by Amelia Nolan
He pulled an envelope out of his jacket and handed it to Evan, who took it with a curious frown.
Then he opened it, and stared. “Good God, Andrew – how did you get this much?!”
“I learned a few things during your long… ah… that period when you were drinking.”
Marian leaned over, and Evan showed her. Immediately her eyes widened in shock, and she stared up at her brother-in-law.
“What? How much is it?” Pemberly asked.
Evan put the envelope inside his jacket pocket. “Never you mind.”
“Tell me!” Pemberly whined like a spoiled child.
“Enough that you should be all right for the first several years, I hope,” Andrew grinned. Then he grew serious. “But if you need more, just ask. A word, and I will help in whatever way I can.”
“That, plus what I earn from my writings, should be quite sufficient for a long time to come,” Marian said, and grasped Andrew’s hand. “Thank you.”
“And where will this ‘long time to come’ be?” Pemberly asked. “Here in London?”
Evan and Marian looked at each other.
“I don’t think so,” Evan responded.
“Well, where, then? North or south? The Lake District? The countryside? Please God don’t tell me you’re moving to Manchester or Liverpool. I shall have to disown you myself if that is the case.”
“We were thinking perhaps somewhere… outside of England,” Marian answered.
Both Andrew and Pemberly stared at her.
“Well, you’re not going back to France – please tell me you’re not going back to France,” Pemberly said.
Marian smiled sadly. “No.”
“Then where? Spain? Belgium? Oh God, not the Netherlands. Anywhere but the Netherlands. All those windmills and wooden shoes…” Pemberly moaned as he took a sip of port.
Marian and Evan looked at each other again.
“We were thinking… of America,” Marian said.
Pemberly nearly spat out his drink. “America?! Why, in God’s name?”
“The land of Jefferson and Franklin,” Evan smiled at his bride.
“Where all men are created equal. Without the threat of the guillotine,” she added with a shudder.
“All men,” Pemberly pointed out. “Not women. Men.”
“Give them time,” Marian said. “They’ll correct their mistake. Who knows, perhaps I’ll even help them.”
Pemberly looked at her through narrowed eyes. “If anyone else had just told me that, I would have laughed until I wet myself. But you… with you, I halfway believe it. Of course, you’ll continue writing,” he added slyly.
“Of course.”
“And I’ll be your English publisher with exclusive rights, of course?”
“Of course,” she laughed.
“Then I suppose we ought to drink a toast to it,” Pemberly sighed. “To America… and their farmers… and Puritans… and dreary lack of culture…”
“To America, and your brilliant future!” Andrew shouted, raising his glass.
“To America!” Evan and Marian laughed.
“God help us all,” Pemberly muttered.
87
Having a good deal more sense than Evan’s younger brother, Pemberly finally dragged Andrew away upstairs to bed.
Evan and Marian were left alone on the terrace under the stars.
“Now that all prying ears are gone, a private toast,” Evan proposed. He poured more champagne in their glasses, then walked over to his wife, who stood by the stone balustrade overlooking the gardens.
“Will it be naughty?” she asked mischievously.
“That I will save for the marriage bed,” he smiled. “This I would prefer to be romantic.”
He handed her a glass. The bubbles in the wine sparkled like diamonds in the moonlight.
“To the most beautiful, most amazing woman I have ever met… who forgave me my foolishness, and has made me the happiest man alive.”
“To the man I have loved since I first saw him,” she smiled, her eyes misting. “And who risked his life to remind me of that.”
“To the woman who was worth that risk a thousand times over… and whom I will never, ever let go again,” he whispered in her ear.
They drank, set aside their glasses, and kissed – tenderly, passionately, completely in love.
Afterword
First, if you have read Pride and Passion, then thank you. This is my first novel, and I hope you enjoyed it.
Could I ask you a favor? If you liked Pride and Passion, could you please, please leave a review on Amazon, or BarnesAndNoble.com, or iTunes, or wherever you purchased it?
Reviews help sell books, from what I'm told – and I need all the help I can get!
Second, I'm not sure when my next novel will come out, but if you would like to be added to a mailing list, please email me at [email protected] and I will let you know as soon as the next novel is published.
Likewise, though I am a fan of historical romance, I am not the world's best researcher. I tried to do my best, but I am sure there are many errors in the book – in how people of different classes address one another, anachronisms, terminology, geography, historical details, etc. If you notice something particularly glaring, could you email me and let me know? I would greatly appreciate it. Just think of it as saving your fellow readers from my faults!
Lastly, I owe a great debt of gratitude to Grace Elliott, a Scottish-born woman who lived in Paris during the French Revolution. (You may have noticed that Dardanelle's maid mentions a Madame Elliott. That's her.) Elliott's memoir My Life During The French Revolution provided key plot points taken from her real-life experiences, like Evan's hiding place and the crack in the wall around Paris.
Once again, thank you for reading this book. I hope you enjoyed it at least half as much as I enjoyed writing it!
Amelia Nolan
[email protected]
Books By Amelia Nolan:
PASSION AND PRIDE
Master and servant, aristocrat and commoner...
Passion brings them together, but pride will tear them apart.
When Marian is in danger, will Evan risk everything -
his fortune, his title, his life - to save the woman he loves?
PASSION AND PRIDE
Copyright 2012 Amelia Nolan
This book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the writer's imagination or have been used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to persons living or dead, actual events, locales, or organizations is entirely coincidental.
This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be resold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each person. If you are reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Amazon.com (or another online retailer of ebooks) and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, used, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, without permission in writing from Amelia Nolan.
Edition: September 2012
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Afterword
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