Lord of Chance by Erica Ridley

Author:Erica Ridley
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Publisher: WebMotion
Published: 2017-04-10T23:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 12

C harlotte rubbed her tired eyes and gazed across yet another breakfast room in yet another inn. Leeds. Now they were in Leeds.

Every day brought them inexorably closer to London. Closer to the past she was desperate to forget. Closer to Anthony spending the rest of his future in debtors’ gaol.

She would rather never return at all. She had no fond memories of England. Beau Brummell had fled to France to escape his creditors. To Charlotte, life in France didn’t sound half bad. Anthony could avoid prison and she could avoid everyone who knew her past. They could present themselves as a perfectly respectable country couple. With no particular pretensions to grandeur and nary a sordid scandal in their completely fictional history.

To her, it sounded like heaven. But to Anthony, hell.

He had family in London. Friends all over England. People who cared about him, who respected him, who missed him. How lucky he was! If that were Charlotte’s life, she would never leave. So how could she expect Anthony to?

“Mrs. Fairfax?” came a breathless voice from beside the breakfast table.

Charlotte glanced up and coaxed her weary face to smile at the elderly widow who’d spent the previous evening pouring her fears out to Charlotte over several cups of tea.

“How do you do this morning, Mrs. Rowden?” she asked. “Is something amiss?”

“Quite the opposite.” Mrs. Rowden clasped her liver-spotted hands together and beamed at Charlotte. “Thank you so much for allowing me to bend your ear last night. Your advice was right on the mark. Before I retired for the night, I sent my son a letter informing him of my presence.”

This time, Charlotte’s smile was genuine. “I am so pleased to hear it. Uncertainty is one of the worst emotions to suffer. You’ve taken action, and soon you’ll know. I do hope he accepts your apology.”

“As do I.” Mrs. Rowden wrung her hands. “Oh, how I’d love to meet my grandchildren. How big they must be by now!”

After chatting with Mrs. Rowden, Charlotte left the breakfast room and returned to her bedchamber to pack the valises.

Anthony had been out somewhere since well before dawn, hoping to earn a few coins doing this or that. She couldn’t help but be proud of his efforts. Despite it all.

So far, he’d managed to earn more than enough to cover their travel expenses, but even with the contents of the purses they’d won in Scotland, their funds were meager compared to the size of his debt.

Yet he refused to give up.

It was incomprehensible. Noble. She hated that it was destined to fail. Hated that she couldn’t stop herself from caring far too much.

She had to struggle to keep her shield intact so that she would not be destroyed if she lost him. He was the one person who unfailingly treated her as if she mattered. No matter how determinedly she reinforced her defenses, the walls crumbled a bit more every day. With him, happiness was no longer an illusion. He made her believe it was within her grasp… if only they could be assured of a future together.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.