“I’d like to call on Clara but I don’t know how to arrange it without raising Hamilton’s ire. I had the distinct impression he didn’t like me.” Strachan grimaced.
“I wouldn’t take it personally. Branson Hamilton does not permit anyone to get close to him. He’s like a dog that’s been kicked once too often, though he’s had every kindness shown him. He’s too proud for the rough and tumble of country folk. He gives us a wide berth. I don’t say he is mean-spirited, but he is taciturn to the point of incivility. We’ve given up asking him to Petherham. He always refuses.”
“If the mountain won’t come to me, I must go to the mountain.”
“Eh? What’s that you say?”
“Not important, Colonel.” Strachan smiled. “Ah, I see the ladies are at last seeking our company. Trudy, my love—I am perishing for feminine talk. Have pity.”
Brockville and his wife broke out into peals of laughter, delighting in the wit of their attractive young guests, while Strachan listened with only half an ear to Trudy’s talk. His mind was on planning the means by which he would escape Petherham tomorrow, find Clara Hamilton and speak to her away from Branson Reilly.
How prettily she had looked at him. As though they were sharing a secret....
His blood rose and pounded in his ears. He had missed her adoration, her soft looks, and her willingness to love him at all cost.
It could not be.
Strachan was discovering, too late, that he was in love with Clara Hamilton.
§
BRANSON MOVED noiselessly down the hall to the sitting room adjoining Clara’s bedchamber. He unlocked the door and stepped inside.
The bonnet was on the carpet in the middle of the room. It was just as she said.
He picked it up and fingered the silk thoughtfully. Something must be done. Piers warned him this would happen.
All he had to do was keep her happy and under control for a few more days and then this would all be over.
Branson stared at the black silk bonnet in his hands.
Piers was furious with him. He’d heard about the kiss in the stable from Quince. He accused Branson of losing his nerve.
It wasn’t his nerve he was losing. He didn’t want this anymore but he couldn’t allow the thought to take up residence in his mind. Instead, it sat in the corner like a grinning clown.
He did not want this.
In London ... the moment he kissed the inside of Clara’s wrist and felt her pulse beating against his lips like the wings of a moth...
He didn’t want this anymore.
He took her virginity.
The future he’d been hell-bent on destroying Clara Hamilton to secure—
Branson no longer wanted it.
To Be Continued...
§
Next in WINDEMERE HALL: Betrayed
Clara Hamilton learns Branson’s terrible secret and escapes Windemere Hall only to be faced with another threat in the person of Captain Strachan. The man who broke her heart four months ago has declared his love for her, but can she trust him?
Pre-order BETRAYED for 0.99
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A bout the Author
Catherine Lloyd loves reading, watching great episodic television, and writing romance. Love stories that are hot and soul-satisfying are her drug of choice. She was inspired to write Victorian Villains from the gothic romance novels she devoured as a kid. Phyllis A. Whitney, Victoria Holt and Daphne du Maurier combined suspense and romance without the use of vampires.
She decided to release her Victorian stories in installments in the tradition of serialized fiction of the Victorian Age. Magazines nicknamed “the penny dreadfuls” published genre literature at a low cost in bi-weekly installments. The Victorian Age was an exotic time of science, exploration, high drama and passionate romance on stage and in books. The villains were psychologically fascinating. And hot!
The author has two grown children, two stepdaughters, a cat named Harry who thinks he’s a dog, and four grandsons. She lives with her long-suffering spouse in the country where she enjoys having no hobbies and writes full time. She is hard at work on Mark of Caine, the next in Victorian Villains Serials. In this romantic trilogy, a hired assassin for Queen Victoria develops an unhealthy obsession with his mark. Follow Catherine on Amazon to be notified of new releases in this series and others!
Contact Catherine Lloyd at [email protected]
Or visit: Writewood Creations
Or visit her Author Page on Amazon
M andrake Falls Four Seasons Romance
Four brides. Four seasons. One rocky road to romance.
THE JILTING ~ Summer
Best friends forever. Until one of them falls in love. The groom is AWOL. It’s Scout Rutherford’s wedding day and in the next 24 hours, she is shot at, lied to, forced to reveal a secret, abducted at gunpoint and thrown down a ravine. But a night spent in hiding with her best friend Ryder Dean puts her in the worst danger of all.
LIE FOR ME ~ Autumn
Sworn enemies, until they pretend to be lovers. Is the lie really the truth? Shelby Porter doesn’t like Sheriff Sawyer McIntyre and everyone in town knows it except Dolly Porter, Shelby and Sawyer’s much-loved, daffy aunt. Dolly’s health hasn’t been good of late. She worries too much over Shelby’s single status. To ease her mind, Shelby tells a little white lie that morphs into a whopper, until she is standing in Sheriff McIntyre’s bedroom at three o’clock in the morning with a teeny request: “Lie for me.” And that’s when things really get scary.
THE WAY HOME ~ Winter
The one thing they agree on is to never fall in love. Mandrake Falls is cocooned in a thick blanket of snow when Michael Shannon, the star of Tomorrow Never Comes is dropped like a bomb into Hudson Grace’s bachelor life. For the next seventy-two hours, due to a bureaucratic mix-up, the forester is stuck with the daytime diva. A fire on the hearth. A raging blizzard. And a three-year-old holy terror. Who will crack first?
LOVE RISING ~ Spring
Nobody expected them to fall in love. Nerdy stage manager, Jeremy Marks sees right through Jocelyn Tate’s stunning beauty to the vulnerable girl she is underneath. It’s no secret he’s in love with her. Jocelyn thinks Jeremy is sweet but poor and she’s determined to marry a rich man--preferably a billionaire. Jeremy doesn’t have a hope until a mysterious notice appears in the Gazette announcing their engagement. Thrown together, the young couple form a bond to find out who has it in for them.
MANDRAKE FALLS ROMANCE ~ Boxed Set Edition
Romantic Comedy. All four titles for one low price!
D ark Redeemer Medieval Adventure Romance
Love. In a dangerous time.
WANTON
Callie of Wideopens is the beautiful 18-year-old ward of Jane and Ethan. Jane is dying and the crone who supplies her herbs has had a vision of a terrible act. In a misguided attempt to alter the fate of her husband, Jane makes a desperate request of Callie. In doing so, she unwittingly sets in motion the crone’s prophecy.
WASTREL
Lord Sebastian Redford’s drinking, card-playing and womanizing is legendary at court and his brazen affair with the wife of the most powerful man in England has put his life in danger. To ward off disaster, Lord Redford’s man hastily arranges a marriage of convenience to Beatrice Fall. Sebastian’s bride proves to be anything but convenient when he consummates their marriage and their marriage of convenience becomes a dangerous wedding of illicit love.
TRAITOR
The Earl of Dorset has betrothed his only child, pampered 18-year-old Lady Elspeth to the French lord, Tyndale to secure his favour with the new French king. The trip to Canterbury is a great adventure accompanied by her father’s Captain of the Guard, Griffith of Nottingham. The captain is
a skilled bowman, loyal to the Earl and admired by Lady Elspeth—he is also a double agent working to restore King John to the throne.
Purchase the Boxed Edition for $4.99!
Swords, horses and medieval adventure! All for one low price.
SOLDIER ~ A Medieval Christmas Novella
Two stories. Two amoral men transformed by love. In Mercenary, Broderick has been made a new father but his infant son is failing to thrive. Then Tess is brought before him, the daughter of the lord whose lands Broderick has usurped. The new master of Castlemuir confines the young woman to his inner sanctum to nurse his son, but his desire for the silent girl drives him to take dangerous risks. In Jester, Dumas is a hideously deformed clown who travels the countryside in a caravan with his young assistant, Fallon, a young woman disguised as a boy. In return for keeping her identity a secret, Fallon must perform for the misshapen man each night. But Dumas has a secret of his own as Fallon soon learns after a performance at Castlemuir Hall.
Betrothed: Windemere Hall Trilogy: Book One (Victorian Villains) Page 10