Masquerading Misstress by Sophia James

Author:Sophia James
Language: ron
Format: mobi
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

Caroline heaved the last of her few clothes into an old trunk and folded Alex’s blankets and bedding across the top. In their past sixteen months they had acquired ten times as much as they ever had before and she was at a loss as to what now to get rid of and what to take.

The toys and books others had gifted to Alexander were ones that he would grow to cherish and love and her new gardening tools could certainly be used in the next house. Her paints were also too valuable to just give away and she hoped that perhaps she could continue bringing in money with her portraits.

Wiping her hand across her brow, she tightened the mob cap around her head and bent to the task of sorting, smiling at Alexander next to her as he reached out for a doll Gwenneth had brought him only two weeks prior.

A soldier boy doll, his knitted jacket scarlet red. What had Thornton Lindsay worn, she wondered, as he had crossed Europe under orders from the King? She had heard stories of intelligence officers being summarily executed by the enemy when caught out of uniform and incognito. A dangerous life of extremes. He still wore secrecy and distance like a cloak and she found herself imagining how difficult it must be to just come back…and fit in.

Tosh’s shout had her standing and her eyes were caught by the sight of a coach rounding the corner and coming to rest outside their gate. A coach with an insignia.

Endure forte was written in gold and red across the helm of a knight in armour.

The Lindsay coat of arms! Her heart raced as fear, hope and dismay coursed through her, and Alex, reacting to her alarm, began to howl. She would not go out there! She would not meet the Duke of Penborne dressed like this, looking like this. Her hand snatched the cap from her head and she straightened her skirts, angry at herself for even thinking such considerations important, and watching as Tosh spoke with a small dark-haired servant who had alighted from the coach.

Perhaps Lindsay had not come at all. The windows were dressed in thick velour, sheltering prying eyes from any inside inhabitants, and she could detect no twitching of the curtains.

When Tosh turned to come inside she tried to read the expression on his face.

‘You have no idea what has just happened, Caro,’ he began even before he had crossed through the door’s lintel. ‘The Duke has invited us to stay at Penleven and his man said he would be in severe difficulty should he not be able to persuade us to accompany him back.’

‘I do not know…Is he there?’

‘Lindsay? No. I didn’t see him, at least.’ He stopped to peer out of the window and began to shake his head. ‘I doubt he would just hide inside, do you?’

‘Go out and see.’

Tosh’s answering frown was heavy. ‘We have little money, Caroline, a small baby and lots of luggage.

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