One by one, the family all stepped into the room and in hushed voices, or firm ones, each gave Bridget a different sort of comfort. Even Raymond, in his own way, provided a pearl of wisdom that had escaped her until that moment…or perhaps she had never listened properly.
Raymond crouched down by her chair, studying Will. “If force of will has anything to do with it, then Will has no choice but to mend, because the family wants it so. You and I can claim to belong to this family through blood, although that is the weakest link among us. We’ve both married back into it and that isn’t the strongest tie, either.” He gave her a small smile.
“It’s love…” Bridget breathed.
He nodded. “Something most of society would call contemptible and fit for nothing but poets and dreamers, yet it is the burning heart of this family and its greatest strength.” Raymond’s smile grew. “Just don’t let Peter and the younger ones know that. They’re not ready to hear it yet.” He got to his feet and smoothed her hair from her face, in a fashion that was pleasantly father-like. “Besides, it is much more fun finding out for oneself.” He winked and left her alone.
Will showed signs of stirring by late the following day, not long after the doctor had left after declaring Will was through the worst of it.
Bridget felt as though she held her breath for three hours, watching him for the smallest evidence that he was coming round. She thought the first thing she would see would be the blue of his eyes beneath slowly lifting lids.
Instead, he squeezed her hand, his fingers stroking over hers. “Bree…” he breathed. “I would know you were beside me even if I was blind.” He brought her hand to his mouth and pressed it against his lips, wincing a little at the movement.
Bridget pressed her lips together to hold her composure. “Will…Oh, Will, you scared me so badly!”
His eyes opened a crack. “I’m sorry for that.”
“No, no! You mustn’t be sorry for anything, Will. Oh, I’ve been such a fool!” She slid off the chair and knelt by the bed, trembling. “Can you ever forgive me? For all the things I have done. In my arrogance, I didn’t see…I couldn’t see how much I love you, until I nearly lost you.”
Will turned his head to look at her, the blue of his eyes glittering. “Then we’re both complete and utter fools, my sweetest Bree. I couldn’t shoot straight for the blinding realization that I have loved you…forever, it feels like. And here I rest as result.”
She froze, her heart stopping. “You do? I thought…I didn’t think you wanted to love anyone.”
Will’s grip on her fingers tightened. “I didn’t want to love anyone but you and you didn’t want me. I lied to everyone and I lied to myself most of all. It was easier that way.”
She pressed her lips to his fingers. “I do want you, Will.”
“Then please kiss me properly and convince me of it,” he said.
“I might hurt you.”
“Your kisses could never hurt me. Come here.” His arms were strong, despite his wound. He drew her to her feet and she bent so she did not press against him and kissed him.
He held her face, deepening the kiss, until she ran out of breath and was forced to pull away, breathing hard. “I wouldn’t believe you were injured at all, except that I have seen the wound,” she said.
Will’s smile was touched with the heat she knew well. “I will be back on my feet so fast, my love, your head will spin. I have reason to recover as swiftly as possible.”
She sat on the chair as she remembered. “Oh, lord, Will, there are twenty people downstairs, anxious to speak to you as soon as you wake.”
“Twenty?”
“Actually, twenty-two. Lilly and Jasper came down from Yorkshire, as well.”
Will’s grip on her hand tightened. “Not just yet,” he begged. “Let it be the two of us, just for a while.”
Bridget held his hand until he drifted into restorative sleep. Then she went downstairs to tell everyone Will had woken and to thank each and every one of them, one by one.
Chapter Eighteen
The Great Family Gathering. Innesford, October 1870.
Will still had moments when weakness would force him into a chair, or to stretch upon a sofa, for he insisted on pushing himself physically until he was well beyond the point where any other recovering invalid would have said ‘enough’. He hated the weakness and railed at it, so Bridget never mentioned tiredness or exhaustion. Instead, she would contrive to make it seem that she was the one in need of rest. Often, it wasn’t a lie, for the child she carried did limit her energy.
She dropped into the canvas lounge chair beside Will with a deep sigh. “Oh, that’s better,” she breathed, turning her face up to the sun. “It is so warm!” she added.
“Your face will burn, my love. I can’t love a woman with a pink face and peeling skin. Where is your parasol?”
“I left it…oh, somewhere,” Bridget said absently. “Will,” she murmured in warning as Tor and Bronwen came toward them.
Tor helped Bronwen settle in the lounge chair beside Will. His smile was strained as he looked at them both. Then, eschewing the next chair in the line, Tor folded up his legs and sat on the lawn in front of his wife, her muslin dress brushing his arm.
“How are you feeling, Bronwen?” Bridget asked, taking in her cousin’s small, pale face.
“Oh, I’m fine,” Bronwen said, smiling. “I just get tired. I’m told it’s perfectly natural.”
Tor’s gaze stayed on Bronwen’s face. He didn’t smile.
Bridget’s heart fluttered at the pain in his eyes. “How does Christina fare?” she asked, reaching for Will’s hand.
“She thrives,” Tor said, the pride in his voice rich and sweet. He held up his hand. “Her tiny little hand doesn’t even reach around a single finger. When she grips it…” He shook his head. “I would slay dragons for her. The fierceness is almost…primitive.”
“That feeling doesn’t go away,” Will assured him.
“I hope not,” Tor said quietly.
“What is wrong, Tor?” Bridget asked him, for the haunted look in his eyes seemed to intensify.
Bronwen gave a soft sigh and closed her eyes. The sigh was sad.
Tor rested his hand on her knee. “The doctors assure me…they say…there will be no more children. That there cannot be or…” He shifted his gaze back to Bronwen then dropped his gaze to the grass before him.
Bronwen stirred. “You must have an heir!” she husked.
Tor shook his head. “No. The duchy can move on to my cousin. I would not risk you, Bronwen, not to satisfy a room full of grumpy old men who have no idea what they are demanding.”
Bronwen didn’t move or speak. The single tear that slid down her face said everything. Tor looked away, hiding his face from everyone.
Will’s grip on Bridget’s hand was strong enough to hurt. She welcomed the pain, for it offset her own aching heart as she studied the wretched couple in front of them.
* * * * *
Emma found her mother and father sitting together, as they always were these days, under the shade of the canvas that Travers and his footmen had stretched across a part of the croquet court to cast a welcome shade.
The afternoon breeze blew in from the sea, making it lovely and cool. A table had been set up beside them to hold a jug of iced tea and scones.
“Emma, dear,” Elisa said. “You’re frowning again.”
“Mama, Blanche just told me the most extraordinary story,” Emma said. “She says her father died in Paris last month, that he was a hero of the French Army, fighting the Prussians. Is that true?”
Elisa glanced at her father.
Vaughn stirred. “It is true, Emma. We thought Blanche should know. Rene Bonnaire was a dear friend of mine at Eton and Cambridge. We felt it was right that Blanche learn of his heroic end, as she was not given the chance to know him in life.”
Emma gripped her hands together. “Then you knew all along who her father was?”
El
isa sighed. “It was not our wish to withhold the information, my dear. Her father wanted Blanche to grow up as a normal child in a normal family. He could not provide that life for her.”
“He always intended that one day, when she was an adult, he would make himself known to her,” Vaughn added. “Only, his time ran out before he could.”
Emma hid her fists in the folds of her dress. “Then, do you know who my real parents are?”
Elisa drew in a shaky breath, her gaze shifting back to Vaughn.
“No,” Vaughn said, his voice strained. “We do not know that, Emma. We don’t care who your parents were. You are our daughter and always have been.”
Emma allowed her father to kiss her temple and pretended she believed the lie. In her heart she knew Vaughn and Elisa had withheld the truth. In that moment, her determination to learn who her real parents were was formed.
* * * * *
Will woke gradually, as the sounds of people laughing and talking impinged upon his consciousness. Croquet mallets thudded softly against balls. Cricket bats scraped the crease and knocked against the ball. Players exclaimed as the ball flew…somewhere.
The sea breeze was blowing at last. The cool air bathed his face and lifted the hair off his forehead. He opened his eyes. Tor and Bronwen had left while he slept. It was just him and Bridget in the lounging chairs.
He was conscious of Bridget, curled up against his side, her head on his shoulder. She might be asleep, or perhaps not. She liked to pretend she was weaker than she was, to spare him the humility of not being as strong as he had once been. He was growing stronger every day although it was slow work. Her little pretense made him love her all the more.
He kissed the part of her head he could reach and her hand pressed against his chest.
“I was thinking that this Gather could not have happened as better time,” she said, lifting her head. “Now the Farmer’s Society hall is ours, there is such a lot of work to do. We both needed the rest, after this summer.”
Will examined her dear, sweet face. “The babe troubles you?” he asked, pressing his hand to her still flat belly.
“Not at all,” Bridget admitted. “I was just thinking that being among the family for a week, before beginning again, is just what we both need.”
“‘Beginning again’. I like that.”
She bit her lip. “There will be lots of starting over for us,” she said. “We’re both…rash.”
“And selfish and stubborn and far too prideful…although I have every reason to be proud considering who is sitting in my lap right now.” He kissed her. “I don’t care how many times we must start over, Bree, if you are by my side. I’ll beggar myself, work my fingers to the bone, follow your every instruction. I don’t care what the future holds, or what I must do to make it happen, so long as you are there. I’m stronger when you are there. Say you will. Say you will always be there.”
“I will always be there,” she whispered against his cheek and kissed him. “Right by your side, my husband.”
_______________________________
The next book in the Scandalous Scions series.
Season of Denial
Book 7.
He’s a rake, she’s not quite a spinster. Life is interesting when they’re together, but…
When her twin sister, Bridget, betrays Lady Mairin’s trust by marrying a man within the Great Family, Mairin determines she will find a suitable husband elsewhere, no matter what.
Iefan Davies, the family rakehell, who has rejected both the family and society, introduces Mairin to the Duke of Gascony, then teaches her to woo the duke. Between seduction lessons, Iefan shows her the world beyond the ton.
Neither considers the other suitable marriage material, for Mairin has a duke in her sights, while Iefan has no intention of curtailing his bachelor ways, although life is certainly interesting when they’re together.
With every additional book to the series it gets better and better. I LOVE her surprising twists, they are always amazing and so “edge of your seat” gripping. Cant wait for the next! – Reader review.
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About the Author
Tracy Cooper-Posey is a #1 Best Selling Author. She writes romantic suspense, historical, paranormal and science fiction romance. She has published over 100 novels since 1999, been nominated for five CAPAs including Favourite Author, and won the Emma Darcy Award.
She turned to indie publishing in 2011. Her indie titles have been nominated four times for Book Of The Year. Tracy won the award in 2012, and a SFR Galaxy Award in 2016 for “Most Intriguing Philosophical/Social Science Questions in Galaxybuilding” She has been a national magazine editor and for a decade she taught romance writing at MacEwan University.
She is addicted to Irish Breakfast tea and chocolate, sometimes taken together. In her spare time she enjoys history, Sherlock Holmes, science fiction and ignoring her treadmill. An Australian Canadian, she lives in Edmonton, Canada with her husband, a former professional wrestler, where she moved in 1996 after meeting him on-line.
Other books by Tracy Cooper-Posey
For reviews, excerpts, and more about each title, visit Tracy’s site and click on the cover you are interested in: http://tracycooperposey.com/books-by-thumbnail/
Scandalous Scions
(Historical Romance Series – Spin off)
Rose of Ebony
Soul of Sin
Valor of Love
Marriage of Lies
Scandalous Scions One (Boxed Set)
Mask of Nobility
Law of Attraction
Veil of Honor
Scandalous Scions Two (Boxed Set)
Season of Denial
Rules of Engagement
Degree of Solitude
Ashes of Pride
Risk of Ruin
Year of Folly
Queen of Hearts
Once and Future Hearts
(Ancient Historical Romance—Arthurian)
Born of No Man
Dragon Kin
Pendragon Rises
War Duke of Britain
High King of Britain
Battle of Mount Badon
Abduction of Guenivere
Downfall of Cornwall
Vengeance of Arthur
Grace of Lancelot
The Grail and Glory
Camlann
Kiss Across Time Series
(Paranormal Time Travel)
Kiss Across Time
Kiss Across Swords
Time Kissed Moments
Kiss Across Chains
Kiss Across Time Box One (Boxed Set)
Kiss Across Deserts
Kiss Across Kingdoms
Time and Tyra Again
Kiss Across Seas
Kiss Across Time Box Two (Boxed Set)
Kiss Across Worlds
Time and Remembrance
Kiss Across Tomorrow
More Time Kissed Moments
Kiss Across Blades
Kiss Across Chaos
Kiss Across The Universe
Even More Tim
e Kissed Moments
Kiss Across Forever
Project Kobra
(Romantic Spy Thrillers)
Hunting The Kobra
Inside Man
Vistaria Has Fallen
Vistaria Has Fallen
Prisoner of War
Hostage Crisis
Freedom Fighters
Casualties of War
V-Day
Romantic Thrillers Series
Fatal Wild Child
Dead Again
Dead Double
Terror Stash
Thrilling Affair (Boxed Set)
Beloved Bloody Time Series
(Paranormal Futuristic Time Travel)
Bannockburn Binding
Wait
Byzantine Heartbreak
Viennese Agreement
Romani Armada
Spartan Resistance
Celtic Crossing
Beloved Bloody Time Series Boxed Set
Scandalous Sirens
(Historical Romance Series)
Forbidden
Dangerous Beauty
Perilous Princess
Go-get-‘em Women
(Short Romantic Suspense Series)
The Royal Talisman
Delly’s Last Night
Vivian’s Return
Ningaloo Nights
Blood Knot Series
(Urban Fantasy Paranormal Series)
Blood Knot
Southampton Swindle
Broken Promise
Vale
Amor Meus
Blood Stone
Blood Unleashed
Blood Drive