Free The Reluctant Heir by Jennifer Conner Page A

agree?”
    “Clarke,” Spencer began, but then stopped and turned to Amelia. “Can you give us a moment alone, dear?"
    The last thing Clarke wanted to do was stand there and be lectured to.
    "What," he said tersely.
    “You are not the only one who carries scars and horror filled nights from those battlefields we endured. We fought. We survived. We were the lucky ones who returned home."
    Clarke let out a snort of disgust. “So, I'm one of the lucky ones?"
    “Yes, we both are. You were not solely responsible for Adeline’s brother’s death. We both gave orders that day. You didn’t just sit in the tent while the brigade was cut down."
    “I do not feel like skipping across some bloody meadow for a bloody picnic.” Clarke pinched the bridge of his nose where the beginnings of a headache grew. “Your wife is waiting. I suggest you go and find her and be on your way.” He turned his back.
    He didn't turn around for a good five minutes. He didn't want to be angry, he was a good-natured man. But there were just some things Spencer needed to understand.
      Life would never be as it once had.
     
     
    Adeline was happy to finally have a few moments to herself. She'd been introduced to the Duke of this such, and the Earl of that such over the past weeks. With her father having one foot out of debtor’s prison and their estate close to bankruptcy, she was more a laughing stock than a catch.
    She’d had plans of spending the summer at home, but when brokers took most of her home’s furnishings she was lost. When Spencer and his sister, Felicity, invited her to stay at Warringham Estate for the summer, it was a Godsend.   They had huge hearts and she would always be thankful for their generosity and the fact that not once had they mentioned her family’s financial woes.
    Spencer and Felicity were like a brother and sister to her. Felicity dropped hints on a possible match between her and Spencer, but she never had any feeling beyond ‘brotherly’ affection. Now he’d fallen in love and married Amelia. She acquired another sister, and she was desperately happy for both of them. Would love ever be in the cards for her?   It seemed to be such a foreign thing… like Russia.
    Men spoke of her beauty, but she found most of them were empty headed dandies. She feigned interest while they talked on about some poor fox run to ground and set upon by hounds.
    A stroll through the gardens would clear her mind.
    Adeline turned her face to the sun and breathed in the warm air. The smell of grass and wild roses cascaded in the breeze. Watching the interesting cobblestone path in front of her, she came around the corner, and stopped dead.
    “Captain Garrison.” She looked around. “I didn’t realize anyone was here.”
    He looked abashed as if he’d seen an apparition. Her hair was slightly mussed, but she couldn’t look that bad.
    He cleared his throat. “Miss Barlow.” He still looked rather ill. “Why aren’t you at the picnic?”
    “I could ask the same question of you.”
    “I can make my own sandwich. I don’t need crust-less monstrosities.”
    “I am sure you can. Would you care to walk with me?” She knew she should not be out here with a man, unescorted, but her father was no longer healthy enough to bark judgment. “Captain Garrison…”
    “Adeline? Formalities?” he asked, though he still looked uneasy with her presence. “We’ve practically known each other since birth.”
    She smiled. “Do you wish for me to call you Clarke Park, as I used to?”
    “Clarke will be fine. I said we were to drop formalities, and that goes for childish nicknames too.” He had a brutish quality since he’d returned. Adeline wasn’t sure if it made him handsome or frightening. His dark hair was combed back from his angular face and he’d lost all boyhood roundness from when he was a lad. He was all muscle and strong lines now. His eyes matured into such a deep shade of brown. When he’d first returned she’d