Chivalrous Captain, Rebel Mistress by Diane Gaston

Author:Diane Gaston [Gaston, Diane]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
ISBN: 9780373296095
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2010-09-01T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Ten

A week later Marian felt pushed to the limits of her endurance. How ironic that a week at the Hôtel de Flandres had been harder to bear than all the danger and hardship she’d shared with the captain. Her nerves were frayed to ragged threads, and she wished only to scream and hurl breakable objects about the room.

She missed him.

It made no sense that his absence should create such a void. They’d known each other for so short a time.

It did not help that her uncle had insisted upon her presence so he could bully her and order her about. She hated being controlled by him.

He’d discovered that she’d offered to help care for the injured soldiers recuperating in the hotel. ‘It is not seemly for a young lady and well you should know it,’ he’d snapped at her. He’d also refused to allow her to visit the soldiers at the Fentons’ house.

She’d barely existed to her uncle before this, but now she was someone to command, the only person he could command. He was too dependent upon Mrs Vernon to order her about, and her servants took orders only from her.

Miss Blane simply ignored him and did whatever she wanted. She was an intriguing person, very confident and secure in her betrothal to Mrs Vernon’s son. If it weren’t for Ariana Blane’s connection to Uncle Tranville and the Vernons, Marian might have wished to make her a friend.

Marian’s feelings about Mrs Vernon were very muddled. She could not forgive the older woman for the injury to her aunt, but, at the same time, Marian pitied her for remaining attached to a man such as her uncle.

Edwin was irritating, but a distraction. He called frequently and seemed to fall into his childhood habit of depending upon her for companionship. Poor Edwin! He’d inherited the worst from his parents. He was as weak as his mother and as selfish as his father. And he had no desire to improve himself or to help anyone else.

Edwin certainly made no effort to help with the battle’s casualties. He did nothing useful as far as Marian could tell. The only useful task Edwin performed was to deliver his father’s mail.

Each day he visited the regimental office and picked up any mail that came for his father in the regimental packets from London or Paris where the regiment was currently stationed. Then he returned to the office with whatever mail his father wished to send.

This day, Edwin brought his father a letter. Because Mrs Vernon was out on an errand, Uncle Tranville sent for Marian to write his reply.

It was an ordeal. If she asked her uncle to repeat a word, he protested that she should pay better attention. If she asked him to speak slowly, he shouted for her to write faster.

When the silly letter was completed, signed and sealed, he turned to Edwin. ‘This goes back today, do you hear? I want it in the next packet to London.’

Edwin gave him a withering look.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.