Отрывок из книги
‘Brock …’ Samantha said, and felt as if a large hand had squeezed her heart, so that she could not breathe and the pain was almost more than she could bear.
He was saying things that made her long to be in his arms, to taste that sweetness her senses told her she would find there, and yet he had said nothing that made her think he spoke of more than true friendship—the love of comrades in arms.
.....
‘You have been unfortunate, it seems,’ Brock said, a scowl on his face. ‘Give me the name of those who have harmed you and I will seek redress for you.’
‘If you do that, they will take me back and force me to marry him,’ she said, and a tear slid from the corner of her right eye. She dashed it away. ‘Everyone believes them and not me. They think he is a kind good man who will care for me—but I know that he wants Papa’s fortune and they want the Manor. I heard them making their wicked bargain. He said they could keep the house and land and he would take the mills. Papa had five, you see, and they are worth a lot of money—and then there are my mother’s jewels. They are worth a king’s ransom alone, I dare say, but they have them locked away in my aunt’s room. I know she covets them for she wears them when they go out and when I protested she said that I was not allowed to have them until I marry...or my fortune.’
.....
