The Rogue’s Return by Margaret Moore

Author:Margaret Moore
Language: ron
Format: mobi
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

Grace waited anxiously in her room until she heard Mr. Elliot make his slow progress up the stairs and into his room. She heard the door close and the latch fall into place, then glanced nervously at Mercy, who was thankfully asleep.

What had just happened downstairs?

What had been happening ever since she had found Mr. Elliot beside the road?

It was as if her life had been a placid stream before, and was now a series of turbulent rapids, with the news of the raise in the rent, finding Mr. Elliot, Sir Donald’s proposal, and being told of Mercy’s predicament.

More recently, she also felt as if she were in a whirlpool of emotions, her own spinning out of control. All because of Mr. Elliot.

Why? Because he was handsome and charming? She had met handsome and charming young men before, specifically in the person of Lieutenant Brown, and those qualities held little appeal for her, coupled as they so often were with vanity, arrogance and overweening pride.

Not so with Mr. Elliot. It was as if he were completely unaware of his personal attributes, and his charm as natural to him as breathing.

Was it because he might be the answer to one dilemma, if he could fall in love with Mercy? Perhaps--although now, alone with her thoughts, she allowed herself to acknowledge that if Mr. Elliot excited her, it was because he seemed to like her better. He didn’t appear to find her customary reticence troubling, nor did he feel the need to exert himself to get a reaction from her, as some men did, with often ridiculous results.

It was as if he liked her simply as she was, added to the thrilling notion that he seemed to prefer her company to Mercy’s.

This in itself was unusual, for once men discovered that Grace was somewhat unresponsive to their overtures, they generally abandoned her for Mercy’s company, to Grace’s relief.

Of course, what Mr. Elliot thought of her wasn’t important. It couldn’t be important, not when so many other unsettling troubles perplexed her.

Tonight, when he had remained after Mercy had retired, Grace had thought to use the opportunity to try to find out something about their unexpected guest, because no matter what she thought she felt, she couldn’t quite rid herself of the idea that a marriage between Mercy and Mr. Elliot would go a long way toward helping their situation.

Instead, she had found herself revealing far more of her thoughts and feelings to him--and he a near stranger--than she ever had to another soul. Why, she had told him things that even Mercy didn’t know, about her dislike of the Hurleys and her poor opinion of Lieutenant Brown.

What was the point of lying to herself? she demanded silently. She wanted him to understand her. She wanted him to like her.

More than that, she wanted him to love her. In every way it was possible for a man to love a woman.

Although she had never experienced such extreme emotions before, she recognized her own lustful desire.

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