Memory and Desire by Carla Simpson

Author:Carla Simpson [Simpson, Carla]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Oliver Heber Books
Published: 2023-03-27T18:30:00+00:00

Zach tapped the carved ivory head of the walking stick against the roof of the coach. He shook his head. At least there was something this ridiculous affectation of a proper Englishman might be used for.

He ordered the coachman to halt at the crest of the hill that descended into the small valley, then stepped down from the coach. It was like stepping into another world, another time and place.

The air was cool and refreshing in contrast to the stifling, coal smoke and heat of London.

Something indefinable came over him. He closed his eyes and breathed deeply, the scent of fresh field flowers and pungent grasses stealing through him. He was filled with the oddest sensation that if he kept his eyes closed a little longer and then opened them, he would suddenly find himself home.

He breathed in, listened, and felt the land around him. When he finally opened his eyes, he almost laughed at his own foolishness.

There was nothing in this lush, green countryside that even remotely reminded him of Resolute, except perhaps the openness of it, and even then, it was a complete contrast to the stark, wild, beauty of the ranch in New South Wales.

He almost laughed, but not quite. He couldn't rid himself of the feeling he had been here before, had stood in this exact spot and looked down at the spreading greensward dotted with cottages and farms, brown cattle and white sheep grazing in the fields.

"Ya ready guv'ner?" the driver he'd hired to bring him from London broke into his thoughts.

"Aye, I'm ready." Taking hold of the center post, Zach swung back up into the coach. Earlier feelings of uneasiness about this trip came back to him as he closed the door and the coach lurched down the road.

Tobias had warned him against coming here. "Finish the business with Barrington when he returns," he'd argued. "Don't go!"

It was almost if his old friend feared his going to the Barrington estate. And perhaps Tobias was right. After all, it wasn't necessary to meet Barrington at Fair View to conclude their business. That could be handled when he returned to London. But like the intangible feeling that had stolen over him at the top of the hill, something lured him there. And, if he were truly honest with himself, he knew it was more than that. It was Elyse Winslow.

Two nights ago, when he'd taken her back to Lord Vale's London residence, something had happened between them. He could no more explain it than he could explain the events that had destroyed his father's life in England, or Nicholas Tennant's connection to Lady Felicia Barrington.

Of all the women he'd known, Elyse was the one he could never, would never, have. And yet, in spite of the fact that she was forbidden to him, or maybe because of it, he'd gone to her that night.

If he believed in the possibility of a man being possessed by the devil, he would have believed she'd taken hold of his soul.

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