An Excerpt from Lady Aurelia’s Adventure
Mark Favell is an officer who holds the King’s Commission. But his family are only modestly prosperous tradesmen. He has never spent much time with the grandees of the Peninsular Army nor the rich and titled in London Society. He is rather shy and awkward with women, knowing only simple middle class girls or camp followers. So when he meets Lady Aurelia, from a noble family, he is unsure how to treat her. And their acquaintance starts with his thinking she is a Spanish spy. So while he feels a strong physical attraction, he is afraid to allow himself to fall in love. A rich woman like that would simply see him as a toy to be played with, a pet lapdog to be pampered.
Now Read On!“But you lied to me, Lady Aurelia,” he said.
She sat down on the bedroll. He was angry, but he hunkered down beside her. “Why did you lie?”
“I should think that was obvious, Mr Favell. I was a woman alone. I did not know you. I had to protect myself. If I said I had a husband, it might make sure that you would not - .”
”Force you to go to bed with me? What sort of savage do you think I am?”
“I didn’t know you,” she repeated. “I do have to get to see Lord Wellington. Since my husband died, he has been kind enough to -.”
He thought he understood.
“So he’s been offering you protection, since you were widowed? He’s - . Ah, yes, we all know that the Beau is fond of the ladies. I suppose you’re…”
She cut in angrily. “I’m not his mistress. How can you say such things? Not that it is any of your business if I was…”
“You shouldn’t have lied to me, Lady Aurelia. How can any man trust a woman that lies?”
“As I said, my affairs are none of your business. I would have told you when we reached Lord Wellington. But I am my own mistress.”
”You let me kiss you…”
“If I had let you make love to me, I still have broken no promises and I made you no promises. I have no lover and I’m not Lord Wellington’s flirt. But he has shown me some kindness since Roderick’s death. I know him pretty well, and so did my father. I needed to get to him and when I came across your party; I felt it was safest to travel with you. “
I wanted to share with you a snippet from my novel “A Court Lady”.
Corisande felt the shock of his hard mouth on her own, and then she began to experience a glow of warmth. His arm was around her, so she knew she couldn’t fall. She parted her lips, and felt Sebastian’s tongue. It rather shocked her, that after so long fencing lightly with her, and making her wonder all the time if he truly liked her, he was now showing such eagerness and sensuality. Even if he had been Pauline’s lover, right now, she didn’t care about that. But this was something different. She eagerly returned the kiss, her body pressing closer to his.
Sebastian wondered headily if any kiss had ever felt so sweet. He could smell Corisande’s orchid scent as he held her firmly to him. Her hand caressed his cheek. It felt so soft and smooth against his skin. He broke the kiss, and took her right hand to kiss it as well, gently on the palm. Then her wrist and soft flesh of her arm.
END
Peredur let her go and then said sarcastically, “A girl upon her wedding day who does not think of the night? I find it hard to credit."
“I thought that a man of noble breeding would realize that I was bound to be travel stained and weary and would allow me to prepare for wedlock more slowly"
Peredur shrugged. “I am a soldier, my lady. I am not accustomed to such finicking ways.”
”I suppose that most of your women have been of low origin. Peasant girls and the like.”
“Peasants they might be, but they have warm blood in their veins and they are not so ill mannered as to expect a man to sleep somewhere else so as not to discommode them.”
Flavia looked away, then he noticed that she was shivering a little.
Roman Bride – A story of Romano Celtic Britain
A Short Extract
