The Admiral's Heart by Danelle Harmon Read Free Book Online Page B

Danelle Harmon’s bestselling de Montforte brothers series,
THE WILD ONE!
     
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    THE WILD
ONE
    By Danelle Harmon
    Book 1 of the De Montforte Brothers
Series
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Prologue
     
    Newman House, 18 April, 1775
     
    My dear brother, Lucien,
    It has just gone dark and as I pen these
words to you, an air of rising tension hangs above this troubled
town. Tonight, several regiments — including mine, the King's Own —
have been ordered by General Gage, commander in chief of our forces
here in Boston, out to Concord to seize and destroy a significant
store of arms and munitions that the rebels have secreted there.
Due to the clandestine nature of this assignment, I have ordered my
batman, Billingshurst, to withhold the posting of this letter until
the morrow, when the mission will have been completed and secrecy
will no longer be of concern.
    Although it is my most ardent hope that no
blood will be shed on either side during this endeavour, I find
that my heart, in these final moments before I must leave, is
restless and uneasy. It is not for myself that I am afraid, but
another. As you know from my previous letters home, I have met a
young woman here with whom I have become attached in a warm
friendship. I suspect you do not approve of my becoming so
enamoured of a storekeeper's daughter, but things are different in
this place, and when a fellow is three thousand miles away from
home, love makes a far more desirable companion than loneliness. My
dear Miss Paige has made me happy, Lucien, and earlier tonight, she
accepted my plea for her hand in marriage; I beg you to understand,
and forgive, for I know that someday when you meet her, you will
love her as I do.
    My brother, I have but one thing to ask of
you, and knowing that you will see to my wishes is the only thing
that calms my troubled soul during these last few moments before we
depart. If anything should happen to me — tonight, tomorrow, or at
any time whilst I am here in Boston — I beg of you to find it in
your heart to show charity and kindness to my angel, my Juliet, for
she means the world to me. I know you will take care of her if ever
I cannot. Do this for me and I shall be happy, Lucien.
    I must close now, as the others are gathered
downstairs in the parlour, and we are all ready to move. May God
bless and keep you, my dear brother, and Gareth, Andrew, and sweet
Nerissa, too.
    Charles
     
    Sometime during the last hour, it had begun
to grow dark.
    Lucien de Montforte turned the letter over
in his hands, his gaze shuttered, his mind far away as he stared
out the window over the downs that stood like sentinels against the
fading twilight. A breath of pink still glowed in the western sky,
but it would soon be gone. He hated this time of night, this still
and lonely hour just after sunset when old ghosts were near, and
distant memories welled up in the heart with the poignant nearness
of yesterday, close enough to see yet always too elusive to
touch.
    But the letter was real. Too real.
    He ran a thumb over the heavy vellum, the
bold, elegant script that had been so distinctive of Charles's
style — both on paper, in thought, and on the field — still looking
as fresh as if it had been written yesterday, not last April. His
own name was there on the front: To His Grace the Duke of
Blackheath, Blackheath Castle, nr. Ravenscombe, Berkshire,
England.
    They were probably the last words Charles
had ever written.
    Carefully, he folded the letter along
creases that had become fragile and well-worn. The blob of red wax
with which his brother had sealed the letter came together at the
edges like a wound that had never healed, and try as he might to
avoid seeing them, his gaze caught the words that someone, probably
Billingshurst, had written on the back....
    Found on the desk of Captain Lord Charles
Adair de Montforte on the 19th of April 1775, the day on which his
lordship was killed in the fighting at Concord. Please deliver to
addressee.
    A pang went through