Read Online The Smuggler and the Society Bride by Julia Justiss - Free Book Online Page A

he wouldn’t object. It’s quite an interest you’ve taken in the plants, miss. Made some very pretty bouquets, too. The whole household is enjoying them. Now, let me find you some trugs to hold the flowers.’
    After thanking the housekeeper and fetching a cloak, gloves and pattens to keep her hem and shoes dry, Honoria set out. She had a pleasant walk down the lane past the stables, its sheltered roadbed winding between lichen-covered stone walls, but upon reaching the lower meadow where an occasionally overflowing brook left the ground soggy, found no primroses. Heading back, she decided to ask Aunt Foxe if she might borrow her mare and pay a visit to St Christopher’s.
    Excitement fluttered in her chest at the realization that she could go there without fear of unpleasantness. Although she loved the cliff walk, she had confined her explorations to that solitary trail mainly because there was little chance of encountering anyone.
    But as far as this community knew, she was not the disgraced Lady Honoria Carlow, but simply Miss Marie Foxe, kinswoman to a well-respected local gentlewoman. She might walk where others gathered, encounter villagers or fishermen, or converse with the vicar or the shopkeepers, safe from the dread of discovery and embarrassment.
    After a month of living burdened by the weight of scandal and disapprobation, a giddy sense of freedom made her spirits soar. Laughing, she ran in circles about the meadow, whooping with the sheer joy of being alive and startling a peregrine falcon into taking flight in a reproachful flurry of wings.
    Of course, she couldn’t remain here hiding under a false name forever. But that harmless bit of subterfuge would provide a welcome respite, allowing her to move about freely while she figured out what to do next.
    Even if ‘next’ was returning to Stanegate, being pressed to marry some obscure connection in the farthest hinterlands who could be induced to take a woman of large dowry and stained reputation, or living quietly on her own somewhere, forever banished from Society.
    She shrugged off those dreary possibilities to be dealt with later. For now, it was enough just to anticipate the simple pleasure of a ride into town and the paying of an uncomplicated call upon the vicar.
    Her buoyant sense of optimism persisted as she returned to the manor to seek out her aunt, whom she found bent over a book in her sitting room. ‘Aunt Foxe, might I borrow your mare? I’ve so enjoyed the primroses Eva Steavens gave me yesterday, I thought to go ask the vicar if I might transplant some from a patch Mrs Dawes tells me grows by St Christopher’s.’
    â€˜Of course, my dear. The ride would do both you and Mischief good. I’m so glad to see your spirits reviving! While in the village, you should shop for some trifles and stop for a glass of Mrs Kessel’s cider. It’s not right for a lovely, lively young girl to live in a hermit’s isolation.’
    Her aunt’s words made Honoria wonder again why Miss Foxe—and at an age not much older than her own—had chosen to live in just such isolation. However, the inquiry still seemed too invasive of her aunt’s privacy to pose at present.
    â€˜â€œMiss Marie Foxe” need not fear visiting the village,’ she said instead. ‘Thank you for allowing me that little deception.’
    Her aunt nodded. ‘Your name will still be yours, once you’ve decided how and where you wish to resume it.’
    â€˜May I ride into village immediately?’ A sudden thought struck her and she frowned. ‘Although I suppose I shall have to wait until later. The footmen are all occupied, and Tamsyn has not yet finished her duties.’
    â€˜Even Lady Honoria need not worry about riding unescorted here,’ her aunt said. ‘Especially not on my mare, which is everywhere recognized. I wouldn’t advise that you ride aloneafter dark, or even in daylight