Free Broken Legacy (Secret Lives Series) by Colleen Connally

marriage a good one for his daughter of questionable heritage.
    In her manner , Eloise said not a word of protest to her father. Having been introduced to the family that she was to be married into, she immediately comprehended that Lord Wessex relented only under an obligation to her father, which in her mind could easily be overcome. Circumstances had allowed for a delay in her marriage with the untimely death of her father, when His Grace Percival, the Duke of Rotheward, succumbed to a heart attack.
    His death, although not devastating for he had been a stranger to her most of her life, saddened her. A year to mourn his death had not been questioned in postponing the nuptials. Sir Joseph came often to visit. In turn, Eloise used Susanne as a buffer between his lordship and herself. Watching the two together, she quickly surmised they best suited each other. In turn, making the scene she contrived easier to maneuver her wishes.
    Susanne, quiet and kind in nature, accepted the maneuver without question , for the love the young girl felt for Sir Joseph glittered in her eyes. Any guilt Eloise’s conscience gnawed at her, she scrunched, telling her all was for the best. Susanne obtained a loving devoted husband and Eloise…well, she would have her inheritance and her freedom. Until now and she had only herself to blame.
    A wave splashed over her, making her catch her breath in the cool night air. She glanced up. In her sight , a boat loomed on the horizon. They had arrived early. Not a bad thing, she surmised. They would need to be swift to arrive before the Grand Crest , her brother’s yacht.
    A whistle from overhead signaled her advance toward the ship , a signal that all was as it should be. She knew well the signal. She had set it up. Pressing her lips tightly together, she walked silently toward the boat. Men gathered at the rim of the tide with a rowboat. One waved his hand over his head.
    From the gesture , she recognized instantly the cargo had been delivered. It was good. She didn’t want another occurrence. She couldn’t afford it. No one was to have known. The success of her—their—work depended on being an unseen entity. Death waited her on the other side if any found out her true purpose to her smuggling—the sole reason.
    Taking her across the Channel, her father and brother rescued Eloise from certain punishment from the Marquis de Motiere. Her French family hid her from the vengeance that the marquis sought for the death of his son, Henri, Victome de Calognac. Even now, hatred surged through her veins for the man who took the life of her lover. She cared not when the Revolution revolted and Marc Pierre sought his vengeance out on the marquis.
    Eloise shed no tears when she heard the marquis’ head was staked on the outskirts of Rouelay. No, the man deserved his fate…only when his fate linked to those around him—innocent victims—had she allowed herself to feel for anyone associated with the man. Marc Pierre had his own rage toward the family that took the life of his brother so unjustly. His anger stretched out over the land and exploded with the revolt. In turn, no one associated with the marquis was safe from his vengeance.
    Eloise had returned to France after the marquis’ death, bent on finding one so maliciously ripped from her arms. Her quest unfulfilled but the failure left her with a mission. The world she had known crumbled around her. She felt nothing. She had no tears left when the word arrived the hope she had clung to had died. For a time she lived in denial, but reality broke through the barriers she placed. In the end, she arrived at an acceptance.
    Yet within her slowly surged rebellion. If she could not help her Rosabel, she would not turn her back upon others in need , regardless of whom they were or the danger to her own person. No, her life was not her own. She only existed.
    Since her father claimed her as his own, she had not turned from her French family. Her father had