Treasured
Page 34
“Our bargain?” He stiffened. “You mean our marriage?”
“Yes. Yes!” She raised her head, her face blazing in something close to defiance. “I swore we would go our own ways, that I would not try to hold you or keep you here. You could go off to London, and I would not care. But I cannot, I cannot let you go. It will break my heart!”
She buried her face in his shirt, giving way to sobs. Jack relaxed, sliding his arms around her, a smile curving his mouth. “Shh, don’t cry now.” He rested his cheek against her head, cradling her to him. After a moment he said, “Is London entirely forbidden? I should like to show it to you, you know, as you’ve shown me Baillannan. We could go there in the dead of winter perhaps; I’ll warrant it’s bitter cold here in January.”
Isobel pulled back, staring at him. “What are you saying? What do you mean?” She swiped at the tears on her cheeks.
“I am saying, my love, that I am not going anywhere unless you are with me.” He gripped her shoulders, gazing deep into her eyes. “The other day, when I thought you had betrayed me, lured me here to kill me, I realized that it did not matter. I was as good as dead if you did not love me.” He bent and kissed her tenderly on the mouth. “I love you, Isobel.”
“Oh, Jack!” Isobel threw her arms around his neck, laughing and crying all at once. “I love you. I’ve loved you for so long, and I dared not say it.” She pulled back, looking at him with shining eyes. “I cannot take it all in.”
“Don’t worry. You have plenty of time to do so. You are my wife, and Baillannan is my home. And I am not going anywhere, unless you go with me.”
Isobel smiled and went back into his arms. “That is a much better bargain.”
PHOTOGRAPH BY ANASTASIA HOPCUS
CANDACE CAMP is the New York Times bestselling author of more than sixty novels, including her Willowmere series—A Lady Never Tells, A Gentleman Always Remembers, and An Affair Without End—and the Legend of St. Dwynwen trilogy: A Winter Scandal, A Summer Seduction, and The Marrying Season. Her other bestselling Regency romances include The Courtship Dance, The Wedding Challenge, and The Bridal Quest. She lives in Austin, Texas, with her husband, and is the mother of young adult author Anastasia Hopcus. Visit Candace and learn more about her books at www.candace-camp.com.
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ALSO FROM CANDACE CAMP
The Marrying Season
A Summer Seduction
A Winter Scandal
An Affair Without End
A Gentleman Always Remembers
A Lady Never Tells
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Pocket Books
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This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real places are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and events are products of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or places or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Copyright © 2014 by Candace Camp
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First Pocket Books paperback edition July 2014
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Interior design by Lewelin Polanco
Cover illustration by Jon Paul
Hand lettering by Ron Zinn
ISBN 978-1-4767-4108-6
ISBN 978-1-4767-4111-6 (ebook)
Contents
Acknowledgments
Prologue
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
About Candace Camp