Married Past Redemption
Page 36
“A small army. I gave Connaught the task the very day we returned to the Hall. Please do not be disappointed when we go inside. Save for a few rooms, it is not furnished. I thought we would enjoy to choose the pieces together.”
“Yes! I should like that.”
Best halted the carriage before the wide, arched doors. Strand jumped out, and Lisette was handed down as though she were fashioned of sheerest crystal. His leathery face wreathed in smiles, Best drove around to the side yard. Lisette did not see that merry look, for she stood with hands clasped, drinking in the restored splendour of Silverings. “How I wish we could live here,” she sighed.
“We shall. I am closing the Hall but shall keep it maintained in case Charity might someday wish to dwell there. She has a fondness for the old place.”
Her eyes alight, Lisette clung to his arm. “Do you really mean it? Oh, but how splendid! Justin, must we leave?”
He laughed. “Would you really give up the delights of London, Paris, and Copenhagen for an almost empty house in the country?”
“I would! For a while, at least. Dearest one, would you mind terribly?”
He said nothing but, bending suddenly, swept her up in his arms and carried her to the steps.
Oliver Green, who had happily watched their coming, opened the door, keeping well out of sight.
On the threshold, Strand paused, looking down at his wife’s beauteous and cherished face, his heart in his eyes. “Lisette,” he said huskily, “I—I still cannot believe that you love me.”
“You will learn to,” she asserted. “For I mean to do just as you wrote, most beloved of husbands.”
Uncertain, he raised one brow questioningly.
Lisette leaned her cheek against his shoulder and, whispering, for she was not quite sure who had swung open the door, quoted, “‘To with happiness surround you, for as long as I may live.’”
For an enchanted moment Strand was silent, standing there, gazing at this slip of a girl who was his dream, his love, his way of life. Then he bent and kissed her, and was still kissing her as he carried her across the threshold and into the true beginning of their marriage that was, most decidedly, past redemption.
About the Author
Patricia Veryan was born in England and moved to the United States following World War II. The author of several critically acclaimed Georgian and Regency series, including the Sanguinet Saga, she now lives in Kirkland, Washington. You can sign up for email updates here.
PREVIOUS NOVELS BY PATRICIA VERYAN
The Lord and the Gypsy
Love’s Duet
Mistress of Willowvale
Nanette
Some Brief Folly
Feather Castles
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Contents
Title Page
Copyright Notice
Dedication
Epigraph
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
About the Author
Previous Novels by Patricia Veryan
Copyright
MARRIED PAST REDEMPTION. Copyright © 1983 by Patricia Veryan. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews. For information, address St. Martin’s Press, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010.
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ISBN 0-312-51615-0
First Edition
eISBN 9781250108777
First eBook edition: November 2015