Tangled Destinies by Bancroft Blair

Author:Bancroft, Blair
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: gothic, historical romance, regency romance, historical suspense, regency suspense, regency historical, regency gothic
Publisher: Blair Bancroft

In my naivety, however, I woke the next morning with a sense of excitement. Of hope that the Lucinda Neville who emerged from this room today would be a new person. Neither the automaton of the last six years nor the heedless girl who’d come before—the girl who had been unable to think beyond the transports of first love to the harsh reality of living on a junior officer’s pay and following the drum in a time of war.

The dull ache still plaguing my head rumbled a warning. I was not being truthful with myself. The Lucinda Neville of seventeen would have managed quite well, and every last vicissitude the Peninsular campaign threw at me would have been worth it as long as I could share those moments with Brant.

So . . . not a new Lucinda, but an older, more experienced version of the stout-hearted young miss who had gone no more than fifty miles on the Great North Road before her father caught up with her. Violence was avoided only because Father was somewhat mollified by discovering that Brant and I had separate bedchambers. Papa had dictated a compromise. He would not report Brant’s transgression to his commanding officer as long as Brant made no attempt to see me before his regiment left for the Peninsula.

We had little choice, of course, since it would be four long years before I was of age. I was ruined, without any of the joy, or enlightenment, that should have occurred in the course of an elopement. There had been many times when I regretted Brant was such a true and noble gentleman.

Josie’s cheerful face broke my reverie as she brought me tea and toast and lingered to help me choose which gown I would wear for my return to the ton. My attempt to return to the ton. After my godmother’s warning, frissons of doubt skittered up my spine. But surely, if I aspired no higher than the post of companion . . .

I sighed and turned my attention to Josie, who seemed eager to choose a garment that would rival Lady Ariana and Lady Cynthia. A garment, alas, which I did not own. We settled for a moss green round gown with a single flounce and a waist too high for the latest fashion, but it was exquisitely embroidered at neck and hem in white silk and was entirely suitable for a summer day in the Cotswolds. Josie did a fine job of arranging my hair in a less severe style than I had worn in the nursery.

I was surveying the whole in a pier glass, frowning at the slightly careworn woman reflected there, when Mrs. Randall came to fetch me. “The ladies are gathering in the drawing room this morning, miss, prior to luncheon on the terrace. This afternoon they are off on a sketching expedition some distance from here—I imagine you will not care to join them. Doctor Hobart would not approve, I think.”

Indeed. The thought of traveling anywhere in a carriage, no matter how smooth the road, fair turned my stomach.

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