Free Dare To Love by Trisha Fuentes Page A

with her though,
running into her at various social events, flirting with her and
vice versa. She was marred woman who weathered well through a
broken heart.
     
    Lastly, there was Lady Krausman of German
decent, a widow barely nineteen. She was a funny girl, with her
clever wittiness that was unsurpassed. He enjoyed her company many
times, but she rapidly became desperate. Threatening that if he did
not marry her, she would kill herself. Kill herself? Well, he ended
their affiliation immediately, and she was still breathing last he
heard, living in Oxbow with her new husband—who looks a lot like
Thomas—and their four children.
     
    Enough with the bad relationships; Thomas
decided to concentrate on business. Women to him were trivial; his
father’s legacy evolved into his mistress.
     
    After arriving back in London, His Grace, the
Duke of Norwin inherited much more than a title and money. He was
in charge of the Hollinger Commerce Company, a maritime lineage
passed down from his Great-Great-Grandfather. The “HCC” was a
sinking undertaking. His father made the right decision by
accepting the Earl of Suffolkshire’s trade to supply him with ample
merchant vessels. Without the marriage arrangement, the HCC would
be just another bankrupt shipping trade. The export industry to
Bengal, India, Madagascar, China, Africa and South America was now
his to maneuver. His father was even accommodating passengers for
transport to Charleston, Virginia and Boston in North America and
Thomas kept that intact as well. Gwendolyn’s dowry provided him
with endless vessels of every variety: schooners, flagships,
brigantines and merchant ships. The first few years weren’t without
trial though. Pirates in the Eastern Seas to Madagascar
commandeered several ships; inundated by infamous pirates the likes
of John Rackham, Bartholomew Roberts and Red Retropé.
     
    When construction began; there were orders
for ships making the voyage down the Atlantic, around the Cape of
Good Hope, across the Indian Ocean and up through the China Sea and
back. Tea production was in high demand, enthusiastic customers for
the China trades; goods, like tealeaves, silks, cinnamon and
firecrackers. The HCC began building clipper ships, capable of
sailing to China at a rapid pace. Although only a few were being
built at the time, Thomas was indeed proud of his short
accomplishment. Large and substantial, sleek in profile, with a
level freeboard and a narrow, V-shaped hull, her beam was 27 feet,
and her keel slanted downward from 11 feet at the bow to 17 feet at
the stern. She was considered to be the fastest merchant vessel
afloat.
     
    As of late, most of his mercantile cargo was
for military usage and aiding the Royal Navy with guns, uniforms,
cannons and food. Every quarter, he was fortunate to take on
dazzling fortunes from Arabian Kings: gold, silver, elephant tusk
ivory, spices, coffers of jewelry and bales upon bales of shiny
rare silks. Just recently, he had tried to maneuver away from the
slave trade, but that too was good business. But he had concluded
that he could get paid evenly for African antelope more so from
human cargo and opted towards the transport of mutton.
     
    Thomas was proud of his triumph; it took him
only three years to achieve his goal. And, at twenty-three, Thomas
grew into one of the richest men in London and secured respect and
admiration from men old enough to be his father. He actually
multiplied his father’s wealth tenfold and with his suffering
behind him, finally looked forward to his future. The subsequent
three years have been a whirlwind of invitations, charities and
voyages to North America; he was on top of the world when he
spotted her from afar.
     
    He wanted to know her immediately not knowing
who she was, but watched her materialize across the room. Her
gracefulness, so enchanting, felt compelled to meet her. To his
amazement, unbeknownst to him, she was his solicitor’s younger
sister! He unhindered himself