The sky was a bluer shade of grey today with the occasional threading of white. It will be the last time the sky is this colour before winter comes and paints everything in white. I was hoping to make it to our tor today to think of you and make plans of how I’ll touch you when you return to Sowrithil, but instead estate business demanded I meet with tenants and thus my plans were lost. Maybe tomorrow I will sit and anticipate your return and how the ache inside me will ease when I hold you close.
I miss you,
Edward
P.S. Of course I shall recognize Etta should she dress as a maid. She’ll be the insubordinate one, yes?
P.P.S. And, it almost goes without saying I cannot wait to be your husband.
***
Sowrithil, Devon, 2 March 1848
Lord Beecham,
I write to inform you His Grace and I have returned from our wedding journey. I note the correspondence from your chambers in regards to His Grace’s estate planning and will forward appropriate documents and comments to your chambers shortly. In the intervening period, please forward a copy of His Grace’s Last Will and Testament as his circumstances have now changed, and as such his Will requires updating.
Yours, etc
Her Grace, the Duchess of Sowrith
***
Sowrith House, London, 21 June 1848
Dear Edward,
It will be at least another week before I can come home. The solicitors are seeing fit to tie me in legal jargon until my eyes and ears fairly bleed.
The planning for the school fund goes well, though. I feel certain we will break ground before the spring. Etta is driving me insane with her notions of what should be included. She feels certain the curriculum should include Mathematics and Philosophy, though I have stressed those disciplines are not included in the current Schools of Law.
The roses at Sowrith House are blooming, a riot of colour against the unrelenting grey. I miss the greys of Sowrithil, the subtle changing light of the moors.
And, of course, I miss you.
All my love,
Gwen
***
Sowrithil, Devon, 30 June 1848
Gwennie,
If the solicitors are so keen to have you stay in London, then I shall come to you. As it is, you’ve been from me too long.
The sky was a stormy shade of grey today, one that reminded me of your eyes when you’re vexed. With others, of course. I never vex you to such a state.
Your Edward
***
Sowrith House, London, 5 July 1848
My Edward,
There’s no need to come to London. I know you dislike it. I feel certain this business will conclude soon, and I will depart London the very moment it does. As you say, I have been too long from you.
However, never vex me? What rubbish. Why, I’m fairly vexed with you three times an hour and double that on Sundays. Of course, you do have a way of charming me from vexation.
Soon. I promise.
All my love,
Gwen
P. S. You know I dislike Gwennie. Why must you vex me so? You’re not even here to make it up to me in your charming way.
***
Sowrithil, Devon, 11 July 1848
Gwen,
Too late. I shall travel tomorrow and should be in London the following day.
Edward
P. S. I shall make it up to you. In my charming way.
P. P .S. Your friend Etta sent a letter with direction to Sowrithil. I have not read its contents, but feel certain it regards the school. I shall bring it with me.
***
Sowrith House, London, 15 July 1848
Dear Edward,
This letter will not reach you, seeing as you are already travelling to London, however, know that I shall await your arrival. And I shall plan wicked things.
All my love,
Gwen
Thank you so much for reading Gwen and Edward’s story!
Find out why Etta and Lord Christopher Hiddleston argued so much in the next book in the Silk Series, the award-winning SILK & SCHOLAR.
You can also read the first book in the series, SILK & SCANDAL,
and the second book in the series, SILK & SCORN now.
Acknowledgments
As always, thank you to my F4E, critique partner, and editor, A.L Brady-Clark.
Thank you also to my family and friends. Your support means the world to me.
Thank you to Port Adelaide Football Club for your excellent distraction techniques. Also, for the extreme anxiety, heart palpitations, and the rending of the hair. If you could facilitate no more close games in the future, that would be lovely. Please and thank you.
Finally, thank you to you. Thank you for choosing this book. I hope you enjoyed.
About Cassandra Dean
Cassandra Dean is an award-winning author of historical and fantasy romance. She grew up daydreaming, inventing fantastical worlds and marvelous adventures. Once she learned to read (first phrase: To The Beach. True story), she was never without a book, and when she realized she could write her own, she never looked back.
Cassandra is proud to call South Australia her home, where she regularly cheers on her AFL football team and creates her next tale.
Liked SILK & SCARS?
Why not try the Lost Lords Series, starting with Book 1
FINDING LORD FARLISLE
The girl he finally remembers
Eleven years ago, a shipwreck robbed Lord Maxim Farlisle of his memory. Recovering himself, he journeys to his childhood home to find Waithe Hall shut and deserted. Unwilling to face what remains of his family, Maxim makes his home in the abandoned hall…only to have a determined ghost hunter invade his uneasy peace.
The boy she never forgot
Fascinated by spirits, Lady Alexandra Torrence cannot disregard the opportunity to investigate the estate she knew so well. She arrives at the shuttered hall to discover a ghost of a different kind—the boy she thought to never see again. Maxim had been the boy next door, her best friend, her soul mate…and then he’d vanished.
As the two rediscover their connection, the promise of young love burns into an overwhelming passion. But the time apart has scarred them both—will they discover a love that will draw them together or will the past tear them apart forever?
Find FINDING LORD FARLISLE here
And then discover the Lost Lords Series
Book 2
RESCUING LORD ROXWAITHE
The girl he’s always loved
Oliver, Earl of Roxwaithe, has always regarded Lady Lydia Torrence as a sibling even as she’d declared one day they would wed. Fourteen years her elder, Oliver was convinced Lydia felt only a crush and when she inevitably declared her love, he had to refuse. After she left for the Continent, he told himself he didn’t miss her, that she had always been too young, and if perhaps he’d noticed she had become a woman, that was best left unsaid.
The man she’s always adored
Lydia had always known she loved Oliver and he loved her. Furious he would claim she was too young, she determined to take the Continent by storm, to hone her skills and become an expert in flirtation. Upon her return to London, she’d show him she was a fully-grown woman who knew what she wanted—and she wanted him.
Oliver is stubborn in his resolve until a new suitor for Lydia puts Oliver’s resolve to the test. Will he discover the girl he’s always loved has become the woman he will forever adore?
Find RESCUING LORD ROXWAIHE here
Other books by Cassandra Dean
Stand Alones
Enslaved
Teach Me
Scandalous
The Diamond Series
Rough Diamond
Fool’s Gold
Emerald Sea**
The Silk Series
Silk & Scandal
Silk & Scorn
Silk & Scars
Silk & Scholar
Silk & Scarlet*
Tales of Dormiraa
Slumber
Awaken
Lost Lords
Finding Lord Farlisle
Rescuing Lord Roxwaithe
Stealing Lord Stephen
Persuading Lady Penelope
Vexing Lady Violet**
Anthologies
Second Chances
The Mammoth Book of ER Romance
Smut in the City
Smut by the Sea
*Available as an e-serial in Cassandra’s newsletter
**Forthcoming
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Silk & Scars (The Silk Series Book 3) Page 9