Love's Harbinger by Joan Smith

Author:Joan Smith [Smith, Joan]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Regency Romance
Publisher: Belgrave House
Published: 1987-10-09T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Eight

Guy’s carriage was already pulling out of the yard, and before long they drew up to the dock where the barge was waiting. It was not large enough to take the two carriages and teams in one crossing.

Guy came to them to explain the procedure. “I’ll go across first with my rig, then come back to accompany you. It helps to have an extra man with the horses in case they’re poor sailors. Bournemouth is only another twenty-five miles after that. We’ll be there for lunch.”

Lady Lynne said all that was polite, while Faith studiously regarded the Times, whose words were a blur in front of her eyes. She continued to hide behind the paper after Guy left, while her aunt went for a stroll along the dock. Faith wanted to go home. Not to London, but home to Mordain Hall to hide herself. Her Season was over, and she had failed. Next year Hope would be sent forth but not without an enlightening discussion with her failed sister.

Someone ought to warn debutantes about the jungle that awaited them in London. She had gone to town an innocent girl full of hopes. It had seemed, for a brief, halcyon month, that all her dreams were to come true. She had met her Prince Charming, had her offer of marriage, but now it had soured. She had only the disgrace of having accepted an offer from a rogue and the humiliation of facing society and her family. She hadn’t even been able to hang on to her rogue.

She wished she could at least conceal from the world the extent of Thomas’s treachery. If she could find him and make him return the money . . . When had she accepted that he had indeed stolen it? No matter, she accepted it now. If Delamar caught him, there would be no hope of keeping the thing quiet. If Thomas would only return the money and invent some story to cover his strange flight, then his family might be saved the shame of having harvested a criminal and she the degradation of having loved one.

This hope took a strong hold of her. Outwitting Mr. Delamar added a further incentive: It would give her great pleasure to best him. But how could she set about doing it? She must try to find Thomas before Delamar did.

As the weather was still blustery and cold, her aunt soon returned to the carriage, and Faith tried to enlist her aid. “It will be an awful scandal if Thomas’s thievery hits the papers. Delamar will blazon it in headlines for the whole world to read. His father and mother will be killed with shame. I wonder where he is.”

Her aunt wore a pensive face. Unmentioned by Faith, but of some importance to the aunt, was the fact that she had sponsored this match. It was she who would bear the brunt of blame and whose judgment would be in question. Lady Lynne had some misgivings herself about how Guy would handle the story in his paper.

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