ROMANCE: Romantic Comedy: Love in 30 Days - The Best Plans Don't Always Work! (Plus 19 FREE Books Book 13)

by Jane Keeler

  He tacked the horses up and waited a few minutes for Harper.

  She was all full of sunshine when she appeared behind the stable door. He saw her and his face lit up. She was wearing her best dress and had her hair pulled back. She looked just as much of a royal as he was.

  She came up to him and did a small curtsy, as was customary. He was happy to help her up onto her seat and they rode off.

  He first said, once they were out of earshot of the people milling about the stables, "I love you very much, Harper."

  "And I believe I have fallen in love with you," she told him.

  "This makes me over joyous."

  "Over the moon," she told him.

  "Yes, it is." He wanted to know, "Are you okay with your new job?"

  "Why is that?"

  "It is because, well, I have a confession to make."

  "And what is that?"

  "I am... I am arranged to be married."

  "Married?" she asked while they sped to a trot. "To be what?"

  "To be married, but not for a year from now," he told her.

  "But you will?"

  "I will not," he said.

  She was steadfast in her responses, "And do you love there, too?"

  "I do not," he said earnestly.

  "Then I do believe you," Harper said, relived that she could. They slowed to a walk and their horses kept them close together while they talked.

  He was full of excitement as he said, "I'll ask the stable manager for a job, and come live with you, if you'll have me."

  "Why is that? The answer is yes, but I'd like to know why."

  "Oh, the thing is that the arranged marriages are done so strategically and it helps the royal and noblemen like me to establish good relations together. But if I opt out and marry for love, my family may disown me, as well as the Prince Regent."

  "Oh, that's terrible," she said.

  "Only if I wanted to stay a royal."

  "What do you mean?"

  "Even if I can't get a stable job, I'll get another. Or another. I'll work my way through life as you do, if I can't go back to my own."

  "Are you sure about this?"

  "As sure as I can be," Luke Winchester Peril said.

  "I love your sureness. Of course you can live with me. We've gotten to know each other so well that I couldn't imagine my life without you. And imagining my life with you is exactly what I want to keep on doing."

  They brought their horses closer together and leaned in to kiss one another. His lips pecked hers and they both smiled immediately afterwards.

  "I love you," he said.

  Harper replied, "I love you."

  *** THE END ***

  Book Twelve

  Back to Contents

  THE LADY AND THE FOOTMAN

  By: Jane Keeler

  Chapter 1

  It was already 9 o’clock in the morning when Suzanne was woken up by Sherry, her maid. After waking her up, the maid went to the windows and pulled the curtains to the side. The sunlight streamed into the room as soon as the curtains were moved and the light forced Suzanne to cover her eyes.

  “Look madam, it is such a beautiful morning outside! Your father was looking for you at the breakfast table. And the Brooks are already on their way!” exclaimed Sherry.

  As soon as Suzanne awoke her mind kept telling her that she needed to be up early, but she could not figure out why. When Sherry spoke about the Brooks she remembered about the friendly Polo match that was scheduled between her family – the Swans and the Brooks. Matches like these were quite common among the men in both the families and it gave the women a chance to soak up the summer sun and share gossip. It was also a chance to see Daniel Swan – the most sought after bachelor in the whole of England. Not only was Daniel a good looking man, he was an avid sportsperson who boxed, played cricket and was a terrific horse rider. Suzanne had two sisters and three brothers. Both her sisters swooned at the very name of Daniel and her brothers looked at him with great respect. Suzanne herself was never in awe of Daniel, much to his disappointment.

  Suzanne dragged herself out from the bed and asked Sherry to prepare hot water for her so she could take a bath. Sherry had already laid out some options of dresses that she could wear today. She was yet to finalize the dress she would wear when her sisters walked into her room. Suzanne was eldest of all her sisters, Elise was the youngest and Violet was the one stuck in the middle.

  Elise jumped into Suzanne’s bed and said “Mother wants us to wear white today. I think you should go for the second dress. Not that it matters to you anyways since you have no interest in Daniel!”

  “That’s right. Why don’t you excuse from the whole thing altogether?” asked Violet.

  “Sure Violet! And why don’t you kill Elise so that you can have Daniel all to yourself?” asked Suzanne flashing a grin.

  The girls giggled among themselves at the thought of having to fight each other over Daniel. The three sisters formed a great team in a house dominated by the men. Their father, Edward III, was the 10th generation head of the Swan family and he despised anything that was not proper in terms of etiquette and manners. He only ever made one exception to this rule –Suzanne. Suzanne was the first of the girls to have been born in the family and she was the apple of her father’s eye. Not even their brothers – Stephen the youngest and Edward IV the eldest had as much sway over their father as Suzanne did. This always played out well for Violet and Elise as Suzanne always took their side – no matter what.

  Suzanne had never met her mother as she had died while giving birth to her. Both the brothers and Suzanne were born to Edward III’s first wife, Rosalie. Her sisters Elaine and Violet were born to Diana, Edward’s second wife. Both her brothers were born in India when Edward had to make a trip to the eastern subcontinent at the behest of Her Majesty Queen Victoria who needed his help in setting up some trade offices for the East India Company in India. Suzanne was conceived in Italy and to make sure that Rosalie had all the help and service at her command, he had come back to the Swan Manor house. Unfortunately, Edward was not able to save Rosalie from her death minutes after giving birth to Suzanne. Nurse Abby who had raised all the children personally, never talked about Rosalie as per directive given to her by Diana - Suzanne and the brother’s step-mother. When Suzanne poked her too much she said that she would only get to hear more about her mother once she got married.

  Suzanne got ready as soon as she possible could and made her way downstairs where the guests had already arrived. As the sisters made their way downstairs everyone looked up at them with unblinking eyes, especially Daniel who was looking straight at Suzanne. She hated it when men looked at women like that. Daniel had that feeling of manliness that Suzanne despised. Men like him always looked down upon women and thought of them as mere objects of fancy. The brothers helped their sisters descend the last few steps and all of them made their way to the field where the match was about to take place.

  Chapter 2

  The maid and man servants promptly held the umbrellas over their head as they stepped out into the sun until they reached the field and sat under the large umbrellas and on the tables under them that were already placed beforehand. The match began soon enough and from the shouts and screams, it really felt like everyone was enjoying themselves. Suzanne was sat across from her mother and was surrounded by her sisters and the women from the Brook family. Suzanne loved to ride horses herself but she was never allowed to play Polo or go on the hunting rides. However, without her father’s knowledge she did go hunting on a horse a number of times with her brothers. Of course, it was all a big secret. Suddenly, there was a huge commotion among the players as Daniel got down from his horse and started storming over to one of the manservants. He asked the manservant to take his shirt off and used the whip that was used to control the horse to start beating the man. The manservant was in his 70’s and shivered every time he got hit. Daniel’s father came to stop him but he pushed him back too. Another manservant jumped
in before Daniel and begged him to stop. Daniel wanted to take a swipe at him too but the manservant – younger and certainly quite well built – was able to stop the whip with his hands and wasn’t letting go.

  “How dare you, you imbecile servant!?” shouted Daniel.

  “Please kind sir. Please let me father go. I am happy to get whipped in his stead.” said the younger manservant.

  “This is your father is it? And you are some sort of a hero, are you? Do you want to protect your father? Is that it?” asked Daniel laughing aloud.

  “I am no hero sir. I am your servant. Please allow me to take the beatings for the mistakes my father committed.” the manservant replied.

  Suzanne hadn’t even seen what had happened that lead up to this situation. She asked her sisters and they explained to her that the polo ball had run out of play and the old man instead of flicking it back quickly, took longer than usual and did not have the strength to throw it where Daniel had wanted it thrown. Suzanne was miffed that a person who was not a part of the Swan family was mistreating one of their servants. She was more annoyed with Daniel in general rather than feel any sort of emotional attachments to the servant, but she could hold herself no longer.

  “Daniel!” she screamed “What do you think you are doing? Those are our servants. Stop beating the old man and go back to your play.”

  Dianna her step mother tried to stop her but she wasn’t going to listen to anyone. She stepped up to Daniel in the middle of the play field and looked him in the eye.

  “These are our servants Mr. Brook. I would appreciate it if you used some restraint.” she told Daniel.

  “Ms. Swan! Do you feel some sort of affection towards these worms? Nevertheless, I am you guest. Forgive me, I should have exercised caution.” Daniel replied.

  “Get out of here!” she told the servants.

  The back of the old man was very badly bruised and had deep cuts all throughout. His son who had come over to protect him had a deep gash on the palm of his hand from the time when he stopped Daniel’s attack with the whip. Suzanne was quite impressed he did not even flinch when he stopped the attack. The young servant pulled his father up to his feet and made their way towards the servant quarters.

  “That was not necessary, Suzanne! Can we go back to our match now?” said a visibly irritated Edward.

  The game ended just ahead of dusk and both the families sat together in the field as tea was served. Daniel made his way up to Suzanne and tried apologizing again. He asked her if she would come to this ball that he was going to attend tonight. Suzanne knew which ball he was referring to and even though she had initially going there, she had seen and heard enough of Daniel for today. She declined, politely. Daniel did not really take the rejection very well and stormed out of the field.

  “He’s a great guy!” said Edward as he approached Suzanne with a cup of tea in his hands.

  “Yes. Seemed quite the gentlemen!” she said with a snort.

  “Oh that is common! The servants need to know their place although I admit he should not have hit poor old Tom so very hard.” said Edward.

  All of them had their tea and the Brook’s came back to their manor for a few drinks before they left in their carriages back to their manor. Daniel and his brothers had left the Swan’s manor as soon as the game ended. Once back to their house, Suzanne went straight up to her room to change into an evening gown.

  “Thank you for saving Tom today!” said Nurse Abby as she entered Suzanne’s room.

  “Yes! Father thinks I went too far!” said a frustrated Suzanne.

  “He can’t ask you to keep it up, can he?” asked Abby.

  “No! I suppose he can’t” she said with a smile towards Abby.

  “Do you know who Tom is child?” asked Abby.

  “No! Should I have?” asked Suzanne in return.

  “I don’t know about that, but Tom is the only servant that was brought into the house without Sir Edward’s permission. He was brought into the house by your mother Rosalie. He was her favourite. He just does odd jobs now because his body cannot take it anymore. That is why Alan, his son, came to his aid. And had you not intervened, I suppose things might have gotten ugly.” said Abby.

  “Ugly? How so? I saw the guy; he was a well-built man in his prime. He could have easily taken a few whips if it came to it.” said Suzanne.

  “The problem would not have been if he could endure the pain. The problem generally happens when Alan loses his cool. And seeing his Dad bleed like that, generally is something that can make even the best of us lose our composure.” said Abby.

  Suzanne was not sure she heard Nurse Abby correctly. This conversation certainly did not go as she had though it would go. She did think about speaking to Nurse Abby as she is the head of the maids and manservants in the house. She had thought she would ask for the health of the old man. She felt curious about Tom now. And even more so, about this man Alan.

  “You see, Alan was a brawler. And he was trained in sword fighting and fencing from a very young age. His uncle is a bandit who is one of the most wanted criminal of this country and Alan’s been known to be fiercer than his uncle when the blood rushed to his head. I have heard stories about him wrestling and killing bears with his bare hands.” said Nurse Abby as Suzanne let out a gasp.

  Suzanne had seen a sign of all this when she saw the gash in his hands earlier. She felt intrigued by this dark and sinister side of Alan. She felt it even more when her mind back to the scene of him trying to protect his poor dad. There was certainly something very interesting about this man who she had barely noticed before.

  “How come I never saw him before, Nana?” asked Suzanne.

  “He has only been a part of our staff since the last week. His father thought this was the only way he can save him from his own doom. And the poor boy, he can never say no to his old father!” sighed Nurse Abby.

  Suzanne put on her evening dress and made her way down the stairs again to accompany her family for dinner with the Brooke’s. She was seated near her father at the edge of the table but her mind was not even in the room anymore. All she kept thinking about was Alan. Her mind also went back to what her nanny, Nurse Abby, said about Alan’s father – Tom. Moreover, Tom’s appointment by her mother must have been based on some inherent good qualities that her mother had seen in Tom. So Suzanne thought that there must be some good in there in the bandit raised man as well. She never realized when dinner got over; her plate was left almost untouched and she had missed what all that loud laughter around the table was all about. After finishing lunch, her father and Mr. Brooke smoked a cigar along with their drinks before the whole Swan family escorted them to the front porch where the carriages were waiting, ready to whisk them away.

  Chapter 3

  Suzanne got up the next morning on time for breakfast. She made her way to the dining table where everyone was already seated awaiting the breakfast to be served. Suzanne went ahead and sat down on the empty chair at the edge of the table near her father who seemed to be in good spirits this morning.

  “Good morning Suzanne! It’s been a while since I saw you at breakfast. I have some good news!” declared Edward.

  “Yes, we both do” added Diana.

  “Well, what is it?” asked Edward Jr.

  “Is this about the discussion that you were having with Mr. Brooke yesterday evening?” asked Stephen.

  “Indeed it is!” exclaimed Edward Sr.

  A flash from outside caught Suzanne’s eye and as she looked out, she saw Alan bringing back logs of wood. He had no shirt on himself and his toned abs and muscles were looked gorgeous, with the sweat glistening in the sunlight. Suzanne felt something rush to her head as she saw Alan’s upper body. There were a couple of scars on his torso; something she thought could be attributed to his more wild days as a bandit. Suzanne had not even heard what good news her father had shared. She was snapped back to the discussion at the table when Stephen poked her and asked if she was happy with the decision.r />
  “What decision? I’m sorry. I’m not feeling very well.” she said thinking of an excuse to rush to her room and ogle at Alan from her window.

  “Well, you marriage of course!” exclaimed Violet.

  “My marriage?” asked an astonished Suzanne. She had missed something vital.

  “Darling I was just telling everyone how your mother and me, we thought that Daniel could be the perfect suitor to you!” explained Edward Sr.

  “What? You have found me a suitor and even discussed this with someone else without consulting me?” said Suzanne even more astonished.

  “Well, we thought this would be in everyone’s best interest. You will very happy with the Brooke’s. They are kind folks and you will not be spared any luxury. I have already seen to that!” said Edward Sr.

  “What about what I want? What about my interests?” asked Suzanne and got up from the table and stormed off to her room upstairs.

  “That girl needs to learn some manners before we send her to another family!” said Diana sternly.

  “Well, she has her mother’s blood! But, she will come around. I know that!” said Edward Sr.

  Violet, Elise, Stephen and Edward Jr. made their way to Suzanne’s room to speak to her after finishing their breakfast. But she was in no mood to speak right now. She asked them to leave her alone for the time being. She especially did not appreciate the tone that Violet and Elise had taken up with her, as if she should be thankful that Daniel had thought Suzanne worth to be his bride. Suzanne certainly did not want to hear anything that was in support to the betrothal that her father had agreed to. So, the siblings left her alone and Suzanne closed the door behind them and went and sat down on the edge of her window peering into the garden and the kitchen just adjacent to it.