Read Online A Soldier's Heart by Sherrill Bodine - Free Book Online Page B

Buckle was right, she was like a kitten curious and eager to explore her new world and discover all its mysteries and delights.
    She clutched the volume of poetry to her breast. If this was his favorite, then it would be hers, too. Blackwood had touched something within her she’d never dreamed existed. Was it quite proper to feel as she had on their wedding night? She blushed now remembering it. Whatever the quality he possessed that made her instinctively trust him had been reinforced by all she’d learned in the last few days about the kind of man he was. With insight that was no longer so rare, she recognized how fortunate she was in that discovery.
    She stayed reading in bed until the candles sputtered. Even when she closed her eyes, the lines of poetry danced across her lids. Her vision of Blackwood as her romantic hero filled her dreams.
    Over the next few weeks the duchess presented her with more books that she said Matthew had enjoyed. As Serena read them, a picture of her husband’s true personality began to take form. It began to give substance to the dreamlike figure he always appeared to her, taking him out of the realm of larger-than-life and into every small detail of her days.
    The Season continued its feverish pursuit around them, but the Avalons refused more invitations than they accepted. Often the four of them, Serena, Cecily, and Their Graces, would spend a quiet evening at home playing whist. Blackwood’s father was not well, his ashen color showing a weakness of the heart the Prince Regent’s physician himself shook his head over.
    With kind thoughtfulness all Blackwood’s family made her feel welcome, all but Longford. His apparent disdain was a constant, albeit slight, mar on her new life.
    There was no disdain on the marquess’s face the night he burst into the library, where she and Cecily sat reading Shakespeare aloud.
    “Where is Father?” he demanded sharply.
    Fear gripped Serena, holding her perfectly still; but Cecily sprang to her feet.
    “Long, what is it?” she asked with a frightened little catch in her voice.
    “Dispatches have arrived about a great victory at Vitoria. Matt is well or we would have heard.”
    “And Kendall?” The wide eyes stared intently at her brother, pleading for reassurance.
    “Well, brat! Now fetch Mother so I might inform her.”
    Picking up the hem of her dress, Cecily nearly flew from the room.
    Serena’s numbing fear evaporated with Longford’s words, and relief wrenched a sob from her lips. Blackwood was safe. There had been no letter since the cherished chrysanthemum plant. Although she knew mail from the Peninsula was slow, and often as not, unreliable, her fear had grown to almost unbearable proportions. The rest of them were so cheerful and optimistic, she’d been afraid to voice her concern. Now tears of relief flowed down her cheeks.
    “Good God, stop your blubbering and grow up! I was hoping Her Grace would put some bronze on you and change you into a woman worthy of my brother.” Longford sneered, even as he proffered a handkerchief.
    She refused it, leaping to her feet, confusion and anger warring within her. “How dare you? Your brother holds me in deep affection just as I am and wishes me never to change!”
    “You’re both babes in the woods!” Leaning one broad shoulder against a convenient prop, he studied her with mocking, hooded eyes. “Matt hasn’t the slightest idea what, if anything, lies behind your pretty face. He only sees what he wants to see. He embodies all of us with the qualities he wishes us to possess. Someday he’ll be forced to accept the world, and us, as we are, warts and all. I suggest it’s in your best interest to become the kind of woman up to the challenge that will present. Quite frankly, I doubt you have it in you.”
    His mocking contempt on the heels of her fear and relief caused her to clasp trembling fingers over her quivering lips. Bolting from the room, she fled past a stunned Cecily and