Free The Heart Denied by Linda Anne Wulf

for me."
    "I did nothing for you, Combs." Thorne felt suddenly glum. "At least nothing to appreciate."
    She looked indignant. "You saved me certain humiliation and perhaps abuse, for I hear Hobbs has a fearsome temper."
    "Then avoid him."
    Her startled expression told him how imperious he'd sounded. "I shall, M'lord." She hurried toward the door.
    But he couldn't let her go, not yet. "I told you in our last meeting, Combs, that I couldn't afford to lose Hobbs."
    She stopped and turned to look at him, her expression inscrutable. "Aye, M'lord, I remember."
    "I tell you now," he said, his throat tightening, "that if the man everlays a hand on you, I will personally thrash the devil out of him and then throw him out on his ear, sans letters of recommendation, and it will be arranged so that he can find no better situation than that of groom, shoveling dung in only the poorest of stables without any prospect of advancement."
    They stared at one another, servant and master--she looking startled, he stunned by his own intensity.
    "You may go," he said presently. His voice had nearly recovered its normal timbre.
    A while later, after a double shot of whiskey, his heart recovered its normal rhythm.
     
    * * *
     
6 August, 1728
 
My dearest lord,
I received your letter today. You say you have a surprise for me. Might it be you have given some thought to conversion? The thought of attending Holy Mass and taking Holy Communion with you gives me great pleasure. Of course such a decision is entirely yours, for only you can know your heart in such matters.
My wedding frock is nearly finished. Madame Charlotte has outdone herself, from all accounts. My trousseau is complete as well. I shall certainly bring more than the one trunk with me this time!
I shall close now, and courier this today.
Fondly,
Gwynneth Lynette Stowington
     
    Arthur looked down into his ale. "And so it begins," he said with a snort.
    "What begins?" Seated across a table at Duncan's, Thorne tucked the letter away.
    The steward took a long draught before replying. "Wycliffe Hall's transformation."
    "Into what?"
    "A deuced nunnery."
    Thorne chortled. "Then I'll be its priest and we'll all go to the devil." Seeing Arthur wasn't amused, he sobered. "Bear up, my friend. True fanaticism would put me off, but this smacks more of sentimentality--attending church together and so on. Gwynneth isn't about to convert my household." Thorne grinned. "Though Bridey would prove an easy mark. She's forever begging the saints to preserve her."
    Arthur smile looked uneasy.
    "'Tis my conversion Gwynneth wants," Thorne assured him, "and damned if I'm willing to pay the Crown double taxes for the privilege."
    "Any more than you're willing to pay to keep a priest in the village?"
    Thorne narrowed his eyes. "You're a shrewd one, Pennington, never let it be said otherwise. But roughly a third of our tenants are dyed-in-the-wool Catholics, say what they will. And happy tenants mean larger profit. You know it, and so did my father."
    "Aye, but not to the tune of forty pounds per annum. For a papist stipend, at that." Arthur shook his head. "And once you've joined Radleigh's family, Parliament may well view you as a subversive-"
    "Bollocks. Radleigh's family is joining mine, and my family has been allied with the Anglican Church since its inception. What my wife does upon her knees is of no interest to me, much less to His Majesty." Arthur pressed his lips together, and Thorne held back a smile. "There, that was rather badly worded--but we digress. I was about to say that Gwynneth's suggestion is no surprise to me. She's lived among devoted Roman Catholics for ten years now, following their rituals and saying their prayers-"
    "And wishing to take their vows."
    "Yes, but now she wishes to be my wife."
    "She's trading her dream for that, M'lord, and it will take much love to balance the scales."
    "Bloody hell." Scowling, Thorne pushed his trestle bench back from the table. "Why the devil do you