Teasing Your Wicked Heart

CHAPTER 2

There was a flurry of activity in the house the next morning.

Earl Rosenberg had died after two days of remaining in bed. He had only eaten a bad slice of meat pie a mere two days ago, and since then, he had the worst of stomach pains and opted to rest in bed.

Sarah Jane stood in front of the closed-door wondering if she wanted to see her granduncle that way. He had been a good old chap.

Not once did he attempt to kiss her—he was a man of moral values and warmth. His daughters had married off nicely and though his house was coming to shreds, he had a distinct ability to remain happy—as was her disposition even in her fluctuating situations.

Cheshire was a nice location with its sprawling meadows, hidden forests, and springs. Sarah Jane had enjoyed living there for a few months. This Lord Rosenberg had even treated her with an occasional pat on the head, which reminded her of the 9th Earl whom she also liked.

This granduncle was balding and old, but he took regular baths and told her of his service to the nation's fleet. He had been interesting, and that was more than what she could say for her previous guardians.

"My lady." Robinson teetered at the edge of the railing and had approached her with caution.

"Where will we go this time, Robinson," she asked, as they had already made quite a habit of changing houses these past few years.

Her father started it. When the master passed on, she would be too. If she hadn't been the one being passed on to a series of households, the situation might have been ludicrous enough to elicit a laugh.

How many more? is what she really wanted to ask, but even the ever-knowing Robinson would not know the answer to that.

"The solicitor, Mr. Collins, is waiting for you in the Morning Room," he said with a quick bow and walked away.

Distractedly, she wandered the halls of Regalia House and thought that this may be the seventh... no, maybe the eighth time, that she will be passed on to someone who would inherit the title.

Earl Rosenberg had been her father, at least the 7th Earl of Rosenberg was. But when she turned 6, her father's passing had become a great problem because Earl Rosenberg had been an only child, and so was the earlier Earl Rosenberg, her grandfather, the 6th Earl of Rosenberg. This only meant that she would be passed on to the cousins of her grandfather and their male defendants, if there were any.

And there had been only a few.

All of these granduncles were hanging on to life by a wispy little thread. They had been old and she had always been there to kiss them goodbye.

She entered the room, and immediately the solicitor, a handsome man in his early thirties stood up respectfully.

He had a wide frame, shoulders that could intimidate any lanky dandy. Sarah Jane was surprised, she had expected an old Mr. Collins of about sixty or seventy years. She had corresponded with the elder Mr. Collins when she was eighteen. He had been a forgetful old man, constantly referring to her as Miss Jane, Lady Jane or Lady R, sometimes even a mere Rose, and oftentimes he had been thoroughly confused with whom he was talking to.

As Sarah Jane moved from house to house quite often than any normal English noblewoman would, the aging Mr. Collins had never been able to catch up with them in person, and correspondences were their only means of communication.

This must be the new Mr. Collins, the son of her father's solicitor—the old and forgetful Mr. Collins, who for once had made it on time. He was even a touch too early, Lord Rosenberg's body was still warm.