The Partisan's Wife — Blurb & Excerpt

cover copyright 2012 Michelle Lee

BLURB 

Faced with an impossible choice, Anne Marlowe is torn between her love for her husband and the hope of her father’s forgiveness. As the American forces follow up on their tide-turning victories over the British at Freeman’s Farm and Bemis Heights, Peter is drawn inextricably deeper into the shady network of espionage that could cost them both their lives.

Is his commitment to the Rebel cause stronger than his hard-won love for Anne? Will her sacrifice tear them apart again...this time forever? Or will they find the peace and happiness they both seek in a new beginning?

The Partisan’s Wife, Book 3 of “The Serpent's Tooth” trilogy from Books We Love Publishing, follows Anne and Peter through the war torn landscape of Revolutionary War America, from the Battle of Saratoga to New York, Philadelphia and beyond. 

 

EXCERPT

 

At last the time had come. Finally she was ready to unburden herself of the secret she’d been harboring for nearly four weeks. That night at the Little Black Dog Inn on the road to Albany, in a high but comfortable bed—a fine feather bed with clean linen…and pillows—after they had dined on stewed oysters and roasted duck and bathed in hot water scented with rose petals, after making love in the warm glow of the hearth, she reluctantly averted her face from his sweet kisses.

“There is something I must tell you,” she whispered, pausing to gather the resolve to say it. 

He tilted her face to him and resumed kissing her. “What can be so important at this particular moment?”

“I am with child.”

In the flickering fire light, the look on Peter’s face melted into one without expression. And then an artless, spontaneous smile, like that of a young boy upon discovering a secret cache of sweets, blossomed fully over his mouth. 

“Oh, my love!” He wrapped her in his arms and grazed his lips over hers with such tenderness that her tears took her by surprise.

“This news does not trouble you?”

“Why should it trouble me? I’m going to be a father!”

She curled up closer, pressing her cheek to his chest. “Our situation is somewhat untimely.”

“That is no longer within our control.”

“Then you will not object to my continuing this journey?”

He tensed, as if pondering the unthinkable, and sat up, cradling her head in his lap. “Suppose I do have second thoughts? This happy news puts everything in a different context. I have no intention of endangering my wife…and child. Does that mean anything to you?”

“Of course it does. It tells me that you care, and I am grateful.” She laughed softly. “But we both know what a rebel I can be.”

“Would you disobey your husband?”

“I would never lie to you, Peter.” And she added more to herself than aloud. “If it should come to that, you must know I have no choice.”

He settled down once more beside her, and cupped her face in his hands. “Then we’ll need to rethink our plans.”

She breathed a sigh. “We will continue on to New York?” 

“There are more than a hundred and thirty miles between here and New York. We’ll just have to take every one of them a bit more slowly.”

 “So long as you can meet with this shipping merchant of yours.” She had wanted to challenge his intentions since the night he first told her of his plan.

“Yes, my love, although my reasons now extend beyond providing for only you and me.”

In spite of his assertions that his plan for setting up in a trade was true and legitimate, something elusive in his manner warned her to be wary. Given the nature of his previous ‘occupation,’ her better sense told her that he withheld a portion of the truth.

“Tell me about this shipping merchant. Does he have a name?”

“Some things are best left unsaid.” He drifted off into his thoughts. In the golden firelight, his eyes focused for an instant on an image only he could envisage. Then he raised his brow and smiled sadly. “That is, should the opportunity not come to fruition….” He shrugged, “…for one reason or another, it would be a disappointment.”

She snuggled against his shoulder. His warmth enfolded her. The smell of him worked on her senses like an elixir, suffusing her with a weightiness that threatened to drag her into sleep. After a long day in the saddle, and the aching in her bones, a heaviness descended over her thoughts. Her eyes began to close of their own accord. “Worry not, Mr. Marlowe,” she said with a yawn. “You have it not in your disposition to disappoint to me.”

Peter laughed, a short burst of sound without humor. “This is not how we imagined our lives, is it?” His voice had a far-off sound. “When I left that summer…. How long ago was it? Eight years…. It was my foolish design to have you on your father’s terms. I would have sold my soul to the Devil to stand before him as his equal in land and wealth.”

“And yet here we are.”

“And here we are…without a pot of our own to piss in.”

“I love you all the same. Let’s go to sleep.” Settling under the blankets, she turned away from him, conforming herself to the lines of his body. “It must be very late.”

Peter rolled onto his side and snuggled against the length of her. “When I thought you were dead, I swore I would never love again.” He swept the long braid from her neck and feathered kisses along the nape. “And now you carry my child.”

The touch of his lips vibrated through her, down to the center of all feeling. On the edge of sleep, her limbs unresponsive, she could barely get out the words. “Our child….”

***

 Sincerest thanks to Goddess Fish Promotions

for giving me the opportunity to share with you today.

  ***

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Courtiing the Devil

Lord Esterleigh's Daughter

Other books in

“The Serpent's Tooth” trilogy