Marriage of Lies
Page 21
From among them, Ben drew Sharla aside. “At least take off your bonnet and shawl, my love,” he told her, tugging on the bow under her chin. “There will be lots of time to coo over babies.”
“I’m sorry. I know we just arrived, yet there are so many people to speak to… Where is Dane?”
Ben lifted his chin and pointed with it toward the other side of the big drawing room. Dane was sitting on the top of the two steps down into the drawing room from the front hall, next to Jack. Jack sat with his head hanging, a telegram held limply in his hand.
“What happened?” Sharla asked, alarmed.
“Jenny eloped this morning,” Ben said.
“Eloped with who?” Sharla asked, stunned. “She never spoke of a man in her life! I always assumed that she and Jack…”
“The wire doesn’t say. It only says Jack should go marry his lady.”
As she watched, Dane patted Jack’s shoulder.
Jack turned and hugged him. His eyes glittered with unshed tears.
Sharla drew in a startled breath.
“Dane is winning everyone over, isn’t he?” Ben asked, with pride in his voice, picking up her hand and stroking the back of it.
Sharla was enjoying the extra attention Ben was paying her. Here on the estate, they were free to be themselves. Dane was jovial and relaxed and dispensing his advice and wisdom to anyone who cared to listen…which seemed to be a great many of the family. Ben was free to kiss her and hold her and she was free to love him back. No one was shocked. Everyone took it in stride, another family oddity that pleased them.
Dane came up to them and settled his hands on their shoulders. “We may have to spend some time propping Jack up, this week,” he said, his voice low. “He’s reeling.”
Ben nodded. “Jack and Will used brandy on me, when Sharla got engaged to you.”
“A good start,” Dane declared. “Ready?” he asked Ben.
“For what?” Sharla asked.
Ben wrapped his arm around her waist, and Dane did the same. “Come along,” Dane told her.
They led her out of the house and around to the maze.
Elisa was sitting on the garden bench that faced the entrance to the maze, with her face turned up to the sun. When she heard their steps on the path, she turned to look. Her lips parted, as she got to her feet.
Sharla didn’t realize she was trying to pull backward, until Ben and Dane coaxed her forward once more.
“No, you don’t,” Ben said.
“Time to pull the sting,” Dane added.
“I can’t!” Sharla whispered. “I was wrong. Cruel!”
Elisa hurried forward, her hands both held out pleadingly. “Oh, Sharla,” she said brokenly. “Look at you!”
Sharla grew still. Both men were too strong to resist. Neither of them removed their arms.
Elisa stopped in front of her. Her worn eyes filled with tears. “You’re happy!” Elisa breathed. “You are glowing with it! I was so wrong…!”
Sharla’s eyes stung, too. “No, you weren’t wrong. Oh…this is…I’ve never had to explain to anyone until now…” She looked up at Dane, then at Ben, silently begging them to help her.
Elisa grew still. “You are all together?” she breathed, surprise widening her eyes.
“Ben is the real husband,” Dane said.
“Nothing worked for any of us, until there was three of us,” Sharla added.
“A fact for which I give thanks to God every day,” Ben added. “I’d be dead without them.”
“Me, too,” Dane added. “In spirit, at least.”
“And I would be lost,” Sharla added, recalling her flirtation with Laudanum and drink, when the guilt had been overwhelming.
Elisa took her hands. “Oh, my dear. You did it. You took one of life’s most bitter lessons and you turned it into something good. I’m so proud of you!” Her tears spilled.
Sharla hugged her and Elisa held her tightly.
“Do you love him?” Elisa whispered.
“I love Dane for his wisdom and his kindness. I love Ben with every bone and breath and fiber in me. Yes, I love them.”
“Then I am happy for you, my darling daughter.”
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The next book in the
Scandalous Scions series.
Mask of Nobility, Book 4.0
He’s royalty. She’s a commoner. Their association has no future.
Bronwen Davies is not only disinterested in marrying well, she has turned her back upon society, to live as freely as she can in the wilds of Northallerton, where she lives with her cousin Lilly and Lilly’s husband, Jasper.
Jasper’s half-brother, the Archeduke Edvard Christoffer of Silkeborg, arrives at Northallerton without warning, asking for temporary sanctuary from the pressures of his public life. There, he finds Bronwen, a most distracting diversion. Only, Bronwen’s unexpected opinions and forthright manner prove to be far more seductive than a simple distraction should be…
Mask of Nobility is the fourth book in the spin-off series following the historical romances of Scandalous Sirens. Scandalous Scions brings together the members of three great families, to love and play under the gaze of the Victorian era’s moralistic, straight-laced society.
___
I am loving this series by Tracy Cooper-Posey. If you like Victorian era stories, with romance, love, and a happy ending (with an unexpected bit of drama at the end) you should get this book –Reader Review
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About the Author
Tracy Cooper-Posey is a #1 Best Selling Author. She writes science fiction and romance. She has published over 90 books since 1999, been nominated for five CAPAs including Favorite Author, and won the Emma Darcy Award.
She turned to indie publishing in 2011. Her indie titles have been nominated four times for Book Of The Year and Byzantine Heartbreak was a 2012 winner. Faring Soul won a SFR Galaxy Award in 2016 for “Most Intriguing Philosophical/Social Science Questions in Galaxybuilding” She has been a national magazine editor and for a decade she taught writing at MacEwan University.
She is addicted to Irish Breakfast tea and chocolate, sometimes taken together. In her spare time she enjoys history, Sherlock Holmes, reading science fiction and ignoring her treadmill. An Australian Canadian, she lives in Edmon
ton, Canada with her husband, a former professional wrestler, where she moved in 1996 after meeting him on-line.
Other books by Tracy Cooper-Posey
For reviews, excerpts, and more about each title, visit Tracy’s site and click on the cover you are interested in: http://tracycooperposey.com/books-by-thumbnail/
* = Free!
Vistaria Has Fallen
Vistaria Has Fallen
Prisoner of War
Hostage Crisis
Freedom Fighters
Casualties of War
V-Day
Scandalous Scions
(Historical Romance Series – Spin off)
Rose of Ebony
Soul of Sin
Valor of Love
Marriage of Lies
Mask of Nobility
Law of Attraction
Romantic Thrillers Series
Fatal Wild Child
Dead Again
Dead Double
Terror Stash
Thrilling Affair (Boxed Set)
Scandalous Sirens
(Historical Romance Series)
Forbidden*
Dangerous Beauty
Perilous Princess
Go-get-‘em Women
(Short Romantic Suspense Series)
The Royal Talisman
Delly’s Last Night
Vivian’s Return
Ningaloo Nights
Blood Knot Series
(Urban Fantasy Paranormal Series)
Blood Knot*
Southampton Swindle
Broken Promise
Vale
Amor Meus
Blood Stone
Blood Unleashed
Blood Drive
Blood Revealed
Blood Ascendant
The Sherlock Holmes Series
(Romantic Suspense/Mystery)
Chronicles of the Lost Years
The Case of the Reluctant Agent
Sherlock Boxed In
Beloved Bloody Time Series
(Paranormal Futuristic Time Travel)
Bannockburn Binding*
Wait
Byzantine Heartbreak
Viennese Agreement
Romani Armada
Spartan Resistance
Celtic Crossing
Kiss Across Time Series
(Paranormal Time Travel)
Kiss Across Time*
Kiss Across Swords
Time Kissed Moments
Kiss Across Chains
Kiss Across Deserts
Kiss Across Kingdoms
Time and Tyra Again
Kiss Across Seas
Kiss Across Worlds
The Kine Prophecies
(Epic Norse Fantasy Romance)
The Branded Rose Prophecy
The Stonebrood Saga
(Gargoyle Paranormal Series)
Carson’s Night*
Beauty’s Beasts
Harvest of Holidays
Unbearable
Sabrina’s Clan
Pay The Ferryman
Hearts of Stone (Boxed Set)
Destiny’s Trinities
(Urban Fantasy Romance Series)
Beth’s Acceptance*
Mia’s Return
Sera’s Gift
The First Trinity
Cora’s Secret
Zoe’s Blockade
Octavia’s War
The Second Trinity
Terra’s Victory
Destiny’s Trinities (Boxed Set)
Interspace Origins
(Science Fiction Romance Series)
Faring Soul
Varkan Rise
Cat and Company
Interspace Origins (Boxed Set)
Short Paranormals
Solstice Surrender
Eva’s Last Dance
Three Taps, Then….
The Well of Rnomath
Jewells of Tomorrow
(Historical Romantic Suspense)
Diana By The Moon
Heart of Vengeance
The Endurance
(Science Fiction Romance Series)
5,001
Greyson’s Doom
Yesterday’s Legacy
Promissory Note
Quiver and Crave
Xenogenesis
Junkyard Heroes
Evangeliya
Skinwalker’s Bane
Contemporary Romances
Lucifer’s Lover
An Inconvenient Lover
The Indigo Reports
(Space Opera)
Flying Blind
New Star Rising
But Now I See
Suns Eclipsed
Worlds Beyond
Non-Fiction Titles
Reading Order
(Non-Fiction, Reference)
Reading Order 2016
Copyright Information
This is an original publication of Tracy Cooper-Posey
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales, is entirely coincidental. The publisher does not have any control over and does not assume any responsibility for third-party websites or their content.
Copyright © 2017 by Tracy Cooper-Posey
Text design by Tracy Cooper-Posey
Cover design by Dar Albert, Wicked Smart Designs
http://wickedsmartdesigns.com
Edited by Mr. Intensity, Mark Posey
All rights reserved
No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form without permission. Please do not participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of the author’s rights. Purchase only authorized editions.
FIRST EDITION: November 2017
Cooper-Posey, Tracy
Marriage of LIes/Tracy Cooper-Posey—1st Ed.
Romance—Fiction
Historical – Fiction