‘Please, don’t repeat it. I can imagine what she told you. I suppose you know all about Caroline as well?’ Maddie nodded. ‘I thought so. That’s just wonderful; all my sins come home to roost.’ He shook his head. ‘Oh, I don’t know why I bothered with all this. It was probably a stupid idea after all. Come on, let’s go back inside.’ He stood up abruptly.
‘But ... Alex, what did I say? For God’s sake, what’s this all about?’
He rounded on her, a look of sadness mixed with anger on his face. ‘Okay, I’ll tell you. I had Kayla and Wes arrange this ball for you and I was going to ask you to marry me. I know we haven’t known each other for very long, but some things you’re just sure of … and I was going to tell you that I love you more than any other woman in the world, that I think you’re absolutely gorgeous and I can’t live without you.’ He turned away and stared out to sea. ‘But what’s the use? You’ve already made up your mind about me. I thought the only thing you might hold against me was my criminal record, but I see now that I was wrong. Well, I’m sorry I bothered you. I sure as hell didn’t intend to have a one-night stand with you, it just happened and for the record, I wanted a lot more than that. There, are you happy now?’
‘... there will be happiness, as long as you let yourself believe in it.’
Maddie stared at him. God what an idiot I’ve been! ‘Happy? I ... no. I’m not happy, I’m ecstatic!’
‘You what?’ He turned around to scowl at her ferociously.
‘Alex, you idiot. Kiss me.’
‘Kiss you?’ It was Alex’s turn to stare.
‘Yes, please. If you tell me you love me often enough I might believe you, but you’ll have to prove it to me too.’
‘You mean ...?’
‘Yes, I mean! Yes, I would love to be your wife! Yes, I love you like crazy and no I don’t give a damn whether you’ve been to prison or not! I also don’t care how many women you seduced, as long as that part of your life is over now. You really want to marry me?’ She couldn’t believe it. It was too wonderful to be true, surely.
Alex smiled as her words finally sank in. ‘You bet I do. In fact, if you hold on a second I’ll do this right.’ He fumbled inside his jacket, brought out a tiny box and flipped the lid open. Then he went down on one knee in front of her. ‘Maddie Browne, I love you more than I can say. Will you marry me?’ He held out the box which contained an antique ring of delicate craftsmanship topped by a small emerald.
‘Oh, Alex, yes. I can’t think of anything I’d rather do.’
Alex grinned from ear to ear and hauled her into his embrace. ‘Right. Now if you want me to prove my love it might take a while,’ he warned and kissed her cheeks, her nose, her eyelids and finally her mouth. ‘But I’ll do my best.’
‘That’s quite all right. Take all the time you need, only, do you think we could perhaps go somewhere more private? People might see us.’ She nodded in the direction of the French windows.
‘As a matter of fact, I know the perfect place. There’s this little sandy cove not very far from here, where no one but the seagulls will hear you cry out.’
Maddie felt her cheeks grow warm. ‘You think you’ll make me cry out then, do you? Perhaps you were just lucky last time.’
‘Not a chance. You’ll do it every time, for the rest of your life. I guarantee it. And by the way, I love it when you blush.’
‘Well, in that case – what are we waiting for? Get me out of this dreadful corset before I expire!’
Epilogue
Anyone watching the beautiful bride walking down the aisle on her father’s arm would have said that she was truly radiant. Not to mention the spitting image of the red-headed giant who guided her to her future husband with such obvious pride.
That pride increased no end when later on the priest asked, ‘Do you, Madeline Sorcha Browne Ruthven take this man for your lawfully wedded husband?’, and there were those who swore they had seen tears running down the big man’s cheeks. No one was ever sure.
However, the frail lady by his side was most definitely crying with happiness and kept twisting the shiny new wedding band on her own left hand. She looked on with maternal pride as her oldest daughter was married, attended by her youngest, who looked almost as lovely as the bride herself. The two girls were followed by the groom’s niece, who skipped down the aisle in a fairytale dress of sky blue silk and tulle.
None of the guests remarked upon the extraordinary events which had preceded this wedding. They simply wished Maddie and Alex all the best for the future, and headed back to Marcombe Hall to celebrate them with as much fuss as could possibly be managed.
In the first floor gallery, where the wedding breakfast was held, everyone’s eyes were on the bride and groom. If they’d turned around, they might have seen a strange sight – the subjects of two of the gallery’s huge paintings smiling and nodding at each other. The man, Jago Kerswell, whispered to the love of his life, Lady Eliza Marcombe, ‘Another happy ending – exactly what this house needs. Looks like they’re following in our footsteps.’
‘Yes, I hope they’ll be together for eternity, just like us, my love.’
And the happy couple looked set to do just that.
About the Author
Christina Courtenay lives in Herefordshire and is married with two children. Although born in England she has a Swedish mother and was brought up in Sweden. In her teens, the family moved to Japan where she had the opportunity to travel extensively in the Far East.
Christina is vice chairman of the Romantic Novelists’ Association. The Soft Whisper of Dreams is her eleventh release with Choc Lit and a follow-on to her novel, The Secret Kiss of Darkness. In 2011, Christina’s first novel Trade Winds (September 2010) was short listed for The Romantic Novelists’ Association’s Award for Best Historical Fiction. Her second novel, The Scarlet Kimono, won the Big Red Reads Best Historical Fiction Award. In 2012, Highland Storms (November 2011) won the Best Historical Romantic Novel of the year award. And The Silent Touch of Shadows (July 2012), Christina’s fourth novel, won the award for Best Historical Read at the Festival of Romance. The Gilded Fan is Christina’s fifth novel and the sequel to The Scarlet Kimono and was published in 2013. In addition, Christina is also the author of the YA novel, New England Rocks, and a number of Regency e-novellas, which can be found online.
www.christinacourtenay.com
www.twitter.com/PiaCCourtenay
More Choc Lit
From Christina Courtenay
The Secret Kiss of Darkness
Prequel to The Soft Whispers of Dreams
Must forbidden love end in heartbreak?
Kayla Sinclair knows she’s in big trouble when she almost bankrupts herself to buy a life-size portrait of a mysterious eighteenth century man at an auction.
Jago Kerswell, innkeeper and smuggler, knows there is danger in those stolen moments with Lady Eliza Marcombe, but he’ll take any risk to be with her.
Over two centuries separate Kayla and Jago, but, when Kayla’s jealous fiancé presents her with an ultimatum, and Jago and Eliza’s affair is tragically discovered, their lives become inextricably linked thanks to a gypsy’s spell.
Kayla finds herself on a quest that could heal the past, but what she cannot foresee is the danger in her own future.
Will Kayla find heartache or happiness?
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Trade Winds
Shortlisted for the Romantic Novelists’ Association’s Pure Passion Award for Best Historical Fiction 2011
Marriage of convenience – or a love for life?
It’s 1732 in Gothenburg, Sweden, and strong-willed Jess van Sandt knows only too well that it’s a man’s world. She believes she’s being swindled out of her inheritance by her stepfather – and she’s determined to stop it.
When help appears in the unlikely form of handsome Scotsman Killian Kinros
s, himself disinherited by his grandfather, Jess finds herself both intrigued and infuriated by him. In an attempt to recover her fortune, she proposes a marriage of convenience. Then Killian is offered the chance of a lifetime with the Swedish East India Company’s Expedition and he’s determined that nothing will stand in his way, not even his new bride.
He sets sail on a daring voyage to the Far East, believing he’s put his feelings and past behind him. But the journey doesn’t quite work out as he expects …
Visit www.choc-lit.com for more details including the first two chapters and reviews.
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Highland Storms
Winner of the 2012 Best Historical Romantic Novel of the year
Who can you trust?
Betrayed by his brother and his childhood love, Brice Kinross needs a fresh start. So he welcomes the opportunity to leave Sweden for the Scottish Highlands to take over the family estate.
But there’s trouble afoot at Rosyth in 1754 and Brice finds himself unwelcome. The estate’s in ruin and money is disappearing. He discovers an ally in Marsaili Buchanan, the beautiful redheaded housekeeper, but can he trust her?
Marsaili is determined to build a good life. She works hard at being a housekeeper and harder still at avoiding men who want to take advantage of her. But she’s irresistibly drawn to the new clan chief, even though he’s made it plain he doesn’t want to be shackled to anyone.
And the young laird has more than romance on his mind. His investigations are stirring up an enemy. Someone who will stop at nothing to get what he wants – including Marsaili – even if that means destroying Brice’s life forever …
Sequel to Trade Winds.
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The Scarlet Kimono
Winner of the 2011 Big Red Read’s Best Historical Fiction Award
Abducted by a Samurai warlord in 17th-century Japan – what happens when fear turns to love?
England, 1611, and young Hannah Marston envies her brother’s adventurous life. But when she stows away on his merchant ship, her powers of endurance are stretched to their limit. Then they reach Japan and all her suffering seems worthwhile – until she is abducted by Taro Kumashiro’s warriors.
In the far north of the country, warlord Kumashiro is waiting to see the girl who he has been warned about by a seer. When at last they meet, it’s a clash of cultures and wills, but they’re also fighting an instant attraction to each other.
With her brother desperate to find her and the jealous Lady Reiko equally desperate to kill her, Hannah faces the greatest adventure of her life. And Kumashiro has to choose between love and honour …
Prequel to The Gilded Fan
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The Gilded Fan
How do you start a new life, leaving behind all you love?
It’s 1641, and when Midori Kumashiro, the orphaned daughter of a warlord, is told she has to leave Japan or die, she has no choice but to flee to England. Midori is trained in the arts of war, but is that enough to help her survive a journey, with a lecherous crew and an attractive captain she doesn’t trust?
Having come to Nagasaki to trade, the last thing Captain Nico Noordholt wants is a female passenger, especially a beautiful one. How can he protect her from his crew when he can’t keep his own eyes off her?
During their journey, Nico and Midori form a tentative bond, but they both have secrets that can change everything. When they arrive in England, a civil war is brewing, and only by standing together can they hope to survive …
Sequel to The Scarlet Kimono.
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The Silent Touch of Shadows
Winner of the 2012 Best Historical Read from the Festival of Romance
What will it take to put the past to rest?
Professional genealogist Melissa Grantham receives an invitation to visit her family’s ancestral home, Ashleigh Manor. From the moment she arrives, life-like dreams and visions haunt her. The spiritual connection to a medieval young woman and her forbidden lover have her questioning her sanity, but Melissa is determined to solve the mystery.
Jake Precy, owner of a nearby cottage, has disturbing dreams too, but it’s not until he meets Melissa that they begin to make sense. He hires her to research his family’s history, unaware their lives are already entwined. Is the mutual attraction real or the result of ghostly interference?
A haunting love story set partly in the present and partly in fifteenth century Kent.
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New England Rocks
First impressions, how wrong can you get?
When Rain Mackenzie is expelled from her British boarding school, she can’t believe her bad luck. Not only is she forced to move to New England, USA, she’s also sent to the local high school, as a punishment.
Rain makes it her mission to dislike everything about Northbrooke High, but what she doesn’t bank on is meeting Jesse Devlin …
Jesse is the hottest guy Rain’s ever seen and he plays guitar in an awesome rock band!
There’s just one small problem … Jesse already has a girlfriend, little miss perfect Amber Lawrence, who looks set to cause trouble as Rain and Jesse grow closer.
But, what does it matter? New England sucks anyway, and Rain doesn’t plan on sticking around …
Does she?
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Marry in Haste
A regency novella
‘I need to marry, and I need to marry at once’
When James, Viscount Demarr confides in an acquaintance at a ball one evening, he has no idea that the potential solution to his problems stands so close at hand …
Amelia Ravenscroft is the granddaughter of a earl and is desperate to escape her aunt’s home where she has endured a life of drudgery, whilst fighting off the increasingly bold advances of her lecherous cousin. She boldly proposes a marriage of convenience.
And Amelia soon proves herself a perfect fit for the role of Lady Demarr. But James has doubts and his blossoming feelings are blighted by suspicions regarding Amelia’s past.
Will they find, all too painfully, that if you marry in haste you repent at leisure?
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Once Bitten Twice Shy
A regency novella
“Once was more than enough!”
Jason Warwycke, Marquess of Wyckeham, has vowed never to wed again after his disastrous first marriage, which left him with nothing but a tarnished reputation and a rather unfortunate nickname − ‘Lord Wicked’.
That is, until he sets eyes on Ianthe Templeton …
Ianthe lives in the shadow of her beautiful twin sister, Serena, and longs to escape the “mindless entertainments” she is forced to endure in London. She soon finds herself captivated by the enigmatic Wyckeham and tempted by his promises of a new life in the idyllic English countryside …
But can Wyckeham and Ianthe overcome the malicious schemes of spiteful siblings and evil stepmothers to find wedded bliss? Or will Wyckeham discover, all too painfully, that the past has come back to bite him for a second time?
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Desperate Remedies
A regency novella
'She would never forget the day her heart broke …'
Lexie Holloway falls desperately in love with the devastatingly handsome Earl of Synley after a brief encounter at a ball. But Synley is already engaged to be married and scandal surrounds his unlikely match with the aging, but incredibly wealthy, Lady Catherine Downes.
Heartbroken, Lexie resolves to remain a spinster and allows circumstance to carry her far away from England to a new life in Italy. However, the dashing Earl is never far from her thoughts.
Years later, she returns home to find that much has changed – including the marital status of Synley. Whilst the once notorious Earl is a reformed character, the problems caused by his first marriage continue to plague him and it appears that his life may be in danger.
Can Lexie help Synley outwit those who wish to harm him and rekindle the flame ignited all those years ago, or will her associations with the Earl bring her nothing but trouble?
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Introducing Choc Lit
We’re an independent publisher creating a delicious selection of fiction.
Where heroes are like chocolate – irresistible!
Quality stories with a romance at the heart.
Choc Lit novels are selected by genuine readers like yourself. We only publish stories our Choc Lit Tasting Panel want to see in print. Our reviews and awards speak for themselves.
The Soft Whisper of Dreams Page 21