Her Rebel Heart: A romance of the English Civil War by Alison Stuart

Author:Alison Stuart [Stuart, Alison]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Historical, Romance, England, medieval
Publisher: Oportet Publishing
Published: 2015-07-18T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter 12

Have you and Captain Collyer argued again?” Penitence enquired.

Deliverance nearly dropped the bowl she was holding, feeling the colour rise to her cheeks. “Why would you say that?”

“You seem to be avoiding each other. I can't help but notice when he comes into a room, you leave and I haven't seen you talking to each other for days now.”

Deliverance made pretence of carefully measuring out the beans for the days ration. What Penitence had not seen were the careless meetings in dark corridors, when Luke would seize her by the waist, pressing her back into the wall as he kissed her. Neither had Penitence noticed the way their feet touched at the dining table or their hands brushed as they passed each other. The thrill of these illicit encounters made her forget, just for those few fleeting moments, the danger to the castle.

“No,” she said. “We haven't argued. We just have our own tasks. He's busy and I'm busy.”

“That's a relief,” Penitence said. “You were getting on so well.”

Deliverance opened her mouth. Her heart burst with the frustration of keeping the relationship clandestine. She yearned to confide in her sister, as Penitence had confided every nuance of her growing relationship with Jack. At the time Deliverance had found the lovelorn longings of her sister quite nauseating. Now she understood.

The women flinched as a loud explosion followed by a juddering bang in another part of the castle rocked the foundations of the residence..

“Lovedie.” Deliverance summoned the maid. “Take over. I'll go and see the damage.”

She found Luke in the centre of the courtyard looking at the west wall.

“I'm not sure the wall is going to stand much more of this,” he said as she drew level with him. “They've found the sweet spot and they'll just keep hammering at it until it gives way. They just have to bring Hawk Tower down and we will be in trouble.”

Deliverance looked up at him. “Is there nothing we can do?”

“I'll have to think about it, but nothing occurs to me at the moment.” He looked down at her, his grey eyes smouldering. The breath left her body and a warm surge of desire rushed through her. They were discussing possible annihilation and all she could think about was the touch of his hands.

“Perhaps if you could spare some time, Mistress Felton, we should inspect our powder supplies,” he said in a husky tone only matched by the glint in the depth of his smoky eyes.

“I think I can spare some time, Captain Collyer,” she responded, hoping no one overhearing them would detect the answering quiver in her voice.

Luke unlocked the door of the chapel and stood aside to let her in. The building smelled of must and gunpowder. The barrels stood neatly stacked against the walls. After the hustle of the world outside and the cramped conditions of the residence, the cool quiet chapel came as a relief. You could, Deliverance thought, almost believe it was still a holy place, not the most dangerous place in the whole castle.

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