Simply Forbidden by Kate Pearce Read Free Book Online Page A

Ross?” Captain Merrival found a vacant bench, brushed it with his handkerchief, and invited Lisette to sit, Lieutenant St. Clare by her side.
    “I’m interested in a particular man from the military.”
    Captain Merrival clasped his hand to his heart and groaned. “Alas, I fear you don’t mean me. Now all my hopes are dashed.”
    “Don’t be ridiculous, Captain. I happen to know you are practically engaged to Miss Fenton, and, despite the gossip, I’m not the kind of woman who interferes in another woman’s love life.” She shifted on the seat so she could see both of their faces. “In truth, it is a rather delicate matter. I recently met a Major Lord Gabriel Swanfield. He was buying horses from my father.”
    “Ah, Major Swanfield.”
    Lisette waited hopefully to see if Captain Merrival was going to volunteer more information but his expression had taken on a closed look that didn’t bode well.
    She manufactured a little laugh. “Is it something too terrible to share with me?”
    Captain Merrival frowned. “It is … complicated. I never quite believed Swanfield was capable of such behavior although the evidence against him …”
    “Major Swanfield was brought up before a military court in Spain on charges of supplying the enemy with military secrets,” Lieutenant St. Clare said.
    Lisette turned to look at him. “He was?”
    “Yes, Miss Ross. The circumstances were unusual enough that rather than face a full court-martial, he was forced to leave Spain and return to England.”
    Lisette pictured Lord Swanfield’s austere face, rememberinghis claims to be honest and his bluntness. “I can’t imagine him doing that.”
    Captain Merrival snorted. “With all due respect, you can never tell what a man will do under duress, especially during a war. The information he carried with him was certainly given to our enemies.”
    “But if you remember, Merrival, Swanfield was missing for almost a year. He and I spent most of that time in a French prison.” Lieutenant St. Clare’s voice was quiet but determined. “He claimed that the information must’ve been removed from him forcibly when they recovered his body from the rock slide ambush they’d set up.”
    “Or he gave it up under torture. He certainly returned in a state near death.”
    Lisette stared at both of the men, her gloved hand pressed to her chest. “He was missing for almost a
year
?”
    “It happens sometimes in war, especially in the Spanish campaign amongst those treacherous mountains.” Captain Mer-rival shrugged. “Prisoners are taken, exchanged, or released all the time.”
    “Yet he wasn’t court-martialed.”
    “In truth, Miss Ross, he was in no state to stand trial and several of the men he commanded begged the commander in chief to allow him to leave quietly. Up until his disappearance, his record had been exemplary.”
    “And as a peer of the realm, the authorities were reluctant to pursue him as well,” Lieutenant St. Clare finished unwillingly. “So he was allowed home, but there are many who still shun him because of what happened.”
    “Do you shun him?” Lisette asked, her stomach tied in knots as she contemplated the ruin of Lord Swanfield’s reputation and the horrible certainty that such rumors and gossip made it impossible for him to set things right. She knew allabout that, had suffered the full weight of society’s condemnation herself in the past. And Lord Swanfield was scarcely the kind of man who would crave society’s favor or fight for it. No wonder he had retreated and made himself almost invisible.
    “I haven’t seen him for years, Miss Ross,” Captain Merrival said. “But I wouldn’t refuse to shake his hand.”
    “Neither would I. I think the army made some grave mistakes in his trial.”
    “Really?” Lisette studied Lieutenant St. Clare’s suddenly unsmiling face, and saw a depth of bitter experience that surprised her.
    “Major Swanfield was too ill to defend himself properly, and the