact, she was certain she had done everything she could to convince him that she was not interested.
    “Mother, why would you invite...”
    “Now you address me as my child? Don’t play the fool with me, Angela! Everyone knows what you and Mary were up to last night! The way you were acting was shameful!” For the first time in my life Angela thought she heard her mother’s voice quiver. “Your father and your men were able to cover for you. As far as society is concerned, you acted as you did because you are so smitten with Corning.”
    Her mother sat up straight and looked Angela in the eye. “I don’t know if anyone believed them but no one would dare to question your father. So the matter is settled for now.”
    Angela was still confused and she extended her mother a puzzled look.
    “Why the way you were dancing with him was shameful enough! But how you let him touch you! And to try to kiss him in such a way…in public! I can only thank God that the Duke had enough sense to turn his head!”
    And with this Angela nearly fainted as she put together the pieces of her evening. She hadn’t been dreaming after all. It had