by Deborah Hale
As Cassandra leaned forward to see if she could make out anything, she heard someone having a loud exchange with the coachman. No doubt they were requesting assistance. Their carriage listed to one side, as if a wheel might have broken. The other vehicle was smaller than the stagecoach with the elegant shape of a private travelling equipage. Clearly it must belong to a family of considerable fortune. Bad roads were egalitarian—treating an earl’s barouche and a farmer’s pony cart all the same.
“I wonder how long those poor people have been stranded here,” Mrs. Davis mused.
“I believe we are about to find out.” Cassandra drew back from the window and scrambled over to sit beside her travelling companion. She had spied a snow-covered gentleman leading a heavily cloaked lady toward the stagecoach.
An instant later, the door flew open and the lady clambered inside.
“What ghastly weather!” she cried, pulling one hand from a lavish fur muff to brush away the snowflakes that clung to her cloak. “I was terrified we might be stuck here for days and freeze to death.”
She cast a appraising glance over Cassandra and Mrs. Davis as she took a seat opposite them. Cassandra sensed they had been judged respectable enough to address but nothing more. She had no opportunity to take offense, for the gentleman climbed in after his companion. He had taken care to brush himself off before entering.
“We beg your pardon, ladies, for any inconvenience we have caused you. The arrival of your coach was providential for us.”
The moment he began to speak, Cassandra fancied all the air had been sucked from the coach box. Heat flamed in her cheeks and her stomach felt as if she were tumbling down a steep hill inside a barrel. Averting her face from him, she gazed out the other window as if she could see something of urgent interest through the fogged glass.
Would Sir Brandon Calvert still consider their meeting providential, she wondered, when he discovered her identity?
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Annabelle agrees, with great reluctance. She cannot turn her back on an abandoned child. Both she and Jack know the pain of being unwanted. Yet she fears rekindling old feelings for him, which were once far more than friendly…until he broke her heart. Besides, Jack is determined to reform his ways, find and marry the child’s mother, in spite of his growing passion for Annabelle!
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Previously published as “Much Ado About Nuptials” in the anthology The Wedding Season
Sebastian Viscount Benedict knows from bitter experience that marrying a woman of lower rank and fortune brings nothing but heartache. He is determined to prevent his beloved brother from making the same mistake by wedding the local squire’s daughter.
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In spite of their many differences, Sebastian finds himself drawn to forthright, loyal Rebecca. Yet he fears his admiration for the lady may overturn his good judgment and erode his resolve. Rebecca fights her growing attraction to Sebastian, which threatens to divide her loyalties... and perhaps break her heart. If only she can help him believe in true love once again, there may be hope for more than one happy ending!
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