Scandalous Brides: In Scandal in Venice\The Spanish Bride by Amanda McCabe

Author:Amanda McCabe [McCabe, Amanda]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Romance, Fiction; Romance
ISBN: 9780451229397
Google: SW1fcdA4Cq0C
Amazon: 0451229398
Barnesnoble: 0451229398
Goodreads: 7576505
Publisher: Signet
Published: 2009-12-31T16:00:00+00:00

The bridal couple was torn from blissful sleep near dawn by the horrifying sounds of gunfire, panicked shouts, and braying horses.

Peter was out of bed in an instant, pulling on his uniform as he threw back the tent flaps.

Carmen stumbled after him in bewilderment, drawing the sheet around her naked shoulders. “What is it?” she cried. “A battle?”

“Stay here!” Peter ordered. Then she was alone.

Carmen hastily donned her shirt and trousers, and tied her hair back with a scarf. She was searching for her boots when she heard her husband’s voice and that of Lieutenant Robert Means, a young man she had sometimes played cards with of a quiet evening. And fleeced regularly.

“By damn!” Peter cursed. “How could they be so close? How could they have gotten so far without us knowing?”

“Someone must have informed them,” Robert answered. “But we are marching out within the quarter hour.”

“Of course. I shall be ready. Has Captain Hollingsworth been alerted?”

“Yes. What of ...” Robert’s voice lowered. “What of your wife, Major?”

“I will see to her.”

Carmen stuck her head outside the tent. “She will see to herself, thank you very much! And what are you doing running about unarmed, husband?” She rattled his saber at him.

“Carmen!” Peter pushed her back into the tent. “You must ride into the hills and wait. I will send an escort with you.”

“Certainly not! You require every man. I have ridden about the country without an escort for months. Shall I ride to General Morecambe’s encampment and tell him you require reinforcements?”

“No! You are to find a safe place, and wait there until I come for you.”

“Madre de Dios!” Carmen pulled her leather jacket out of her trunk and thrust her arms into the sleeves, glaring at him all the while. “I will not hide! I cannot play the coward now. I will ride for reinforcements.”

“Carmen! Be sensible!”

“You be sensible, Peter! I have been doing this sort of thing for a long time.”

“But you were not my wife then!” he shouted.

“Ah. So that is it.” Carmen left off loading her pistol to go to him, and framed his handsome, beloved face in her hands. “I cannot give up what I am doing to become a fine, frail, sheltered lady again, simply because I am now your wife. No more than you can stay safely here in camp because you are now my husband.”

He turned his head to kiss her palm. “No. Even though I wish it so, you are quite right.”

“We shall have many, many years to sit calmly by the fire, querido.”

He smiled against her skin. “And will you long for your grand adventures, Carmen, when you are chasing babies about Clifton Manor?”

“Never!”

Peter caught her against him and kissed her mouth, hard, desperate. “I will see you at supper, then, Lady Clifton.”

“Yes.” Carmen clung to him for an instant, an eternal moment, then stepped away. “Promise me you will fight very, very carefully today, Peter.”

“Of course, my love.” He grinned at her, the white, crooked grin that had won her heart.

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