Falling for the Marquess - Julianne MacLean Page 0,120
kidnapper.
“I will alert the authorities in the morning and have someone come to collect him. Don’t worry about a thing. I’ll make sure our names are not connected. We’ll be long gone by the time they arrive.”
They hobbled together into the hall and reached the top of the staircase. Adele stopped and looked down. “This might be a challenge.”
“Allow me.” He held out his arms.
He meant to carry her? Her heart did a little nervous flip at the thought of it.
Before waiting for her reply, he scooped her into his strong, able arms and descended the narrow steps effortlessly. When he reached the bottom, he carried her to the kitchen, where a faded upholstered chair faced the fireplace. Other than that, the room was unfurnished. There was only a small pile of kindling, some cooking utensils, and provisions to prepare a few meager suppers.
Lord Alcester set her down on the chair. Lightning flashed outside the window. Thunder rumbled almost immediately afterward as darkness began to descend.
“If you will excuse me,” he said. “I must take my horse to the stable before the storm is fully upon us.”
“Of course.” Yet she did not want him to go. She had been trapped alone for three days, helpless and locked in a room. She had just been shot. She was an ocean away from her home, and he was all she had.
Lord Alcester raised his coat collar up around his neck and picked up the hat that lay on the floor. He must have torn it off quickly when he’d first arrived. She remembered the violent commotion that ensued when he’d entered and could only imagine what had occurred.
Settling the hat on his head, he faced her. “The worst is over now.”
It was exactly what she had needed to hear. Had he known? He seemed very intuitive.
He opened the door and let in a powerful gust of wind carrying a pattering of cold, hard rain. The gale swept into the cottage and whirled like a tempest, but the room calmed quickly when he slammed the door behind him.
Adele sat alone in the silent kitchen, staring at the door and trying to come to terms with her situation. She couldn’t believe that she had been kidnapped and shot. Bookish Adele Wilson, who avoided adventure at all costs....
Her sisters were sure to be shocked when she told them her tale of woe—how she’d been abducted, trapped and finally rescued by a proverbial white knight.
It was embarrassing, actually, to think of him that way. She had always considered those fairy tales to be silly and unrealistic and would have preferred to read about heroines who rescued themselves.
Either way, Lord Alcester was hardly a white knight. He was more of a dark knight. She remembered how intense and angry he had appeared when he burst into her room. Her knees had turned to jelly.
Then he’d killed a man. For her.
A cold shiver moved through her as she replayed that horrific moment when she’d gazed into that dark barrel of death. She had been impossibly lucky. If her kidnapper had fired a fraction of a second sooner....
She was immensely grateful to be alive.
And she owed a tremendous debt to Damien Renshaw—her future cousin. True, his reputation was concerning, and she would never get over the embarrassing fact that he had seen her naked thigh. But he had come to her rescue, galloping across England to what felt like the ends of the earth. He had been her champion, when despite her own efforts, she had been unable to rescue herself.
Adele inhaled deeply, glanced at the door and considered the night ahead, trapped in this isolated cottage with such a man.
All at once, she found herself wishing that the man who had come to her rescue had been Harold instead.
In Love with the Viscount – Available Now
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Books by Julianne MacLean
HISTORICAL ROMANCE
The American Heiress Trilogy
To Marry the Duke
Falling for the Marquess
In Love with the Viscount
Can This Be Love Trilogy
(American Heiress Spinoff)
Love According to Lily
To Annabelle, With Love
Where Love Begins
Love at Pembroke Palace Series
In My Wildest Fantasies
The Mistress Diaries
When a Stranger Loves Me
Married by Midnight
A Kiss Before the Wedding -
A Pembroke Palace Short Story
Seduced at Sunset
The Highlander Series
Captured by the Highlander
Claimed by the Highlander
Seduced by the Highlander
The Rebel – A Highland Short Story
Return of the Highlander
Taken by the Highlander
The Royal Trilogy
Be My Prince
Princess in Love
The Prince’s Bride
Dodge City Brides Trilogy
Prairie Bride
Tempting the Marshal
A Time for Love
Colonial Romance
Adam’s Promise
CONTEMPORARY FICTION
A Curve in the Road
A Fire Sparkling
The Color of Heaven Series
The Color of Heaven
The Color of Destiny
The Color of Hope
The Color of a Dream
The Color of a Memory
The Color of Love
The Color of the Season
The Color of Time
The Color of Forever
The Color of a Promise
The Color of a Christmas Miracle
The Color of a Silver Lining
About the Author
JULIANNE MACLEAN is a USA Today bestselling author of more than thirty novels, including the contemporary women’s fiction Color of Heaven Series. Readers have described her books as “breathtaking,” “soulful” and “uplifting.” MacLean is a four-time Romance Writers of America RITA® finalist and has won numerous awards, including the Booksellers’ Best Award and a Reviewers’ Choice Award from Romantic Times. Her novels have sold millions of copies worldwide and have been published in over a dozen languages.
MacLean has a degree in English literature from the University of King’s College in Halifax, Nova Scotia, and a degree in business administration from Acadia University in Wolfville, Nova Scotia. She loves to travel and has lived in New Zealand, Canada, and England. MacLean currently resides on the east coast of Canada in a lakeside home with her husband, daughter, and mother. She invites readers to visit her website for more information about her books and writing life, and to subscribe to her mailing list for all the latest news: www.juliannemaclean.com