The Lost Love of a Soldier (Marlow Intrigues #4)by Jane Lark
Publisher: HarperImpulse
Release Date: July 17th 2014
Synopsis:
The stunning prequel to Kindle bestseller The Illicit Love of a Courtesan!
Life is for grasping and living...
Naïve and innocent, Lady Ellen Pembroke falls for a dashing young army officer. Captain Paul Harding has such an easy, enchanting smile and his blue eyes glow; vibrancy and warmth emanating from him. She is in love.
In turn, the Captain finds his attention captured by the beautiful young daughter of the Duke of Pembroke at a house party in the summer. Finding Ellen is like finding treasure on the battle field. His sanity clings to her - something beautiful to remind him that not all in the world is ugly.
Ellen is someone to fight for and someone to survive for when he is inevitably called to arms in the battle of Waterloo...
The Lost Love Of a Soldier
by Jane Lark
Paul whispered her name
into the night as he heard the rustle of frost bound leaves on the ground. His
breath rose in a mist into the cold winter air. He was on the Duke of
Pembroke’s land. He’d not dared encourage her to take a horse, so he’d come
close enough that she might walk from the house and find him.
He waited at the end of
an avenue of yews, out of sight of the house, in a place she could easily see
him. His horse whickered, sensing something, or someone. “Ellen?” he whispered
again.
Still no answer.
He stayed quiet.
Listening. Wondering if she’d been caught as she left the house. He hoped not.
If she’d been caught her father would give her no freedom. Short of leading a
military assault on Pembroke’s home, he would not be able to get her out then.
The horse shook its head,
rattling its bit, and snorted steamy breath into the cold air. The chill of the
winter night seeped through his clothes. There would be a hard frost. He hoped
she’d dressed in something warm.
He’d have to buy more
clothes for her before they sailed. She would need garments to keep her warm in
the sea breezes she’d face on their journey to America.
There was another sound.
“Ellen?”
“Paul?”
How did this woman manage
to make his heart beat so erratically whenever he saw her? He could run into
battle and not be so affected.
She looked even more
beautiful in the dark. Ethereal.
A band of silver light
reached through the scudding clouds and caught her face.
He let go of the horse’s
bridle and instinctively moved forward. He’d never held her. In the summer
there had been no moments alone, she’d been strictly chaperoned and even when
she’d come to meet him she’d brought the groom and her sister. When they’d met
a fortnight ago, she’d still brought a groom. For the first time they were
alone. “Ellen.” He stepped forward and embraced her. In answer her arm came
about his waist. It was the most precious feeling of his life. He would always
remember this day. She was slender and delicate in his arms.
She slipped free, but he
caught her nape and pulled her mouth to his, gently pressing his lips against
hers. It was her first kiss, he knew; he could tell by the way her body
stiffened when he‘d pulled her close. He let her go, a tenderness he’d never
known before catching in his chest.
“Come.” He took the
leather bag she carried. “Will you ride before me, or would you rather sit
behind my saddle and grip my waist?”
“Would it be easier if I
ride behind you?” Her voice ran with uncertainty. She was giving up everything
to come with him.
“Do what feels
comfortable for you, Ellen.”
She nodded, not looking
into his eyes. “I would prefer to ride pillion.”
“Then you shall.” He
warmed his voice, hoping to ease her discomfort.
Turning to the horse he
slipped one foot in the stirrup, then pulled himself up. “Did you have any
difficulty leaving the house?”
“No, the servants’ hall
was quiet, and the grooms had all retired.”
He rested her bag across
his thighs, then held a hand out to her. “Set your foot on mine and take my
hand. I’ll pull you up.” He watched her lift the skirt of her dark habit and
then the weight of her small foot pressed on his, as her gloved fingers gripped
his. She was light, but the grip of her hand and the pressure of her foot made
that something clasp tight in his chest, and the emotion stayed clenched as her
fingers embraced his waist over his greatcoat.
He shifted in the saddle,
his groin tightening too. A few more days. Just days. He had been waiting
months. As he turned the horse, Ellen’s cheek pressed against his shoulder.
“Did you tell anyone you
were leaving? Your sister? Or your maid?”
“No, I did not want them
to have to face Papa knowing the truth. He would be able to see they’d lied,
and then who knows what he might do.” Paul urged the mare into a trot as Ellen
continued. “He made me spend the day on my knees reading the Commandments
because I refused to marry the Duke of Argyle.”
“Today?” He wished to
look back at her but he could not.
Her father had been diabolical
to Paul, sneering as though he was nothing when he’d done the decent thing and
offered for her. He could not imagine the way Pembroke treated the girls.
He had to get Ellen to
Gretna before her father caught them, so she never had to come back and face
his retribution.
Jane is a writer of authentic, passionate and emotional Historical and New Adult Romance, and a Kindle top 25 bestselling author.
She began her first historical novel at sixteen, but a life full of adversity derailed her as she lives with the restrictions of Ankylosing Spondylitis.
When she finally completed a novel it was because she was determined not to reach forty still saying, I want to write.
Now Jane is writing a Regency series and contemporary, new adult, stories and she is thrilled to be giving her characters life in others' imaginations at last.
You might think that Jane was inspired to write by Jane Austen, especially as she lives near Bath in the United Kingdom, but you would be wrong. Jane's favourite author is Anya Seton, and the book which drew her into the bliss of falling into historical imagination was 'Katherine' a story crafted from reality.
Jane has drawn on this inspiration to discover other real-life love stories, reading memoirs and letters to capture elements of the past, and she uses them to create more realistic plots.
'Basically I love history and I am sucker for a love story. I love the feeling of falling in love; it's wonderful being able to do it time and time again in fiction.'
Jane is also a Chartered Member of the Institute of Personnel and Development in the United Kingdom, and uses this specialist understanding of people to bring her characters to life.
This giveaway, includes an antique English necklace worth £150, plus signed copies of The Illicit Love of a Courtesan The Passionate Love of a Rake And The Scandalous Love of a Duke
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