by Lynn Bryant
“He has an honest way of going about it,” his wife said, beginning to unbutton his coat. “Like you. It is easy to sneer at that kind of integrity, but I like it.”
Hugh laughed and loosened his neckcloth. “Well he’s better at it than I am, lass. I’ve done well so far but I’m not sure you’ll ever be married to an Admiral. At some point in the future, I prophesy that I’ll be the one saluting Van Daan and calling him sir. But oddly enough, I don’t think I’ll mind.”
“Nor will he,” Roseen said, reaching up to kiss him. “And I definitely won’t. Just as long as I have you, and home - and the Iris, which feels like home.”
Hugh paused, arrested. “Roseen, captains aren’t supposed to take their wives to sea.”
“I know that, Hugh. But some have.”
“This is a warship, love.”
“I wondered the purpose of all those guns,” Roseen said, and she sounded so Manx that Hugh laughed aloud.
“Roseen, I honestly don’t know how I’d stand it if you were in danger,” he said.
She stepped back and studied him, the dark eyes steady on his. “Hugh, I’ve been in danger. And I almost died. But I’m still here. This has to be up to you. There was a time when I thought I could never bear to live away from Mann, and God knows I still miss it. But you’re my home. When I’m with you, I can still see the hills and smell the heather. We both know a time will come when I might have to go home. But while I can, I’d like to stay with you, if not aboard ship then as close as I can get. It’s up to you.”
Hugh felt the sheer joy of it and did not try to keep it from his face. He was grinning from ear to ear like a child and he saw her laughing at his expression and did not care.
“Roseen, there is no way on God’s earth that I could pretend I don’t want you with me. I don’t know where I’m going next or what it will be like. Why don’t we agree that we’ll take this one day at a time? If it seems safe…my chree, how could I say no?”
She smiled and took his hand. “Good. Come to bed, Captain Kelly, I’ve a need to hear you tell me again how much you love me. Although it’s a constant surprise that you’re happy with a little Manx girl when you’ve had so many…”
She broke off with a shriek as he picked her up, not trying to be gentle, and took her to the bunk, depositing her without ceremony. “That is quite enough of that, Mrs Kelly, show some respect to the man you married.”
Roseen looked over the edge of the bunk, surveying him thoughtfully. “Currently,” she said serenely, “the man I married is standing in the middle of his cabin half naked talking nonsense that I’ve no need to hear. I’m hoping he’ll get himself into bed before I fall asleep…”
Hugh gave her a look and began to remove his boots. “You are not going to sleep,” he informed her. “You have just spent an entire evening alternately flirting with a jackanapes in a red coat and my first lieutenant. I am entitled to some attention.”
“Entitled?” Roseen said, and yawned provocatively. “But I’m so tired.”
Hugh dropped the remainder of his clothing to the floor and joined her in the bunk. “Roseen…”
“Yes, Captain?”
Hugh leaned over and kissed her. “I love you,” he said. “You may come to sea with me and to the end of the world with me just as long as you love me back.”
He heard her soft laugh and felt her body shift closer to him in the bunk. “Don’t be daft, fella,” she said in exaggerated mimicry of her own accent. “You know I do.”
She drew his head down to hers again and Hugh kissed her and felt the world drift away from him in the warmth and security of her arms.
Author’s Note - Contains Spoilers
An Unwilling Alliance is a very special book for me as it is the first novel I have written that is set partly on the Isle of Man, my home. I’ve been asked many times if I planned to write a Manx novel and I’ve thought about it a lot, but it was hard to work out how to fit it in with the historical novels that I write.
The idea of a navy connection occurred to me after seeing an article about Captain John Quilliam RN, first lieutenant aboard the Victory at Trafalgar. Manxmen were far more likely to join the navy than the army and the possibility of a Manx hero finally made sense.
Historians have debated the necessity of the Copenhagen campaign of 1807 and at the time it was not universally popular although the government made a convincing argument. The campaign was successful in keeping the Danish fleet out of Bonaparte’s hands although Denmark allied itself to France as a consequence of Britain’s actions.
I have tried to keep to the known facts as far as possible. As with my other books, fictional characters rub shoulders with real people. The 110th infantry and its men exist only in my imagination but all other regiments and commanders mentioned really existed. Likewise the Iris, the Kronborg and the Flight are fictional ships but they are based on real vessels.
In contrast to the books of the Peninsular War Saga, there was very little actual fighting during the 1807 campaign and what there was, was very one-sided. The Danes do not seem to have expected the attack and were unprepared to meet it. The battle which took place in Koge is also known as the battle of the clogs, as the irregular troops actually did discard their footwear in order to speed their flight. Having said that, it is nonsense to say that the Danes made no attempt to stand. With very few trained troops, not enough guns and not enough ammunition, they tried very hard to defend their homeland. As in previous books I have given Paul and the 110th a part in the action which rightly belongs to other regiments.
I’ve very much enjoyed my first foray into the navy in An Unwilling Alliance and I have every intention of revisiting my Manx captain for a sequel at some point in the future. In the meantime, Captain Hugh Kelly awaits his next posting while Major Paul van Daan sets off for Yorkshire in January 1808, an assignment which, as readers of An Unconventional Officer will know, changes his life forever.
By the Same Author
An Unconventional Officer (Book 1 of the Peninsular War Saga)
It is 1802, and two new officers arrive at the Leicestershire barracks of the 110th infantry just in time to go to India. Sergeant Michael O’Reilly and Lieutenant Johnny Wheeler have seen officers come and go and are ready to be unimpressed. Neither of them have come across an officer like Lieutenant Paul van Daan.
Arrogant, ambitious and talented, Paul van Daan is a man who inspires loyalty, admiration and hatred in equal measure. His unconventional approach to army life is about to change the 110th into a regiment like no other.
The novel follows Paul’s progress through the ranks of the 110th from the bloody field of Assaye into Portugal and Spain as Sir Arthur Wellesley takes command of the Anglo-Portuguese forces against Napoleon. There are many women in Paul’s life but only two who touch his heart.
Rowena Summers, a shy young governess who brings him peace, stability and lasting affection.
Anne Carlyon, the wife of a fellow officer who changes everything Paul has ever believed about women.
As Europe explodes into war, an unforgettable love story unfolds which spans the continent and the years of the Peninsular War and changes the lives of everyone it touches.
An Irregular Regiment (Book 2 of the Peninsular War Saga)
It is 1810 and Major Paul van Daan and the 110th prepare to meet the French on the ridge of Bussaco in Portugal. Back on the battlefield only two weeks after his scandalous marriage to the young widow of Captain Robert Carlyon, Paul is ready for the challenge of the invading French army.
But after a successful battle, Lord Wellington has another posting for his most unorthodox officer and Paul and Anne find themselves back in Lisbon dealing with a whole new set of challenges with army supplies, new recruits and a young officer who seems to represent everything Paul despises in the army’s views on discipline and punishment. Anne is getting used to life as the wife of a newly promoted regimental colonel as two other women join the regiment under very different circumstance
s. And an old adversary appears in the shape of Captain Vincent Longford whose resentment at serving under Paul is as strong as ever.
It’s a relief to return to the field but Paul finds himself serving under the worst General in the army in a situation which could endanger his career, his regiment and his life.
Given a brief by Wellington which requires Paul to use tact and diplomacy as well as his formidable fighting skills, it’s hardly surprising that the army is holding its breath waiting for Wellington’s newest and most explosive colonel to fail spectacularly.
An Uncommon Campaign (Book 3 of the Peninsular War Saga)
It is April, 1811 and Lord Wellington has led his army to the Spanish border where the French occupy their last stronghold in Portugal at Almeida. As the two armies face each other in the village of Fuentes de Onoro, Colonel Paul van Daan finds himself in command of a brigade and is trying to manage resentment at his early promotion. His young wife is carrying her first child and showing no signs of allowing her delicate situation to get in the way of her normal activities much to the disapproval of the rest of the army.
With General Craufurd not back from leave and Lord Wellington’s army looking uncomfortably stretched, Paul is concerned that for once his commander in chief has made the wrong decision which might endanger not only the light division but the whole Allied army. And if that is not enough, Paul encounters a French colonel during battle who seems to have taken their rivalry personally with potentially lethal consequences for his brigade.
A Redoubtable Citadel (Book 4 of the Peninsular War Saga)
In the freezing January of 1812, Lord Wellington pushes his army on to the fortress town of Ciudad Rodrigo and a bloody siege with tragic consequences. In the aftermath of the battle Colonel Paul van Daan and his wife Anne take a brief trip to Lisbon to allow Paul’s family to take their young son back to England. With his career flourishing and his marriage happy, Paul has never felt so secure. But his world is shattered when his young wife is taken prisoner by a French colonel with a personal grudge against Paul. As Wellington’s army begins the siege of Badajoz, the other great Spanish border fortress, his scouts and agents conduct a frantic search for the colonel’s wife. Meanwhile Anne van Daan is in the worst danger of her life and needs to call on all her considerable resources to survive, with no idea if help is on the way.
A Regrettable Reputation (Book 1 of the Light Division Romances)
In 1816 war is over, Napoleon in exile and Regency England is at peace.
Mr Nicholas Witham, land agent at the Yorkshire estate of Lord Ashberry has found a haven of quiet, far from the bloodshed of war and the horror of Waterloo. With poachers and lost sheep his most pressing concerns, Nicholas is not seeking anything more exciting than the occasional trip to York and a game of cards with friends.
The tranquillity of Ashberry is about to be disrupted by the arrival of Miss Camilla Dorne, a young woman of doubtful reputation, sent away from London by her guardian to avoid the consequences of a disastrous and very public love affair with a disreputable officer which has broken her heart.
The last thing Camilla wants is to be thrown into the company of another army officer, past or present. But she discovers that a lost reputation can bring unexpected freedom and possibly a second chance at happiness.
With the shadow of war firmly behind him, Nicholas is ready to move on, but poverty and rising prices bring rumblings of discontent and rumours of Luddite activity in the industrial towns, and as violence erupts, the land agent of Ashberry finds himself swept up in a new conflict where the enemy is hard to identify. Faced with a stark choice between love and duty, Nicholas is beginning to realise that he may not have left the regiment behind at all…
The Reluctant Debutante (Book 2 of the Light Division Romances)
Cordelia Summers is the only daughter of a wealthy City merchant. Strong willed and clever, she has a horror of being married for her money and resists her father’s attempts to push her into society in the hope of making a good marriage.
Giles Fenwick, Earl of Rockcliffe is a scarred, cynical Waterloo veteran who unexpectedly inherited the title and has no interest in making the society marriage that the polite world expects of him.
An inauspicious first meeting in a common inn leads to a surprising friendship between the Earl and the merchant’s daughter. Neither are looking for romance or marriage, but thrown together during the London Season, both Giles and Cordelia begin to realise that not all marriages are created equal…
A Respectable Woman (Book 1 of the Alverstone Saga)
Philippa Maclay is the daughter of a missionary who is left alone to make her way in the restricted society of mid nineteenth century London. Taking a post at a charity school in the East End she is torn between her love for her work and the girls in her care and her relationship with Major Kit Clevedon, a man to whom she can never be more than a diversion.
Kit Clevedon knows that he should stay away from the young school teacher he first met in the African bush but his attraction to the girl who lives in a different world to him is rapidly turning into something a lot more.
A Marcher Lord (Book 1 of the Borderers Series)
The Anglo Scottish border in 1547 is a land at war. Jane Marchant, recently orphaned, arrives from France to live with her English aunt and uncle and finds an unhappy household. A rash decision to act as messenger for an injured English courier takes her across the war torn border and into the hands of William Scott, Lord of Crawleigh, a baron loyal to the Scottish crown.
As the war rages between the two nations, Jane finds unexpected peace at Crawleigh castle and realises that loyalties are never that simple in these border lands. But with secrets of her own to hide, can she reconcile her duty to her country with her feelings for the Scottish Lord who has become her protector and her friend?
For Lord Crawleigh, the English girl is a distraction and a temptation. But how can he trust her when she will not even tell him her name?
About the Author
Lynn Bryant was born and raised in London's East End. She studied History at University and had dreams of being a writer from a young age. Since this was clearly not something a working class girl made good could aspire to, she had a variety of careers including a librarian, NHS administrator, relationship counsellor and manager of an art gallery before realising that most of these were just as unlikely as being a writer and took the step of publishing her first book.
She now lives in the Isle of Man and is married to a man who understands technology, which saves her a job, and has two teenage children and two labradors. History is still a passion, with a particular enthusiasm for the Napoleonic era and the sixteenth century. When not writing she waits on her elderly labradors, reads anything that's put in front of her and makes periodic and unsuccessful attempts to keep a tidy house.