The Haunting at Hawke's Moor (36 page)

Anne ran her fingers over the wisps of
the barley as she walked through the lush crop. The sun shone
brightly and the warm breeze sang over the barley heads. There was
a lovely, clean and fresh smell coming off the stalks.

“
It is beautiful,” she said. The moors
stretched as far as she could see, but she didn’t feel the
desolation. This felt like hers now, and his. This was their world
and they were completely safe and free.

Walking through the stalks to him, she
wrapped her arms around his waist and breathed in the scent of him.
This was home; he was home. “You like it?” he said, looking down at
her.

“
I love it.”

Behind them, back at the house,
Elizabeth and her brother were coming out the door, running down
one side and away. Elizabeth had her skirts bundled in front of her
as she ran. Just then, Elizabeth didn’t seem that old, more like
the girl she looked like.

“
Where are they going?”

“
There is a stream over there,” he
said, pointing in the distance. “On hot days, they like to swim in
it.”

“
Is there really?” Anne said
brightly.

“
Perhaps I will show you
later.”

The idea of spending time with him in the
bright, warm sun was infinitely appealing.

“
But tonight,” he continued. “I think
we should have a banquet in your honor, to truly welcome you to the
house.”

“
Will there be dancing?” she said,
stepping away from him, lightly gripping the barley around
her.

“
Of course. And music. Thompson is
rather gifted, if you would believe it. William can belt out a
tune, too, if pressed.”

His face grew serious as he walked
toward her again. “I don’t want you to regret this.”

“
I don’t think I will.” She couldn’t
stop touching him when he was near and ached to when he wasn’t. He
occupied every single thought in her head with a headiness that
made her woozy. A smile refused to budge from her lips, except now,
when he was leaning down to kiss her. A slow, lingering kiss made
her forget where she was.

“
Well, I have done some questionable
things in my life, and in my death, but I am not a scoundrel. I
might not always have succeeded, but I have always tried to do
right.” He turned to her, his hands gently stroking along her
shoulders and down her arms. “That includes the woman I intend to
share my world with. So, Anne Sands of London, as we have discussed
on a few occasions, will you consent to being my bride?”

“
As I recall, that was more of a
threat,” she teased.

“
I suppose that depends entirely on
how you look at it.”

“
And if I say no?”

Wrapping his fingers around hers, he
drew her close, her chest pressed against his. “Then I think I must
convince you. Although I would have to work quickly as there is a
vicar in the house who will shortly be departing. It may not be
impossible to get him to delay a night. I am sure Lisle could
convince him to stay another night to console a distraught girl
such as herself. He appears a tender-hearted man. The banquet
tonight might as well be a wedding banquet.”

Anne twisted her head as if
considering the proposal. “The poor man would be
terrified.”

“
He’ll assume it’s a
dream.”

The idea of taking vows with this man
was deeply exciting. She wanted them to belong together in every
way. Surely vows were as beholding for spirits as they were for the
living. It was perhaps the intent that mattered. It was for her
anyway. She wanted to state her intentions for everyone to hear.
This man belonged to her and she belonged to him.

“
Then, Miss Anne Sands of London. Will
you tonight be Mrs. Anne Hawke?”

“
I’ll think about it,” she said with a
laugh and slipped out of his grip. She didn’t get far before he
caught her, lifting her up in his arms. The kiss showed he wasn’t
taking no for an answer.

The End

The Notorious Marquis of
Wickerley –
-
With the king’s execution,
madness has descended on England and Cecily Alderman’s father
pushes forward the moment she’d been dreading for six years, her
marriage to the most notorious libertine that ever graced the
king’s court. Sent to the wilds of Cornwall, she has to face a man
exiled from all society, chased by the uncertainty and dangers of a
country ripping itself apart with war.
 
The contract to be the Marquis of Wickerley bride might be
the worst injustice her father had ever visited on her, and dealing
with this man who shows her no manners will prove an impossible
task.

An Absent Wife
-
The desertion of Lord Lysander Warburton's wife
had come as a complete surprise, even though he readily admitted
that he'd never excelled as a husband. The death of the wife he'd
ignored for close to a decade was a downright nuisance, making him
further fodder for the gossips, and now a target for every
designing matron in London.
 
In line with her consistent talent
for being disagreeable, Lady Adele Warburton had run off with a
lowly lieutenant, leaving safety and respectability behind, then
died in a cholera epidemic in a far flung
country.
 
In a last show of husbandly duty,
Lysander decides to recover her effects, and grudgingly those of
her lover, retracing the steps of the wife he'd barely known across
half the world. But arriving in the mayhem of India, he finds that
all is not as it should be.
  WARNING:
Contains a non-consensual scene.

Sequence Effect
-
Gwennie Elders doesn't
regret for a moment the debt she took on to extend her
grandmother's life, but when running into trouble with repayments
she had to resort to drastic actions to save her family's business
and apartment. It would only be a year of her life and she'd be
unconscious throughout--to awaken debt-free and able to resume her
life as a baker on the city's ground level, hemmed in by the towers
where the wealthy and privileged lived. But there are no easy and
options, and although she emerges from her servitude debt-free, her
family's business and her means of support fleeted away while she
was asleep, forcing her to seek a means to support herself in the
coming war.

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