by Abby Ayles
Copyright
Copyright © 2019 by Abby Ayles
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
Table of Contents
Copyright
Table of Contents
A Daring Captain for her Loyal Heart
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Chapter 40
Epilogue
The Extended Epilogue
A Message from Abby
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A Daring Captain for her Loyal Heart
Chapter 1
The two men faced off against one another, the tension between them palpable to any onlooker. The moments ticked by at an unbearably slow pace, as they looked each other up and down, waiting for an opening.
The tension burst as one rushed at the other, tackling him around the waist and forcing him back a few paces. The other was quick to react, hooking his arm around the first man’s head and locking it into position so that he could not struggle loose.
They twisted and turned, each fighting for the upper hand. They exchanged no words, only grunted with the strain and the effort.
One finally found an opening, landing a blow to the other’s ribs – but it was a soft blow, and one that signaled only the end of the fight.
“Alright, I yield,” Christopher Hardwicke laughed, letting go of his friend’s neck and stepping backward. “You got me again, Rivers.”
Jasper Rivers straightened up, flashing him a grin of victory. “As always,” he said. “You’re lucky I didn’t really have a knife.”
“I’m not sure why you would pull a knife on your best friend,” Christopher laughed. “It would be terribly unsporting.”
Jasper brushed himself off, laughing in return. “Not to mention that the Captain would be none too happy with us for thinning the ranks of our own army.”
“You’re right about that,” Christopher smirked. “Though if you ask me, this army could do with fewer officers – at least, the ones above us. More room for us to move up.”
“Well, give us some time,” Jasper said, picking up his scabbard and reattaching it to his belt. “We’ve only just got here. Once we know the score a little more, we might find there’s an opening somewhere.”
Christopher shrugged. He had already made some inquiries since they were reassigned to their new barracks.
“All the officer positions are full here. Just about everywhere, it seems. I’ve put out a few queries, but I don’t think there’s a captain missing in the whole of the south of England.”
“Hm. We’ll have to do something about that,” Jasper said.
Christopher raised an eyebrow. “I don’t see that we can. Besides, we’ll be busy enough with everything this season.”
“You have some plans?” Jasper asked. “I hope you’re not expecting to leave me behind.”
Christopher laughed. “Never, old chum. You know we both have lodgings for our leave in Bath. But I do think perhaps you might want to stay at the barracks when I go back to visit home.”
Jasper pulled a face. Nothing more needed to be said: they both knew what had happened last time Jasper had visited Hardwicke Hall.
It had been a terrible to-do; Jasper had succeeded in persuading Christopher’s younger sister, Patience, to run away with him, and it was only at the last minute that they were stopped with Patience’s honor still intact.
Jasper flopped down on his cot, making himself comfortable. “I suppose I should never show my face in front of Edmund again.”
“My brother is not the forgiving kind,” Christopher agreed.
In fact, Edmund, the Earl of Kelt, had been incensed to know that Christopher still fraternized with Jasper – but he was not in the military, and he did not know what it was like.
Bonds that were forged here were strong, and when two men still served together, it was not as though they could avoid one another.
Besides which, they were officers. That meant they treated one another with honor. And since no real harm had been done – except for Patience complaining and sulking for weeks straight – Christopher had let the matter go.
Perhaps if he really had run away with her, it would have been a different matter.
Edmund, on the other hand, had no bond with Jasper. He had given Christopher a black eye for bringing his friend to the family home, so there was no telling how far he would go if he ever saw Jasper again. Even the calming influence of his wife would likely not be enough to hold him back.
“Still, all is well with the family?” Jasper asked, even managing not to sound as if he couldn’t care a fig.
“Oh, yes,” Christopher said, trying to ignore the treacherous spike of jealousy when he thought of how happy they were. “Edmund is settled in very nicely with his new wife. They are expecting a child soon.”
Jasper snorted. “I bet that will be the end of it for your siblings,” he remarked, picking at something on the inside of one of his fingernails.
“What do you mean by that?”
“Well, once he has a child of his own, I doubt the Earl will want to mess around playing father to the others. He’ll have his hands full. The girls will be married off as soon as possible and ignored otherwise.”
“You can’t think so!” Christopher exclaimed.
“Why not? It’s a tale as old as time. The new lion takes over the pack, and he kills the cubs of the old king. People are always more dedicated to their own children. I was only packed off to the army because my mother remarried.”
Christopher frowned. “You have him wrong,” he said. “Since our parents died, Edmund has only ever taken his duties seriously. Besides, Samuel is away at school, and Patience should be married before long anyway. By the time the new child is walking around unaided, he’ll only have Amy left with him. She’s not exactly a burden.”
“If you believe it to be so, I cannot argue. Granted, the only impression I have of him is that of an extremely angry man,” Jasper commented.
“Well, you do have t
hat effect on most people.”
“Since my birth,” Jasper admitted cheerily. “It’s always been a particular skill of mine.”
“And what of your family? They are well?” Christopher asked, mostly out of politeness.
Jasper waved a hand dismissively. “All well. Why shouldn’t they be? Nothing new to report. But tell me, will Edmund hire a new governess? I do so enjoy a governess.”
“You won’t get your hands on her, even if he does,” Christopher said, scowling at the shameful memory of his own attempt to woo Joanna – the former governess who was now his brother’s bride. That was something he wished that he could forget.
“You’ll have to make do with the ladies of Bath.”
“You’re still set on making the trip again this season, then?”
“Of course. I’ve already announced my leave to the Captain. I’m staying with another officer, and I’ve arranged a room for you in the same house. Lady Juliana will be in town at the same time.”
Jasper gave him a sly look. “You old dog. Returning to old grounds, eh?”
Christopher turned away from him and tidied his trunk, aimlessly, afraid that he might be seen to blush.
“It’s not exactly like that. Nothing happened between us last season. When I court her, it will be for the first time.”
Jasper followed him to elbow him in the ribs. “I’m sure.”
Christopher gave a yelp of protest, and quickly turned to tackle his friend. “Don’t start this again,” he said, as they began to play at fighting once more. The sting of red in his cheeks only served to make Christopher wrestle Jasper harder.
After confusing minutes of straining and matching strength against strength, Christopher managed at last to get a hand up to Jasper’s throat, clenched around the handle of an imaginary knife.
“I yield! I yield!” Jasper cried with a grin, seemingly only more satisfied by his friend’s embarrassment.
Satisfied, Christopher let him go.
His thoughts about Juliana were his own, and he didn’t wish to share them with anybody – least of all Jasper, who wouldn’t understand.
He wouldn’t understand staying up at nights, envisioning only one woman’s face, your ears ringing with only one woman’s laughter. He wouldn’t understand counting the days until he saw her again. Planning, hoping, dreaming, imagining.
Most of it, Christopher didn’t understand either. But if there was one thing he did understand, it was this:
A tree had taken root inside his heart last year, and it was growing and growing whether he wanted it or not. A willow tree of smiles and glances, of warmth and starlight, lean and strong and persistent.
There was no point in trying to uproot it. It had reached the core of his heart and had become entangled with it.
If there was one thing that helped him rise every day, that helped him survive the bleak days of life in the army, was the dream he could be in her presence again. And he would.
He would see Juliana again. And this time, everything would be different.
Chapter 2
Lady Juliana Reffern lounged by her window, basking in the light of the sun as it flowed over her long, dark hair. Still, she refused to be cheerful. After all, she was in trouble – and it had been made more than clear to her.
Weeks had gone by, and still her stepfather had not relented in his unhappiness with her.
“It’s all just so unfair,” she sulked. “He won’t let me do anything.”
“Well, you did rather cause a scandal,” said Lady Mary Westenholme.
The two girls were firm friends, with Lady Mary visiting Juliana for weeks at a time – though she was no longer allowed to return the favor.
“It doesn’t mean I should be confined only to my home,” Juliana protested. “It’s not as though I would be unsupervised were I to visit with you. Your mother and father have always been most scrupulous.”
“Perhaps your mother and stepfather want to ensure that you do not meet any more young lords,” Mary teased gently.
Juliana sighed. It was not as though Mary didn’t have a point. Everyone had been rather taken with the idea of her marrying the Viscount of Drevon when they started courting over the winter.
Her mother had made some small comments about the match not being quite equal since Juliana was the daughter of the current Duchess of Prighton. Juliana’s stepfather, however, had soon corrected his wife on that matter – Juliana was only the third daughter of the house, after all.
“He was just so boring,” Juliana sighed.
Mary knew instinctively who her friend was speaking of – after all, there had been talk of little else in the last months.
“Just because a man is boring, does not mean that he would not make a fine husband,” she said, primly.
Juliana rolled her eyes. “You sound just like the Duke,” she said. “I do not know why they could not understand it at all. Lord Drevon and I were matched so quickly, after all. These things are sometimes done in mistake.”
“Try telling that to his family,” Mary said heavily. “I hear they had already agreed to a lease on what was to be your future home.”
Juliana made a face. “A horrid, poky little estate. I wouldn’t have had it. No, it was entirely unsuitable.”
Mary picked up the book she had been reading, and pretended to study it once more. “I do worry that, compared to Prighton Hall, you will find very few estates in the whole of the country that match up to your expectations.”
“Just one that I have heard of,” Juliana said dreamily, getting up to sit on the window seat.
“Oh, not Hardwicke Hall,” Mary groaned. “Are you not done with that soldier yet?”
“He’s not a common soldier,” Juliana corrected her sternly. “He’s a Lieutenant now. He was only in training when we first met last summer, but now he has his commission.”
“Even so. He shan’t earn much at all from the army, and you know he won’t ever inherit Hardwicke Hall. You’d have to live somewhere else.”
Juliana picked up an old rag doll from beside her bed and threw it at Mary. “Will you not be satisfied until I am deeply unhappy?”
Mary ignored the doll, allowing it to land ineffectually beside her. “You should not even be talking of him, Juliana. If the Duke hears you, who knows what punishment he will decide upon.”
“He is already exceedingly angry with me,” Juliana sighed, looking out across the gardens where the flowers were just beginning to stir from their winter sleep. “I do not truly believe he could go any further.”
“I am quite sure that he could,” Mary warned her. “At least, for the moment, he has allowed me to stay.”
Juliana looked at her friend with some concern. Much plainer than herself, with her light hair that resembled straw even when she attempted to coerce it into a fashionable hairstyle, Mary was not considered a great beauty.
Those people were fools, and blind, according to Juliana, who couldn’t see Mary as anything less than beautiful. She was also one of the few people upon whom Juliana could truly rely. Her two sisters were already grown and married, and lived on their own estates.
To think of life with Mary banished for good gave her enough pause to quiet her down. “I suppose I should not have spoken to Lieutenant Hardwicke as I did,” she said.
“Lieutenant again now, is it?” Mary said, flashing her a smile as if to make her feel better again. “Only yesterday it was his Christian name you were insistent upon using.”
“You have a point about our conversation being overheard,” Juliana said, a little sourly.
“Well, you are right about that,” Mary agreed, putting her book down again and abandoning the pretense. “You should not have given him to believe he had a chance at your hand.”
“But he does,” Juliana insisted, throwing her hands up in the air. “At least, if I have anything to say about it.”
“According to the Duke, you do not,” Mary cautioned her. “I know your mother has given you th
e freedom to believe you might marry your choice of man, but remember who has the final say.
“The Duke will want to ensure that you marry well, so that he does not have to worry so much about providing you an allowance. A military man will surely need that.”
“The Earl of Hardwicke has riches enough,” Juliana sulked. “He could provide for us. Anyway, it is all a moot point if we cannot get to Bath.”
There was a pause, and Mary joined her on the window seat. “Do you really think the Duke will prevent you from going this season?”
“Yes,” Juliana said, gripping her friend’s hand. “And that means he will prevent you too, since we were supposed to stay with my aunt. If only we could change his mind.”
“I do not think he will bend,” Mary shook her head, squeezing her hand back.
“It is no matter to me, really, Juliana. Perhaps a spring in the countryside will be fun for us. The flowers will be all blooming, and I am sure it will be quite lovely to walk around the grounds when the weather is fair.”
