Salem's Daughter by Maggie Osborne

Author:Maggie Osborne
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: romance, love story, passion, historical romance, london, salem witch trials, puritan england, sea captain hero
Publisher: Maggie Osborne

16

Jean Pierre did not reappear in the garden beneath Bristol’s back window. Or if he did, he arrived after Bristol abandoned her vigil. She could not get him out of her mind. The days passed in a blur of misery; Bristol alternated between moods of despair and periods of flushed hyperactivity. Nothing helped. Always she felt the bittersweet ache of loss.

To occupy her mind, she threw herself headlong into Aunt Pru’s activities. Together they called on England’s aristocratic women and received visits from these haughty ladies in return. And wherever they called, Jean Pierre’s upcoming marriage found a place in the conversation. There was no escaping his name, his memory—no possibility of forgetting her pain for even the space of an afternoon.

Nearly every night, parties were held to honor the engaged couple. However, if the truth were known, invitations were prompted more from a respect for the Hathaway name rather than any joy in the upcoming nuptials. Court gossip being what it was, few of England’s reigning families remained unaware of the circumstances leading to the wedding. But under William and Mary’s somber rule, parties were not encouraged, and a legitimate excuse found a ready welcome. The invitations were issued.

Bristol accepted them all. In part she was relieved to escape the intimate dinners in Lord Hathaway’s study; but her heart yearned for those rare moments of Jean Pierre’s company. If she understood she could not run from him forever, or from herself, no trace of such knowledge suggested itself in her behavior.

She danced beneath the glittering chandeliers in London’s finest houses and flirted desperately with the men who vied to fill her dance cards. She swirled in their arms and laughed at their witticisms and indiscriminately encouraged their attentions with a nearly hysterical need to fill an aching emptiness.

All the while knowing such was impossible. No matter how vast the ballrooms or how large the dining areas, Bristol knew where Jean Pierre was at every moment. And each night she waited in gathering tension for that magical moment when he bowed over her trembling fingers and claimed his dance. For the length of one allemande, Bristol lost herself in the strength of his arms, grew warm under his intense gray eyes, and felt weak at the touch of his firm guiding fingers on her waist.

For Bristol, the evening ended when Jean Pierre returned her to Aunt Pru’s side. The remaining hours crawled by, dull and long, an unending duty to be endured. And the pain of watching Jean Pierre with Diana Thorne sliced through her heart like a sword.

Every empty day brought the wedding nearer. Nothing Bristol did eased her anguish. She played with Willie, the calico cat young Master Boyd had presented her when he called. She walked in the Hathaway gardens. She went riding with new friends. She accepted dinner invitations from the men who clamored for her attention. Nothing lessened the bitter ache in her heart. Not even hiding in her room, trying to bury her thoughts by writing long letters home.

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