Category: Romance Publisher: Robert Hale Ltd
ISBN-10: 9780709090052
Type: Fiction
Pages: 240
Copyright: Jan 31, 2012
A nurse and soldier meet during the Peninsular Wars. On their return to England, they face much more danger than they ever did in wartime.
Excerpt
EXCERPT FROM COMING HOME
‘…I want to get to England you are someone I knew and trusted.’
Colly noticed she used the past tense. ‘Unfortunately there are flaws in both schemes.’
‘Yes, I cannot afford the price of a cabin on my own,’ she agreed.
He brushed that aside. ‘It’s already paid for. But if you take the cabin on your own, we are back where we started. You will still need to find a companion.’ He chose his next words carefully. ‘If we give the impression we are married, however, that will solve the other problem.’ Hah, he thought. It wouldn’t solve any problems for him, being around her, breathing the very air she breathed, trying to pretend an aloofness he could never feel. God, what had made him suggest such a ridiculous solution?
You know very well why you suggested it, his conscience muttered. And, as Father said, you are the unwisest man ever born.
Juliana sat bolt upright on her seat, clutching her reticule like a lifeline. ‘Sir, I don’t think—’ She tried again, obviously searching for a polite way to say no. ‘It wouldn’t work,’ she said at last.
‘Juliana,’ he said softly, ‘do not be frightened of me. Please. I promise I would spend most of my time outside the cabin. Will you let me explain what happened when I was accused of…of rape?’ There, he’d said the word that had pursued him every since that appalling day when he’d realized that if his own father didn’t believe him, then no-one would.
She put out a hand in protest, as if to push him away. ‘Sir, I do not—’ The carriage rocked to a halt outside the doors of Sao Nazaire. Colly jumped down and paid the driver, then turned to take Juliana’s arm. But she had already stepped down and scuttled across the pavement towards the big blue doors. The doors shut with a slam that echoed around the square.
He stood on the doorstep watching the steam rising off the pavement as the sun came out from the behind the clouds.
This was the end. She was not interested in h is story, not interested in him. Even though she was desperate to leave Porto, she would endure a loathsome job rather than travel with him. And who could blame her?
Heart in his boots, he turned to walk away.
Suddenly the door behind him opened and the fetid hospital odour assailed his nostrils. Juliana stood there, looking at him from beneath lowered lashes. One hand clutched the doorjamb so tightly that her knuckles gleamed white. He could see the trace of a tear on her cheek. She took a deep breath. ‘I’m coming with you,’ she said.
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