Page 1 of The Forbidden Love of an Officer (The Marlow Family #7)

‘Lady Eleanor…’ A hesitant knock struck the door as Ellen’s maid whispered through it, as if she feared someone hearing her, even though she used the servants’ entrance to Ellen’s bedchamber.

Ellen’s father, the Duke of Pembroke, would be nowhere near the servants’ stairway.

‘Pippa?’

The handle turned and the door opened.

‘My lady, a letter.’ Pippa held it out as she came in. ‘It is from the Captain.’

‘From Paul?’ Ellen swept across the room, her heart clenching as she moved. Paul was the reason the whole house had slipped into tiptoeing and whispering. He’d caused her father’s recent rage, and now everyone was terrified of causing offence and becoming the next focus for her father’s anger.

If it was rude to snatch it from Pippa’s hand, then love had made Ellen rude.

Her fingers shook as she broke open the blank seal and unfolded the paper.

My love.

Holding the letter in one hand, the fingertips of her other touched his words.

My love… He’d only said those words for the first time a week ago, and yet she’d hoped to hear them for weeks, perhaps for months.

Paul . An image of him dressed in his uniform crept into her head, his scarlet coat with its bright brass buttons hugging the contours of his chest. She loved the way he smiled so easily, and the way it glowed in his blue eyes.

But he was a man of strength and vibrancy; life and emotion burned in his eyes too, and power cut into his features.

He was a breathing statue of Adonis; his beauty more like art than reality.

Her gaze dropped back to his words.

I’m sorry. Your father has said no, and by now I am sure you know it.

I tried, Ellen, but he would not hear me out.

He said I am not good enough for you. He would not even consider me.

He will not have his daughter become the wife of a mere Captain, no matter that I am the son of an Earl.

He wishes you to be a Duchess. He will never consider a sixth son who must earn his living.

He actually had the audacity to tell me even if I had been my brother and the heir, he would not agree to our match.

But I refuse to give you up, and I must leave for America soon.

My love. I want you with me. Will you come with me without his acceptance?

Will you run away with me? We can leave at night and head for Gretna; elope.

You know how much I feel for you. You know I cannot bear to let you go.

Remember, my love burns brighter than the sun for you.

You are my life, Ellen. Come. Send word via your maid if you will.

My heart shall ache until I can look into your topaz eyes again.

All my love, forever and ever yours,

Paul

Tears dripped onto the paper, blurring the words. She loved him too. They’d met in June. He’d attended a house party with his father, the Earl of Craster, and his brothers. His family had come to talk politics, but Paul had only come to entertain himself.

Ellen looked up from his letter, wiping away her tears. ‘I will write back, Pippa. You will take the letter for me?’ The maid hovered near the door, watching.

When Paul had come here, even though Ellen was not officially out and allowed to socialise in high society, her father had agreed to her joining the party.

She’d been sixteen then.

She’d eaten with the men during the day and entertained them in the evening, playing the pianoforte and singing while they stood or sat in groups and talked.

But in those weeks Paul had singled her out.

He had sat next to her for several meals, and turned the music sheets for her when she’d played; his thigh would brush against hers as they’d shared a narrow stool.

She’d known her father’s intention had been for her to draw the interest of the Duke of Argyle, but she did not want to marry an old man. Paul had talked to her and made her laugh, whispering as she played, while the other men talked politics and struck bargains about the room.

They had communicated through the servants since the beginning of August.

Paul had befriended a groom while he had stayed here and the man took letters back and forth, passing them through Pippa.

Ellen’s conscience whispered as she turned to open her writing desk, which stood on a small table before the window.

The very first time she’d seen Paul, before they’d even been introduced, something had pulled her gaze to him.

Perhaps it was his scarlet coat which made him stand out among her father’s political friends, or his dark blond hair, which swept sideways across his brow, as though his fingers had combed through it.

Or the blue eyes which had looked back at her.

Or the dimple which dented his cheek when he had smiled before looking away.

When they were introduced, her stomach had somersaulted, and when he had kissed the back of her fingers, her knees had weakened. It was as if she’d known him a lifetime as he’d held her gaze.

She had told her sister, Penny, she wished to marry the soldier, not the old Duke.

She should not have written to Paul though, not without permission… Thrusting her feelings of guilt aside, she put his letter down to start her own, sitting before a blank sheet of paper.

Paul,

My father has shut me in my room. I am to stay here until I agree to marry the Duke of Argyle.

You would not believe how cruel he was about you.

I know he is a Duke, but I have three sisters who may marry whoever he wishes.

I choose to marry a Captain. Yes, I will elope with you.

Only tell me when! Send word as quickly as you can.

I do not wish to stay here another hour even.

I cannot wait to see you. Come and fetch me.

Love, love and more love.

Yours and yours always,

Ellen

Ellen blotted her words, then sealed the letter, dropping a little melted wax onto the folded paper. Then she blew on it to cool it, and waved it in the air. She finished by kissing the still warm wax, before she gave the letter to Pippa.

‘Be careful, do not let anyone see you pass it to Eric.’

‘I shan’t, my lady. Did you wish me to bring you something to eat? I can fetch something from Cook.’

‘No, do not take the risk, Pippa. If my father’s steward or the housekeeper discovered it, you would lose your post and I will never forgive myself. I can manage. It is just a little hunger.’ It shall not be for long…

‘Then is there anything else, my lady?’

‘Nothing, Pippa. Go.’

The maid bobbed a curtsy, then left, the servants’ door closing behind her.

Ellen walked over to a chair by the fire and looked into the flames. Her fingers curled into fists as she held on to her excitement.

It was Christmas in a week, mid-winter.

She picked up the handkerchief she was embroidering for her youngest sister, Sylvia, and sat down, then took out the needle intending to sew again, but her hand dropped as anxiety twisted and spun in her stomach.

She had felt muddled for weeks – quivery inside.

She’d been confused ever since Paul had left in the summer.

Before he left he had slipped a note into a book he was reading aloud to her. It said simply, may I write to you? She had nodded, her heart blooming with relief that his leaving did not mean the end of their friendship.

Paul’s first letter had come with her father’s mail.

He had opened it and read it before returning the letter to Paul, telling him not to write to her.

There had been nothing condemning in it, no words of love, only facts and stories, but still she had endured a severe interview, and her father had not even known she had given Paul permission to write.

Paul’s second letter, telling her about his first, had come via Eric, a groom, and Pippa.

It had still been merely talk, but he’d said he’d taken lodgings nearby for a week or two so he might establish a way to communicate with her.

Her heart beat rapidly even at the memory of that first letter.

She had thought, surely if a man would go to such lengths, then his feelings were more than mere friendship.

A week later she had ridden out with Penny and Eric, and met Paul briefly. When Penny had met Paul, he had smiled his charming smile and bowed in his regimental way. Penny had been enchanted, and Ellen had liked him even more for being nice to her sister.

She and Penny had walked through the woods with him, at the edge of her father’s land, near his tall, red-bricked folly, and they had all laughed. Laughter was a rare thing in her family. Only when she was with her sisters, somewhere private, did they ever find moments to laugh.

Paul had gone to London after that, but he had continued writing.

Mailing his letters to the village inn, addressed to Eric, who had handed them to Pippa.

For weeks the tone of the letters had been conversational, but in November it had changed.

He had spoken of the summer, and said pretty things about the colour of her eyes and hair, and the fullness of her lips.

A week ago he had written to say he had hired a room at a local inn and asked her to meet him there. She had ridden out with Eric, and not even told Penny, fearing involving Penny if her father found out.

She had known what she wished Paul to say. Over the months since the summer, she had fallen in love with him.

Numerous hours had been wasted ever since she met him, lying on Penny’s bed, or her own, whispering about Paul.

Rebecca and Sylvia were too young to be confidants, yet she loved all her sisters, but now, if she went with Paul, she must leave them behind.

Loss shot through her heart like an arrow passing through it.

A tear escaped. She wiped it away.