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Chapter 49
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My Mother’s Choice Chapter 50
Parton supervised her dressing, which was just as well since Gwen was in such a state as to hardly know her own body.Every part of her felt new and tingling. The gown set off the emeralds. Her hair was piled high on her head and dressed with tiny diamond clips that sparkled in the firelight.When it was time to go, there was a knock on the front door of her room. Parton opened it and her husband stood, framed in the doorway, staring at her.She turned in a circle before him. When she faced him again, his eyes devoured her. ‘Magnificent.’ He complimented.‘Do I please you?’ She asked shyly‘Very much so.’ He took her hand and stroked it before bringing it to his lips. Then he escorted her to the carriage, handed her in and seated himself across from her.She glanced at the seat beside her and wondered why he chose to be so far away.As if reading her mind he answered, ‘Parton’s handiwork will be safer if I keep my distance from you, my dear.’‘In what way?’‘In the privacy of this carr
My Mother’s Choice Chapter 51
Parton supervised her dressing, which was just as well since Gwen was in such a state as to hardly know her own body.Every part of her felt new and tingling. The gown set off the emeralds. Her hair was piled high on her head and dressed with tiny diamond clips that sparkled in the firelight.When it was time to go, there was a knock on the front door of her room. Parton opened it and her husband stood, framed in the doorway, staring at her.She turned in a circle before him. When she faced him again, his eyes devoured her. ‘Magnificent.’ He complimented.‘Do I please you?’ She asked shyly‘Very much so.’ He took her hand and stroked it before bringing it to his lips. Then he escorted her to the carriage, handed her in and seated himself across from her.She glanced at the seat beside her and wondered why he chose to be so far away.As if reading her mind he answered, ‘Parton’s handiwork will be safer if I keep my distance from you, my dear.’‘In what way?’‘In the privacy of this carr
My Mother’s Choice Chapter 52
Parton supervised her dressing, which was just as well since Gwen was in such a state as to hardly know her own body.Every part of her felt new and tingling. The gown set off the emeralds. Her hair was piled high on her head and dressed with tiny diamond clips that sparkled in the firelight.When it was time to go, there was a knock on the front door of her room. Parton opened it and her husband stood, framed in the doorway, staring at her.She turned in a circle before him. When she faced him again, his eyes devoured her. ‘Magnificent.’ He complimented.‘Do I please you?’ She asked shyly‘Very much so.’ He took her hand and stroked it before bringing it to his lips. Then he escorted her to the carriage, handed her in and seated himself across from her.She glanced at the seat beside her and wondered why he chose to be so far away.As if reading her mind he answered, ‘Parton’s handiwork will be safer if I keep my distance from you, my dear.’‘In what way?’‘In the privacy of this carr
My Mother’s Choice Chapter 53
To her surprise, she found the ball enjoyable, despite the absence of her husband. As she whirled around the dance floor in one set or another, she caught occasional glimpses of Authur in the crowd, smiling with obvious pride at thesuccess she was having. And her dancing skills were quite up to the abilities of many of her partners. She was spinningdown the line in a gallopade and laughing at the number of,times that her partner had almost trodden on her own toeswhen the man at the bottom of the set caught her and spun her.‘Lord Archie.’ She mouthed the name as he smiled into her eyes.She stumbled and caught herself, and was dancing unsteadily with her own partner again, mind whirling faster than the dance.Of course, she was to see him again. He had been banished from the house, and she had hoped that that meant he was nowhere around. But it only meant he was out of sight of his brother. That was no reason to believe that he wasn’t close by, and no reason why he might not appear
My Mother’s Choice Chapter 54
Everything had been going so well; the evening was not going to end like this. There had to be a way to stop it. She wouldfind Authur and beg him to take her home. She doubted that Archie would bother to ruin her if her husband was not thereto hear the story.She searched the ballroom, the card room, and other surrounding rooms, but Authur was nowhere to be found. Time was running out. She must come up with another plan. You could meet him, suggested a small voice in her mind, and let him do his worst and be done. No one might be the wiser. It was what Lady Danbury would have done.‘No.’ She said it aloud. She would not meet him, not to preserve any more secrets from her husband. She would die first.If someone must die, why must it be you? said the matter- of-fact voice in her head. You are only a foolish girl, trapped in circumstances. But Lord Archie—he is the one who trapped you. He is evil. And while he lives, he will be a danger to,you, and to your husband, the man he longs to
My Mother’s Choice Chapter 55
They rode home in silence. He stared ahead into the darkness, and she was afraid to disturb him. She made a few tentative attempts at apology and he stared down at her, as though he was unsure where the noise was coming from.When he pulled the carriage into the drive, he dropped the reins for the groom and strode into the house with her following in his wake.He tossed his greatcoat on the bench in the hall, not waiting for the servant to take it, and turned back to her. ‘Madam, attend to me.’Then he turned way again and strode to the stairs and up them.There would be a scene. It was better, when it came, that they were alone. There was no point in the servants knowing what a disaster the night had been.It would be a miracle if it were just words he was bottling up. The line of his back as it advanced up the stairs in front of her was as rigid as an iron bar.What if she had provoked Authur to violence? It was too late to claim that it was no fault of hers. That she had been tricke
My Mother’s Choice Chapter 56
He was in trouble. He knew it in his bones. It wasn’t the misery that ate at him, or the loneliness. He’d grown used to it.It was the feeling that a change was coming. The sense that something wonderful lay just around the corner, only to see his hopes dashed and to find he’d given his heart to a woman who did not want him.‘Good morning.’ She’d come into the breakfast room so quietly that he hadn’t heard. And her voice was hoarse, as though she’d cried herself to sleep after creeping back to her room in the night. Unable to rest, he had gone to the library in search of the brandy bottle and when he returned she was gone from his bed.‘Good morning,’ he responded. What else could he say to her? What apology could he offer? What explanation could he give that would take the bitterness out of this morning?She’d come into his life, unwilling. He’d laughed to himself that his mother had chosen the perfect bride, a woman just as unhappy as he was. It would be a case of like drawing to li
My Mother’s Choice Chapter 57
He kept good his promise and stayed away all day and into the evening, leaving her to dine alone. Perhaps he meant toforget by avoiding anything that reminded him of her. Perhaps he intended to stay away for months at a time, visiting occasionally to try to get her with child.She gritted her teeth. Lady Danbury was right. The only way her position would be secure in the house was with a baby in arms. And if he intended to come home at all, she would be ready for him. She summoned Parton and requested a bath and her best nightrail. Then she sat at the edge of her bed and waited, listening for the telltale sounds from next door.The clock crept forward, hour by hour, and it was almost midnight when she was ready to give up. Perhaps, if she crept into his room through the adjoining door, he could find her in his own bed, if he came home.If.She would have to do something, she realised, or she would go mad wondering. She tested the doorknob and, as it had the first night, it gave in he
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