Free The Ice Princess by Elizabeth Hoyt Page B

Princess
    The wind caught her skirts and swept them against her legs. Coral pushed back a lock of hair flying against her cheek. Out beyond the cliffs the iron-grey
    sea was pushing whitecaps toward the shore and the heavy, damp air tasted of salt. She'd never lived by the sea, had been born and bred in the heart of
    London, but somehow it had seemed right when she'd left the Grotto to come settle here. She half-turned and looked back along the worn narrow trail by
    the cliffs. Her cottage was on the horizon, a smal white dot. It was a tidy little house with four rooms and a garden and it was al hers. With the money
    she'd saved from the Grotto she should be able to live the rest of her days comfortably if not extravagantly. She'd hired a woman from the village to come
    in twice a week to clean and cook. Perhaps she'd even learn to garden. Coral imagined herself in a wide-brimmed hat and an old apron, cutting some
    type of flower-perhaps daisies. She'd bring the flowers into her kitchen and place them in a blue glass vase. Bil y and the girls and boys at the Grotto
    would laugh if they saw her in such a domestic picture.
    Coral wrinkled her nose. The cottage, her peaceful life by the sea, even the garden she had no understanding of, were perfect. Were everything she'd
    worked her entire life for: independence and freedom. And yet.and yet her life here was so lonely.
    So very lonely.
    Coral faced forward again, walking beside the cliffs as she did everyday. Maudlin regrets were simply sil y. Her sister, Pearl, would've been quite pleased
    to have Coral come live with her and her husband, but it hadn't seemed right somehow. Pearl was so happy now, so very settled into domestic bliss, that
    Coral would've felt like a third wheel: unnecessary and awkward. So she'd come here, to live beside the sea. If she were honest with herself, she'd hoped,
    deep down inside, that Isaac would fol ow her. Oh, she knew the wish was impossible--she'd left no note, no direction, no way for him to figure out where
    she'd gone, even if he'd wished to fol ow her, but the hope had been there nonetheless.
    Or it had been.
    Coral kicked a smal pebble rather viciously and it went careening off the cliff. She'd held out hope for week after week, but now it had been six months
    and hope had died. He was at sea again by now, or-wretched thought!--had found some other lady to court. For he'd courted her--she acknowledged that
    now. He'd wooed her and made love to her, and in the end she'd fallen--hopelessly and helplessly--in love with Captain Isaac Wargate. A sob lodged in
    her chest and Coral stopped, gazing sightlessly out toward the gray sea. She loved Isaac. After a life lived as a whore, after never feeling the slightest
    emotion for any man, she'd fal en in love. A tear slipped down her cold cheek. Oh, how the gods must be laughing! She'd never see him again, would live
    out the rest of her dreary life here by the sea simply because it reminded her of him.
    Coral sighed, fished a tattered handkerchief from her sleeve, and wiped her face. How very stupid to stand here weeping in the wind. It must be almost
    luncheon time and whatever stew the woman from the vil age had made would not taste better cold. Best to start back. She turned, watching her footing
    for the path was rather rocky, and when she at last looked up she thought at first that she was imagining it. She blinked, but the sight was stil there.
    A man, smal in the distance, but growing larger at a rapid pace. He strode over the gorse, his steps firm and long, and even from here she could tel that
    he wore a naval uniform.
    Coral's heart began to beat like a wild thing trying to fly. A long black cape blew against his legs and his shoulders were set with determination. He
    must've seen her, but his stride didn't break and his expression didn't change. He was grim, like a man going to war, his wide mouth straight, his cheeks
    like granite, his black eyes dour beneath lowered brows.
    She had an