The Baron's Saving Grace by Raven McAllan

Author:Raven McAllan [O'Brien, Raven McAllan and Cassie]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Historical Romance Fiction
Publisher: Totally Entwined Group
Published: 2022-04-22T00:00:00+00:00

* * * *

Grace peered out of the window until George was lost from sight. The carriage was comfortable and rattling along at a good pace, but still her stomach churned and her heart was heavy. She sighed.

“You are very quiet,” Jane observed. “I thought you would be cock-a-hoop. We achieved our aims. Stepmama and Corbett can trouble us no more. We are outside of their jurisdiction and our lives are now our own. I feel I need to pinch myself. There were occasions when I thought this day would never come.”

Grace looked at her sister sitting contentedly alongside her new husband. Jane’s happiness was palpable. “I am so pleased for you.”

“Then why do you look as if someone has just stolen your new bonnet and trampled on it?” Jane asked. “What is wrong?”

Grace sighed. Something she seemed to be doing a lot of lately, and it annoyed her.

Snap out of it.

“I just sometimes wonder if I rushed into marriage without thinking it through. Did I truly understand all that would be expected of me? All it entailed? I suspect not. Perhaps if I’d shown some of your fortitude and maybe waited a little longer…”

Jane squeezed her hand. “I can’t regret that you didn’t. For if you had, you would not have been able to gift Blossom to me, who would not then have lost a shoe when I was riding over to visit you and Roger, and a certain handsome military man would not have come to my rescue.”

Alfred stroked his moustache and smiled. “I almost didn’t. You looked at me with such contempt.”

“I did not,” Jane protested. “I just had no idea what you were doing in such an out-of-the-way village. This handsome army officer and…”

She blushed, and Grace smiled.

I could have had what they have if only I’d waited.

It was not a thought to be voiced, so instead she asked, “How long will it take us to get to Old Clee?”

Alfred withdrew his fob. “Late tomorrow, with luck. The horses are fleet so we should not have to stop at an inn for more than one night, depending on the weather.”

Grace nodded and his prediction came true. The weather was kind, the carriage, elegant and of the latest design, and the inn proved charming. A bath and the services of a maid restored her dress to a less travel-worn condition, but neither improved her mood, and the following morning her spirits dimmed with each passing mile. The air became noticeably fresher with a sharp tang of salt when they reached Old Clee on the Lincolnshire coast, and her home, Foston Grange, came in sight when they entered the village of Itterby.

Alfred refused her offer of refreshment on behalf of himself and Jane, preferring to push onto their married quarters, so she waved farewell to her sister with the promise they would meet up as soon as Jane was settled. Their major-domo, Colewell, waited to greet her at the front door. “It’s good to see you back, madam. The master will be pleased.

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