Saving Lord Verwood by Elena Greene

Author:Elena Greene
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Published: 2014-07-09T21:00:00+00:00

Chapter 11

Pen’s stomach fluttered as she saw the signpost to Tregaron. It would not be long now. She turned to look at her husband. He was doing his best to appear indifferent as they approached his childhood home, but she could sense his tension. She stifled a sigh. Their honeymoon was coming to an end.

The day after their marriage had truly begun, they had only gone as far as the King’s Arms in Dorchester. After that, the journey had continued at an even more leisurely pace than before. Pen had lost herself in Robert’s attentions: stolen kisses in secluded groves, fevered caresses in the carriage, passionate lovemaking every night that nearly reconciled her to waking alone every morning.

They had stopped in Exeter, where they stayed at the excellent New London Inn and attended services at the cathedral. Soon afterwards, Pen had discovered that her womanly courses had come upon her. Though disappointed, she’d been comforted that Robert continued to join her every evening for a cozy chat followed by slow, thorough kisses that reassured her of his unabated ardor.

“We’ll be in the village in a few more minutes,” Robert announced, interrupting her thoughts.

Pen forced her expression to remain tranquil, though the coolness of his tone did nothing to steady her nerves. He did not seem like the same man she’d strolled with so happily through a fair in Bodmin just a few days before. He’d bought her a lovely dun mare, of a type he informed her was called a goonhilly. Pen was delighted with Melior, whose name, Robert told her, meant honey in the ancient Cornish tongue. It had seemed so appropriate at the time.

But when they’d reached the eerie, barren waste of Bodmin Moor, Pen had sensed a disquieting change in her husband. Though scrupulously attentive to her needs and even more fervent in his lovemaking, he talked and smiled less. In fact, he seemed more like the Lord Verwood she’d known before the wedding: suave, polite and uncommunicative. The carefree, playful Robert of their honeymoon seemed to be slipping away from her.

The carriage slowed, and they entered the village of Tregaron. Pen gazed about at the stone cottages, the inn, and the assembled villagers. Apparently most of the local populace, alerted by the fact that the coach containing their luggage and servants had passed through earlier, had found some excuse to watch as she and Robert passed. In the many eyes that followed them, she read not only curiosity, but fear, suspicion and downright loathing.

Through the corner of her eye, she could see Robert lounging against the seat as if unaware of all the sullen looks directed at him. Perhaps the villagers were fooled. She knew from the set of his jaw and a flicker in his eyes that this was not easy for him, either.

As they left the village and entered the coastal road that led to Tregaron House, she breathed a bit more easily. She still wondered if coming here was a mistake.

Soon the carriage turned off the lane onto a drive through a grove of elms.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.