The Highland Grooms Collection Volume 1 by Julia London

Author:Julia London [London, Julia]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781488036118
Publisher: Harlequin Enterprises Limited
Published: 2018-12-15T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

I cannot describe the joy in my heart upon seeing Robert after all these years. He is of course older, as am I, but still very much himself, as he proved to me by embracing me and kissing my cheek in earnest happiness at finding me well.

Our acquaintance has been very much renewed and in many ways, it is as if the years have melted away and meant nothing. We have talked of everything. He asked if my husband was good and honorable, and I assured him that Clive was a good husband. Robert never married as I had supposed he might have done, but said rather that after he was forced to let me go, he had married the sea. I don’t remember it in precisely that way, but then again, many days have passed since then and memories do fade.

Robert had heard various and sundry things about me over the years. He knew of Ellis’s birth. Of Clive’s illness. Of my mother’s death. But he’d not heard of Clive’s passing until only recently, and he said he dreamed that night that an angel told him to come straightaway, all the while knowing that a journey into the Highlands would be particularly perilous for a captain in the king’s Royal Navy.

I cannot fathom how Robert came to pull his sword. He admitted he reacted poorly, but only out of concern for me. Perhaps he thought A had come up from the lake to rob us at that very moment, although that seems rather impossible. He was quite insistent that I tell him how I have come to know A. He has warned me he is a dangerous smuggler. He would not tell me what A has been accused of smuggling, but he did insist that I should not consider him friend or invite him into Auchenard again.

Robert has surprised me with a gift of a gold necklace, one that he purchased in India. It is quite lovely, and I wear it proudly. I did understand him to mean that he made the purchase with me in mind, but at supper that very same evening, he regaled us all with tales of his daring sea voyages, and related that he’d sailed to India more than a year ago. As he didn’t know of Clive’s death as long ago as that, I must assume that perhaps he bought the necklace for someone else he admired.

Mr. S called yesterday. The poor man could not seem to find his tongue at the sight of the captain, and took his leave very shortly thereafter, refusing my invitation to bowl with us on the newly shorn lawn.

Uncle has taken to fishing and may very well take barrels of them to Balhaire. I suggested he set up a booth and sell them. He said I would thank him on the long journey back to London. We are to leave in a fortnight, and all arrangements have been made. Rob is to escort us

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