Unsuitable Bride For A Viscount (The Yelverton Marriages Book 2) by Elizabeth Beacon

Author:Elizabeth Beacon [Beacon, Elizabeth]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Historical Romance, Women's Fiction, Regency & Victorian Romance, London Society, England & Britain, 18th Century, Forever Love, Bachelor, Single Woman, Love Possibility, Hearts Desire, Life-Changes, Second Chance Reunion, Honesty & Trust, Home & Family, Lifetime Love, Romantic Schemes, Beautiful & Feisty, Love-Family & Forever, Action & Adventure, Sensual Story Theme, The Yelverton Marriages Series, Marriage 0f Convenience, Young Widow
Publisher: Harlequin Historical; Original Edition
Published: 2020-06-01T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twelve

‘I can see what you have been doing with yourself all morning, Marianne,’ Darius informed her from his place just inside the door of the last untouched bedchamber on the main level a week on from her last tête-à-tête with Alaric.

‘Indeed, most of this dust seems to be on me instead of the furniture,’ she said ruefully and turned around slowly so it would not shake back on to the clean bits. ‘And what are you doing upstairs in all your dirt at this time of day?’

‘The same as you, I should imagine—wishing I was clean.’

‘I must get this room clean and cleared then put back together as neatly as I can before I can take a bath. Mama will carp endlessly about being given a lesser bedroom than Viola’s or Miss Donne’s if I do not get this room done in time and neither of us want her feeling put upon and prickly on your wedding day.’

‘You do not have to do it all on your own. Fliss sent me up here, dirt or no, to tell you so because she is worried about you and so am I.’

‘There is no need,’ she forced herself to say calmly and stared at a spider that was daring to crawl into the light now she had stopped pulling down bed curtains and the dust-laden webs of its distant ancestors.

‘You are avoiding us all and I will not let you, Marianne. I thought you liked living here, but maybe I am wrong and you intend to go back to Bath with Mama and Papa after the wedding.’

‘No, I am not a martyr.’

‘Then if you cannot endure our company why not accept Stratford’s offer of employment he tells me he has made you and stop worrying about what to do next? I hate seeing you like this, Nan. I understand that my happiness with Fliss may be reminding you of what you and Daniel had and maybe living without him feels worse than before we fell in love, but we will not make you feel like an unwanted third if you stay.’

‘No, please do not think that, Darius, never think like that. I am so very happy to see that you are as loved now as you have always deserved to be. I knew you could find joy and laughter with the right woman to laugh with you and remind you what a good man you are now and again when you forget it and brood about all the things you saw and did in the war. Darius the cynic was only cover for the soft heart you protected to survive that hard life, Big Brother, and Fliss is ideal for you.’

‘You saw most of it as well, Little Sister.’

‘Not the killing and the conflict,’ she said, knowing what it must have cost him and Daniel to set out to wound and kill their fellow men. Love for this strong and loyal and, yes, soft-hearted, brother of hers was prodding her to accept Lord Stratford’s offer of employment even if she was not sure it was the right thing to do.

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