Love Unexpected: A Regency Romance (The Saunders Family Saga Book 1) by Vandagriff G.G

Author:Vandagriff, G.G. [Vandagriff, G.G.]
Language: eng
Format: azw3
Tags: Regency Romance
Publisher: Orson Whitney Press
Published: 2018-04-02T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Thirteen

After her frank discussion with the captain of the night before, Marianne was shy of seeing him again. She was very relieved when he made it known that he did not intend to attend the Waverlys’ ball that evening.

Gweet chattered away to her as Foster dressed her and did her hair.

“The captain took me riding in the park after luncheon today,” she said. “It was so nice to be on horseback again. I think we shall have a very happy marriage.”

“Gweet, really,” Marianne said. “You are old enough to know that the captain does not have any intention of marrying you. In fact, I doubt he will marry at all. He loves the sea too much.”

“Perhaps I shall change his mind, if I am beautiful enough,” her daughter said.

“When I was your age, I fully intended to marry Lord Strangeways. And look how that turned out.”

“Mama! Did you really?”

“Like you, I did not have very many single men among my acquaintance. I built all my hope on him. I had a fearful passion for him.”

“Does he know that?”

“Oh, I imagine he guessed. But like the captain, he did not crush my feelings.”

“Well,” said Gweet. “We shall see, shall we not?”

* * *

The ball was the first that Marianne had attended since the attack. Beau cautioned her, “Be very careful in your speech tonight. I should not mention horses or races or anything of that nature.”

She agreed to be careful. Though she would have liked to find out what people were thinking about the race in a few days, she knew she must be cautious not to let people think she knew more than she did.

Halfway through the delightful ball, which had a Venetian theme with ornate masks on sticks handed out at the door, Marianne realized that she was holding herself with a great deal of tension. She missed the captain’s solid presence and cringed at loud noises. Clearly, her nerves had not recovered from the blow to her head.

Though she danced every dance and managed to appear merry, the effort soon brought on a massive headache. She asked Penny if she could order the carriage to take her home.

“Will you be all right, dearest?” her friend asked. “Should you like me to come with you?”

“No. You must stay with Arabella. I shall be all right on my own. The footmen and coachmen shall see that I come to no harm. It is but a short ride home, after all.”

Her head was pounding to such an extent that she could scarcely think. She could not imagine what was taking the carriage so long. It eventually arrived, however, the footman helped her inside, and she relaxed against the familiar blue velvet squabs. How glad she would be to be out of her stays, curled up in bed with a hot water bottle!

So concerned was she with this vision of comfort that she did not realize for a while that she was not being carried home. Had she mistakenly gotten into

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