Unveiling Love: A Regency Romance (A London Regency Romantic Suspense Tale Book 3)
Page 11
Barrington pulled her against him, letting her sink against his bruised ribs. He needed her to be there, the pain bridging a path to her. She couldn't slip away from him now, not with everything in jeopardy. "Sarah Calloway's in Bedlam. She may not be able to say anything useful because of her madness. She could be a danger to you."
"I have to know. I need proof. Surely, we need to know for certain if my monster is the Dark Walk Abductor."
He spun her from her painting, forcing her to look at his face. Couldn't she see his concerns for her? He put his palms on her cheeks. His heart ripped open, bursting with the need to protect her from all the darkness of the world, from her addled memories. "We can't risk it. Not now."
"For the babe's sake. I know that's your concern, Barrington—"
"We don't need any more proof. I believe you. I know you were one of his victims. Isn't that enough?"
A single tear flopped onto her lashes. Another trickled along her delicate nose. "I don't know, though. And if the fear he left inside me stays, he'll win. Your love, God's keeping, it isn't enough to keep me fighting, not if I have questions taunting me in the dark."
She reached out, fisted her hand around a button on his waistcoat. "Help me go to her. Help me win."
Against his better judgment, he gave into the hurt look filling her violet eyes. She needed to conquer this, and it would only come by her standing strong and facing Sarah. "Yes. I'll take you to see her."
She swept her arms around his neck. He tried to memorize the feel of her, her wanting him and coming to him. Once Amora understood all she and the others had suffered, this gentle warrior would disappear. She'd be engulfed in the madness that consumed all of the victims of the Dark Walk Abductor.
And Barrington would be alone, knowing he'd destroyed his wife and babe by giving Amora what she desired.
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If you like these stories, please leave a review.
I love being able to write these books. I hope you love them too. As an author, I depend on you, the reader, to get the word out about my books. If you liked this book, please leave a review online and recommend it to a friend. The more you spread the word, the more books I can write and nothing would please me more than to create more of these stories for you.
Thank you.
Vanessa Riley
Sneak Peek: Episode IV
Episode IV of Unveiling Love
Length: 9 Chapters (35,000 words)
Summary: Season Finale
Amora Norton needs to make all the victims of the Dark Walk Abductor truth-tellers. And she will risk all, her health and her heart, to see justice. She now understands she'll never have peace until everything is made known. Yet, will she survive disappointing Barrington one final time?
Barrington Norton refuses to lose one more thing and will stop Amora from risking her life to catch a killer. This barrister will take it upon himself to protect her and will sentence the monster who has stolen everything Barrington values. Nonetheless, is he willing to pay the ultimate price to make his wife whole?
Pre-order/order the next Episode which releases April 2016. Join my newsletter to stay informed and if you liked this please leave a review.
Here's your sneak peek at the next episode.
Please Leave A Review
If you like these stories, please leave a review.
I love being able to write these books. I hope you love them too. As an author, I depend on you, the reader, to get the word out about my books. If you liked this book, please leave a review online and recommend it to a friend. The more you spread the word, the more books I can write and nothing would please me more than to create more of these stories for you.
Thank you.
Vanessa Riley
Sneak Peak: Episode IV copy
Episode IV of Unveiling Love
Length: 9 Chapters (35,000 words)
Summary: Season Finale
Amora Norton needs to make all the victims of the Dark Walk Abductor truth-tellers. And she will risk all, her health and her heart, to see justice. She now understands she'll never have peace until everything is made known. Yet, will she survive disappointing Barrington one final time?
Barrington Norton refuses to lose one more thing and will stop Amora from risking her life to catch a killer. This barrister will take it upon himself to protect her and will sentence the monster who has stolen everything Barrington values. Nonetheless, is he willing to pay the ultimate price to make his wife whole?
Pre-order/order the next Episode which releases April 2016. Join my newsletter to stay informed and if you liked this please leave a review.
Here's your sneak peek at the next episode.
Chapter One: Finding Sarah
Amora took Barrington's hand and allowed his strong arms to help her down from his carriage. Her gaze fell upon the stone walls surrounding Bedlam. It took a week for Barrington and Samuel to coerce Mr. Calloway's permission. A whole seven days of trying to find things to paint, of pretending not to notice Barrington's goings and comings from the attic, or his wincing as his wound was dressed.
None of this distracted her. Only the hope of seeing Sarah kept her wits level.
James doffed his hat to her and bounced back to his post atop the carriage. "Happy hunting, sir and madam."
His man's soulful eyes told his heart. He must be concerned about his master returning to Bedlam.
James leaned his head down. His gaze locked onto Barrington's. "I'll be ready to leave at a moment's notice."
Her husband nodded. "Thank you."
Barrington took her hand and led her through the courtyard. His posture hunched as if weighted by all the heaviness of the world. Perhaps his hip still bothered him. A week from being nearly beaten to death wasn't enough time to heal.
She stopped, reached up and adjusted his cravat, fluffing the folds of the bright white lawn fabric. "This will go well."
He clasped her hand and looked down upon her. His silvery gray eyes seemed so distant. No crinkles formed of humor, just harsh lines from lack of sleep, or worse, fear. "It's not too late." His tone was low. It bordered upon desperate. "We can get an ice. Do anything else, but this."
Fingers intertwined, he pressed closer, folding her within his strong embrace. His lips slipped to her brow. "We could leave London forever. We could travel. We could see the world. Let me give you the world."
He'd only begged once in his life that she'd witnessed and that was the day she tried to toss herself off the cliff in Clanville.
Was that it?
Did he assume she'd lose her reason knowing the truth? Couldn't he see it was the only way to keep her wits? She brought her dark indigo gloved hands to his chin. "The truth will set us free. Trust in me, please."
His gray eyes darted. His lips pressed into a firmer line. Surely, he couldn't pledge to completely trust in her. It wasn't in him to lie.
But she had faith in herself. It might be small and mangled, but it was hers. She could not rest not knowing, not anymore. Only the truth could save her.
They plodded up the stairs. Barrington held open the door and allowed her inside. The stench of mustard and tonics wafted down the corridor. She put a hand to her nose. The place was dark.
Barrington tugged his hat off. He trudged back and forth waiting. "The caregiver, Mr. Greene, will be here soon."
He stopped by a door and touched the handle. "To think, Miller was here all that time. I could've visited him if Miss Miller had been honest."
"Those words don't seem to go together, Miss Miller and honesty."
A tall grim-faced man cleaning his large onyx spectacles appeared at the entrance of the long hall.
Barrington walked over to him and shook his hand. "I'm Barrister Norton. You're Mr. Greene?"
"That I am." He tweaked his thick mustache. "The head administrator of Bethlehem Hospital. I understand you want to see Miss Calloway. It's getting a bit late in the evening for visiting."
Barri
ngton nodded. His fingers fumbled along the brim of his top hat. "Miss Calloway is a potential witness to a crime. She's one of the Dark Walk Abductor's victim."
"Crying shame what they say happened."
Like awakening from a fog, Barrington stepped forward. His grip tightened on his hat, almost as if thumbs would pierce the fabric. "It did happen. We just don't know who the villain is."
"Well, let's see if the woman is not so dour tonight." Waving, Mr. Greene led them down a long hall. "Miss Calloway disappeared from Vaux Hall and was found a month later, babbling in a ditch a few hours outside of London. Horrible condition."
A few hours? Amora thought. That could be Clanville, couldn't it? If this woman was Sarah, then Barrington was right. Amora swallowed. How much would her world change knowing that the Dark Walk Abductor held her captive?
Voices echoed.
Unintelligible mumblings seemed to crowd them as they paced deeper into the building. A darkened room of beds and bodies lay to the right.
Greene trudged past, head held high as if the patients were part of the wall. How could one grow cold to human misery?
The administrator's snow covered head stopped bobbing in front of an illuminated door. It stood apart in the dim passageway, the only one with light pouring from the frame.
Barrington's countenance dimmed. "She needs a great deal of light even in the evenings when she should be sleeping?"
Greene huffed, as if the burden to not be overtaken by darkness was something one could help. "Miss Calloway is quiet if we keep her room lit." He pulled out a skeleton key from his long coat and pressed it into the lock.
As Amora followed, the smells of urine and stale air assaulted her. The familiar toxic perfume wrenched at her soul. Oh, how she'd rather smell the stinging scent of lye soap from the asylum or even wretched chrysanthemums. Her fingers trembled. She stuffed her hands into her pockets.
A lump with blonde hair rolled into a ball was chained to the bed. Attached to the plain grey wall were two make shift wall sconces. Large candles burned from above. If the candles snuffed, the poor girl and everyone in the room wouldn't see more than a few inches forward. Amora's heart raced. Being trapped in this small space with no light would be death.
Extras
Author's Note
Dear Friend,
I enjoyed writing Unveiled Love because diverse Regency London needs its story told, and I am a sucker for a wonderful husband and wife romance. They need love after the vows, too.
These stories will showcase a world of intrigue and romance, a setting everyone can hopefully find a character to identify with in the battle of love, which renews and gives life.
Stay in touch. Sign up at www.vanessariley.com for my newsletter. You'll be the first to know about upcoming releases, and maybe even win a sneak peek.
Thank so much for giving this book a read.
Vanessa Riley
Many of my readers are new to Regencies, so I always add notes and a glossary to make items readily available. If you know of a term that should be added to enhance my readers' knowledge, send them to me at: vanessa@christianregency.com. I will acknowledge you in my next book.
Here are my notes:
Mulatto Barristers
I couldn't find definitive proof of one, but that does not mean it was impossible. Connections and success bent rules. Such was the case for William Garrow (1760-1840). He was not born a gentleman and didn't go to the best schools. Yet, his success in the courts rewrote how trials would be performed. He introduced the premise, "presumed innocent until proven guilty," and rose to become Solicitor General for England and Wales.
Free blacks in 1800's English Society
By Regency times, historians, Kirstin Olsen and Gretchen Holbrook Gerzina, estimate that Black London (the black neighborhood of London) had over 10,000 residents. While England led the world in granting rights to the enslaved and ending legal slavery thirty years before the American Civil War, it still had many citizens who were against change. Here is another image from an anti-abolitionist.
The New Union Club being a representation of what took place at a celebrated dinner given by a celebrated society – includes in picture abolitionists, Billy Waters, Zachariah Macauley, William Wilberforce. – published 19 July 1819. Source: Wiki Commons
Notable People Mentioned in this Serial
William Wilberforce (1759-1833) was an abolitionist who sought to end England's slave trade which existed within the Empire's colonies. His conversion to Evangelical Christianity made him change his outlook on life and to seek reform.
Zachary Macaulay (1768-1838) was an abolitionist and a former governor of Sierra Leone. Like Wilberforce, his faith drove him to try to end the slave trade.
George Bridgetower (George Augustus Polgreen Bridgetower) was born in Poland on October 11, 1778. The mulatto described as Afro-European was the son of John Frederick Bridgetower, a West Indie's black man and a white German maid. He became a virtuoso violinist whose talents were recognized by the Prince Regent. The prince took an interest in his education and directed Bridgetower's musical studies. Bridgetower performed in many concerts in London theatres like, Covent Garden, Drury Lane and the Haymarket Theatre. In the spring of 1789, Bridgetower performed at the Abbaye de Panthemont in Paris. Thomas Jefferson attended this event. Bridgewater died February 1860.
Harriet Westbrook was the first wife of Percy Shelley. She was abandoned by Lord Shelley when he fell in love with Mary Wollstonecraft. On 10 December 1816, Harriet's body was found. She was pregnant when she was drowned in the the Serpentine in Hyde Park, London.
King George III, the king who lost the American colonies, suffered from bouts of mental illness. His son ruled in his stead as the Prince Regent (George Augustus Frederick). King George III died January 27, 1820. Mourning for a King had three parts: deep mourning (eight weeks), mourning (two weeks), and half-mourning (two weeks). During these times, clothing and accessories had to be correlated to the type of mourning.
Inter-racial marriages occurred.
The children known as mulattos lived lives on the scale of their education and wealth. Examine this painting. Portrait of a Mulatto by FABRE, François-Xavier. It is from 1809-1810. Portraits were indicative to status and wealth. My screenshot of the image the art once displayed at Arenski Fine Art, LTD London. More information can be found at http://maryrobinettekowal.com/journal/images-of-regency-era-free-people-of-colour/.
This painting of an interracial couple and child, Pintura de Castas, from Spaniard and Mulatto, Morisca (1763). Where love exists barriers fade.
Slavery in England
The emancipation of slaves in England preceded America by thirty years and freedom was won by legal court cases not bullets.
Somerset v Stewart (1772) is a famous case, which established the precedence for the rights of slaves in England. The English Court of King's Bench, led by Lord Mansfield, decided that slavery was unsupported by the common law of England and Wales. His ruling:
"The state of slavery is of such a nature that it is incapable of being introduced on any reasons, moral or political, but only by positive law, which preserves its force long after the reasons, occasions, and time itself from whence it was created, is erased from memory. It is so odious, that nothing can be suffered to support it, but positive law. Whatever inconveniences, therefore, may follow from the decision, I cannot say this case is allowed or approved by the law of England; and therefore the black must be discharged."
E. Neville William, The Eighteenth-Century Constitution: 1688-1815, pp: 387-388.
The Slavery Abolition Act 1833 was an act of Parliament, which abolished slavery throughout the British Empire. A fund of $20 Million Pound Sterling was set up to compensate slave owners. Many of the highest society families were compensated for losing their slaves.
This act did exempt the territories in the possession of the East India Company, the Island of Ceylon, and the Island of Saint Helena. In 1843, the exceptions were eliminate
d.
Glossary
The Regency – The Regency is a period of history from 1811-1825 (sometimes expanded to 1795-1837) in England. It takes its name from the Prince Regent who ruled in his father's stead when the king suffered mental illness. The Regency is known for manners, architecture, and elegance. Jane Austen wrote her famous novel, Pride and Prejudice (1813), about characters living during the Regency.
England is a country in Europe. London is the capital city of England.
Image of England from a copper engraved map created by William Darton in 1810.