Leaving her sitting room, where she had meant to receive Lord Brough and offer him tea or refreshments, she went down to the kitchen and picked up the basket she’d prepared earlier. It contained jars of her preserves and jams, sweet biscuits, a ham, some fresh eggs from her special chickens, and...
He ran across the road, dodging between the traffic to catch him. ‘How is Julia today? I trust she took no harm yesterday?’ ‘No, no, I do not think it,’ George said with a little frown. ‘She was merely distressed. It was a shocking thing to happen. You do not know any more concerning the incident...
‘I’m going down to see if I can help the survivors.’ ‘I’m with you …’ Jacques leaped to his feet, closely followed by Morwenna and Bess, and the kitchen became a hive of activity as they gathered ropes, hooks, grappling irons, lanterns and their weapons. A shipwreck would bring the villagers to t...
‘I am going to make the most of it by picking herbs and fungi.’ ‘What a good idea,’ Aunt Minnie said. ‘I would send Angelina with you, but she has the toothache. However, you may take Jonas if you wish.’ ‘Yes, Aunt, thank you.’ Babette had known she would not be permitted to go without a servant,...
She could see that preparations were being made for a siege and realised that Baron Sigmund must have received word that Raphael was bringing a force against him. ‘Do not let him fight single-handed,’ she whispered, her lips moving in prayer. ‘I would not have him die for ...
It was obvious that she was delighted at the prospect of having guests and fussed over every detail. ‘It’s always awkward when the house has no mistress,’ she told Sarah in confidence when they were sharing a dish of tea. ‘I know what the master likes so it’s easy to prepare the menus for Christm...
She knew that he was not in residence and supposed that he was at his estate in the country. It was only because she had wanted to do some shopping for Christmas and deliver some gifts that she and her companion had themselves come to town for a few days. She had hoped that she might perhaps meet...
Amelia seemed a little quiet and she looked tired. Susannah suspected she had not slept as well as she might, but she refrained from asking questions. She was not as impulsive as she had been, and Amelia was entitled to her secrets. If she had news, she would tell Susannah, because they were frie...
‘You should not do this for me, my lord,’ he said. ‘It should be I that tends you.’ ‘My wounds healed quickly,’ Zander said and smiled. ‘You were close to death and I wanted to care for you myself. You have saved my life twice, my friend. You covered me with your body when they would have hacked ...
‘Last night, when I glanced down into the hall, I saw a gentleman I know—a friend of my husband’s. He glanced up, but whether he glimpsed me in the shadows I do not know. I think we should leave London before Lethbridge comes looking for me.’ ‘We always knew we could not stay here for long,’ Sall...
She nodded, but did not turn her head to look at him. Her gaze was intent on the island, a feeling of doubt mixed with anticipation in her heart. It had been just a dark smudge for some time, but now she could see the crowded waterfront with its untidy huddle of buildings. Few of them were substa...
She was dreaming and tears were on her cheeks as she cried out, ‘Mama, please don’t leave us. Papa, why must she die? I want Mama, I want my mother…’ ‘Your mother is dying of a fever. Her heart is not strong enough to fight it. You should blame me, child. I should never have brought you both out ...
She could see Jane Lanchester working in her beloved garden. Kneeling on a cushion, Jane was planting a seedling, which would flower later in the year, and intent on her work. It was foolish to be nervous. Taking a deep breath, Lucinda lifted her head and walked towards her friend. ‘Jane. Forgive...
Whatever had possessed him to drink so much wine after he returned to his lodgings the previous evening? He shook the water from his hair and sank back into the rapidly cooling bath his valet had prepared for him. Last evening’s dinner party had been a total failure as far as he was concerned. No...
‘I thought there might be a ransom note, but I have heard nothing as yet.’ ‘My Runner thinks he may have found her. He has men watching the back and the front of an inn south of the Thames, and someone on the inside. It is a place known to the Runners, the haunt of thieves and low life. Someone s...
In another few minutes they would arrive at the marquis’s country house and it would be too late to run back. ‘I can tell him you are unwilling and ask him to give me time to pay.’ ‘How can you pay, Papa?’ Lottie turned her lovely green eyes on him with a hint of reproach. ‘I have thought long an...
It was impossible to have a private word with Mama, but both Melia and Sarah found friends there and Melia seemed happier than she had the previous evening, when Captain Smythe and his sister Anne asked her to go walking with them in the park the following day. Sarah also ...
‘I regret that you must leave us. You have been invaluable these past months, one of my best aides. However, your duty is clear. Your father needs you and asks for your return; therefore, you must go.’ ‘I must resign my commission,’ Captain Paul Ravenscar said regretfully. He straightened his sho...