Free A Stranger's Touch by Anne Herries Page B

gone, dearest.’
    ‘Perhaps.’
    ‘At least promise me you won’t use the cottage again. If Michael returned, he would be very angry—and you might become involved in something you ought not.’
    ‘Yes, of course I promise,’ Morwenna promised and bit her lip as she turned away. She’d promised to meet her lover there the next afternoon, but they could go somewhere else, maybe to a cave where the floor was sandy and dry.
    It did not matter where they went, as long as they could be together and alone. She smiled inwardly, hugging her wonderful secret to herself. She had a lover and she was going to London with him very soon.

Chapter Five
    ‘H ave you heard from your brother?’ The Dowager Marchioness looked at her daughter and frowned. ‘Rupert seldom writes to me so it does not surprise me, but I am told he went out of town. Did he say anything to you, May?’
    ‘No, Mother.’ May looked anxious. ‘I was expecting him to call before this, because it is my birthday tomorrow. It is most unlike him not to bring me a gift.’
    ‘Yes,’ the Dowager Marchioness agreed. ‘He may not be a good son to me, but he has always been a fond brother. I think it strange that we have not heard from him of late. Richard would never have left it so long before visiting his family.’
    ‘Mother, you are not quite fair. I am sad thatRichard died so tragically, but it was a long time ago. Do you not think you should try to forgive Rupert? It was not his fault that—’ May was silenced as her mother’s eyes snapped at her.
    ‘What would you recall of it? You were but a child. Rupert pushed his brother into the moat that day. They were fighting as usual despite their father’s orders to behave. It was Rupert’s fault that Richard became ill and later died. You may forgive him if you choose, but I never shall.’
    May made no reply. It was useless to argue with her mother when she was in this mood for she could never win their arguments. The Marchioness had become a cold, proud and bitter woman.
    ‘I wish Rupert would write,’ May said, but so softly that her mother did not hear her.
    In his sister’s opinion it was strange that Rupert had not sent a gift for her birthday and she could not help but wonder if something had happened to him to make him forget.
    What was he doing that was so important he could not even send her his good wishes for the day?
    ‘You are so lovely, my darling.’ Adam bent to kiss Morwenna’s lips, stroking the slightlydamp hair from her forehead. ‘I cannot tell you how much these meetings have meant to me. I want to be good to you, Morwenna. Promise me you will not lose your courage. You will come with me?’
    ‘Yes, of course.’ She smiled up at him, reaching out to trace his mouth. ‘I must speak to Jacques before we go. I owe him that at least—but when do you plan to leave?’
    ‘I think I must go soon, the day after tomorrow. Is that enough time for you to make your farewells, see your friends?’
    ‘I have no real friends. Michael did not encourage it.’
    ‘You do not know when he returns?’
    ‘Any time now. He will not send me word, but when he’s ready he will simply walk in as if he never went away.’
    He nodded, his finger touching the pulse spot at the base of her throat. ‘It hardly matters. He cannot stop us, Morwenna. You are mine now and nothing can part us.’
    ‘I love you,’ she whispered shyly and waited, but he did not say the words she longed to hear.
    Feeling a small hurt that he did not speak of love, she rose from the sandy floor of the cave and brushed at her skirts.
    ‘I should go now. The wind is howling and I think there will be a storm before long.’
    ‘You have many storms on this part of the coast,’ he said and rose to look into her face. ‘It was on a night like this that I came into your life, Morwenna. Only a few days have passed, but it seems a lifetime—I feel I have known you all my life. Have been waiting for you.’
    ‘As I waited