Wicked Promise by Kat Martin

Author:Kat Martin
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: Romance, Historical Romance
ISBN: 9780312998905
Publisher: St. Martin's Paperbacks
Published: 1998-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

Nick sat forward in his seat, waiting impatiently as his driver pulled the carriage to a halt at the entrance to Castle Colomb. It was only a half day’s ride north of London, yet he hadn’t been there in over nine years. His last meeting with Rachael on his return home from prison had been on neutral ground— Sydney Birdsall’s office in London near the Stock Exchange on Threadneedle Street.

Through the open carriage window, he stared up at the tall ivy-covered towers, the tops crenellated for firing arrows, the rounded walls repelling intruders since the late medieval days. Inside, of course, the vast stone fortress had been modernized, its salons—at Rachael’s insistence and Nick’s expense—decorated in the height of fashion.

As the carriage rolled through the gates and into the bailey, Nick studied the timeless gray stone, the carpet of daffodils planted where the moat had once been. In the years he had been gone, he had forgotten how lovely the old place was, a family inheritance on his mother’s side dating back to the days of Edward III.

The hand he rested on the windowsill began to tighten, his long fingers balling into a fist. His mother would hardly be pleased to know the home she had loved as a girl had fallen into the hands of his recalcitrant wife, a woman who had abandoned him, denying him even his right to an heir. A woman who now stood between him and the chance to make a life with Elizabeth Woolcot.

The coach rolled to a stop in front of the massive wooden doors to what was once the great hall. Nick took a steadying breath, knowing how important this was, knowing how carefully he must tread if he were to succeed.

“The kitchen is round back,” he called up to Jackson Fremantle, the driver, a friend of Theo Swann’s, a convict who had come to him a little over a year ago searching for work. “Have one of the stable lads water the horses and find yourself something to eat. I don’t know how long this will take.” However long it was, he wouldn’t be staying the night. Spending a moment longer than necessary under Rachael’s roof was a notion he couldn’t conceive.

The butler ushered him into the drawing room, which, he noticed, had been redecorated in the years that he had been gone. Minutes ticked past, but instead of taking a seat on the brocade sofa, he found himself pacing in front of the empty hearth.

The drawing room doors slid soundlessly open. “Nicholas, my love, it’s good to see you.” Rachael floated into the room looking like a black-haired goddess, her hands extended, a warm smile of welcome on her lips.

Nick accepted her greeting, bent and kissed her cheek. “Rachael. You’re looking as lovely as ever.” Better even than he remembered, her thick black hair clustered in glossy curls at the side of her neck, her skin perfect shades of rose petals and cream.

Her heart as cold as the high stone towers she lived in.

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