My Only Love by Katherine Sutcliffe

Author:Katherine Sutcliffe [Sutcliffe, Katherine]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fiction, Romance, Historical, General
ISBN: 9780515110746
Google: Gjlacvs3BUIC
Amazon: B001QHIGGG
Publisher: Jove Books
Published: 1993-01-14T16:00:00+00:00

We saw it in each other's eye,

And wished, in every half-breathed sigh,

To speak, but did not.

—Thomas Moore

CHAPTER TEN

Olivia awoke the following morning to Discover Miles had left Braithwaite. According to Sally he had departed at dawn, taking a few belongings with him and leaving no word as to where he had gone, or when he would return.

Their last words the evening before had been hard ones

"She's suffering from a form of dementia. Occasionally she's rational. But other times she lives in some imaginary world where she talks to herself or stares blankly into space," Miles explained as he ran his hands through his hair. "Why are you staring at me like that?" he asked Olivia.

"Because I understand now." "Understand?"

"Why were you in such a hurry to marry me. You thought to go to Amersham and pay your debt before they released her. But they released her early and now you're thinking you married me for nothing." Pulling her wrapper more tightly around her, she gazed straight ahead and tried to stop the inner trembling that made her teeth chatter. Finally, when no further response came from her husband, Olivia quit the room and took the stairs slowly, pausing upon the first landing to steady her racing heart and shallow breathing as she again relived the moment she had looked into that wretch's face and recognized those shockingly familiar eyes. And now he was gone.

Throughout the next days she did her best to keep her thoughts from straying to her errant husband by occupying herself with house matters—the hiring of staff, the planning of a new budget, the settlement of old debts. Word about Miles's marriage had obviously got out, for within the week she was called upon by numerous characters of questionable repute.

There were Messieurs Sydney and Lawrence. Olivia didn't like the looks of them. Sydney had pig eyes, beady, nearly colorless orbs set too closely together. Lawrence had the features of a bulldog, bulging eyes, flat nose, and sagging jowls. Both were nearly bald.

"We expected to speak with Kemball," Mr. Sydney stated with an air of pique that exaggerated his already pompous demeanor.

"Indeed," Mr. Lawrence blustered. "I didn't ride that blasted train all the way from London just to be received by a female who likely doesn't know the first thing about business, money, or the fine, upstanding nature of fair gambling. No offense intended, madam."

She stared at Lawrence without blinking until he began to squirm in his chair, crossing then uncrossing his legs that looked like tree stumps. They then declared that Warwick owed them a total of twenty-five hundred pounds. "Perhaps he does ... and perhaps he doesn't," Olivia replied with a tolerant but less than believable smile. "But you show me no proof. You can't simply expect me to pay for vouchers that may or may not exist. It wouldn't be very good business, now would it?"

They settled for five hundred each.

Then there was Lieutenant the Honorable Brereton. He explained how he came to lose the exorbitant amount of money to Miles and his "underhanded cohorts.

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