Tempting the Marquess by Nicola Davidson

Author:Nicola Davidson
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Publisher: Nicola Davidson
Published: 2017-07-19T18:30:00+00:00

CHAPTER 11

Samantha sat rigidly in the hackney, willing it to go faster.

Of course today, instead of ducking and diving and generally attempting to cause an accident at every corner, the blasted driver was a courteous man who actually stopped or slowed down for other carts and carriages. And she needed to get to Alexander as soon as possible. His most recent note lay crumpled in her hand, the parchment almost unreadable, but that didn’t matter. The brief message was imprinted on her brain.

COME TO LANGLEY HOUSE, as soon as you get this. News.

HAD they finally returned from France? Could William have safely brought Lord Robert home and even now be standing in Alexander’s library, ready to sweep her up in his arms and promise never to leave her again?

The thought made her stomach lurch in anticipation, and she held a scented handkerchief to her nose. If only she didn’t feel quite so ill. This morning when she’d swung her legs out of bed to get up, a rush of dizziness had nearly made her topple face first onto the floor. A cool cloth pressed to the back of her neck had helped her head, but not her temper. It would be just her luck to have picked up some horrid illness now, after being perfectly fine the nearly five weeks William had been away. Nothing said “I love you and missed you and can’t wait to hold you close again” like fainting or decorating someone’s shoes.

Finally the hackney came to a jerking halt, and she swallowed hard several times before climbing down and pressing a coin into the driver’s hand.

Hurrying up the steps, Samantha then practically elbowed a grim-faced Wallace out of the way as he opened the door, running as fast as her stomach would allow until she burst into the familiar first-floor library.

“Well?” she demanded, for once not even caring about windblown hair, an askew bonnet or cream pelisse flapping like duck wings. “What is the news, Alexander? Do you have a note for me, or are they finally home?”

“Samantha...” a hoarse, shaky voice began, and she turned in startled concern.

“Aunt Jane? You sound like you should be tucked up in bed! And Stephen and Caroline, what are you doing here?”

“They are here because I asked them to come,” said Alexander in the most remote tone she’d ever heard, and a shudder of unease rippled through her body. His opulent library felt oppressive at the best of times, but the beloved faces around her were unusually blank, the atmosphere in the room so heavy she wanted to cough and clear her throat.

“What is going on?” she asked, far more tentatively. “Has poor Lord Robert taken a turn for the worst? Have they been delayed again?”

“No. We were not delayed again,” said a dull, slurred voice. “Even the British Army…gets its act together...once in a while.”

Samantha’s gaze jerked toward the corner of the room, and her hands flew to her mouth. The broad-shouldered man settled awkwardly in a padded

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