The Spy Who Seduced Her by Christi Caldwell

Author:Christi Caldwell
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Publisher: Christi Caldwell Incorporated
Published: 2017-09-07T23:00:00+00:00

Chapter 11

Your fidelity belongs first and foremost to the Brethren.

Article XI: The Brethren of the Lords

The moon bathed the gardens in a pale white glow.

Wielding her pruning shares, Victoria frantically clipped away the overgrown rose bushes. There had been a time her gardens had been her sanctuary.

Clip.

A place where she’d first sneaked off to meet Nathaniel Archer, while the world slept on.

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And then as a place where she’d hidden herself when he’d disappeared. She’d been a young woman with a babe in her belly and her world was about to crash down around her.

Clip. Clip.

There had been a time when these grounds had been meticulously tended by gardeners and lovingly cared for at her hand.

Clip. Clip.

No more. These overgrown gardens, run amok with weeds and deadened shrubs and choking rose bushes, were now a marked symbol of what her existence had become. The wife of an abusive, violent drunkard who’d gotten himself murdered and left their family in ruins… and because of it had seen Nathaniel return like a ghost come for the haunting.

A sharp thorn pierced her leather glove. She gasped. The shears slipped from her fingers, landing noiselessly in the pile of debris she’d cut that night. Victoria sank back on her haunches and, tugging free her glove, eyed the crimson drop that stood vivid upon her pale flesh.

Everything had changed. “Everything,” she whispered. She’d gone from a bright-eyed, hopelessly-in-love miss to a terrified woman with a babe in her belly… to this.

Victoria hugged her arms and glanced about the walled-in gardens; touching her gaze on the chipped stone statues and ramshackle grounds. These past few days, with Nathaniel questioning Justina and Phoebe—the daughter he’d never known of—she’d no choice but to confront what her existence, in fact, was. She’d blinked and her life had passed in a blur of tedious ton functions and creditors calling to pay for the debts racked up by her husband.

Time had marched on, erasing the blush of youthful splendor. She’d lived solely for her son and daughters. Now, what remained were three grown children; two of whom were married and another who’d little interest in her, or the idea of family. She’d told herself that her children were enough, only to find she could admit the truth—she’d wanted more. And she hated that she was forced to confront all she’d lost and all she’d desperately wanted for her life. She’d wanted a partner at her side; someone who would have loved her and their children, who’d have gardened with her and, in their advancing years, journey to places she’d always longed to go to, but never would have dared to go as long as there had been young children.

She followed the small drop of blood as it expanded and then trickled down the side of her finger. What was worse, while Nathaniel and his life were a great unknown mystery to her, today, he’d gathered a glimpse of the empty marriage she’d suffered through. And with every interview he conducted, he’d only glean more.

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