to being an agent of France. He had stopped in the village after Harris had been captured to determine why Grace-by-the-Sea seemed to thwart their every move.
“You must tell me,” he had urged Howland in the thick-walled storeroom, as Linus, Abigail, and the earl stood in the background. “I thought you, Bennett, and Denby were the leaders. If I removed you, I cleared the way. There must be another. St. Claire? Greer?”
“My wife, Mrs. Denby, and Miss Archer have been one step ahead of you at every turn,” the magistrate answered with a grim smile. “You see, it isn’t just the men of England you should fear. Every man, woman, and child will come out to fight for our land. A shame you cannot tell your emperor that.”
“I will tell the emperor everything,” he threatened. “My men will come for me.”
“I don’t think they will,” Linus put in. “If I’m not mistaken, your men are on their way to France and have no idea you’ve even been captured.”
“Indeed,” Mr. Howland said with a look to Linus. “Captain St. Claire returned this morning to tell me as much. He chased that French ship nearly to France. How did you know, Bennett?”
“Ethan saw something the day of the Regatta the rest of us missed,” Linus explained. “He sketched the French vessel with only three men aboard, a precarious crew at best. Put the word out up and down the coast, and I think you’ll find someone’s pleasure sloop has been stolen.”
“Lord Waverly’s,” Howland had agreed. “The word came through yesterday. He sent his regrets that he could not join the Regatta, which will run tomorrow without French interference.”
And it did. Abigail, her mother, Ethan, and Linus joined the rest of the village and their guests to cheer for the Siren’s Call.
“Second,” Ethan lamented as they walked home that evening. “I wanted him to win.”
“I have a feeling he could have won,” Abigail told him. “Perhaps he doesn’t want the French to know how fast he can truly sail.”
They returned to a fine fish stew courtesy of Jack Hornswag at the Mermaid. As her mother and Ethan finished clearing the table, Abigail led Linus down the corridor for her studio.
“I want to show you something,” she said as she opened the door and let him in. “Something for our home. What do you think of this?” She stepped aside to let him view her seascape.
Four figures—grandmother, father, mother, and son—stood with their backs to the viewer and their gazes trained out over the boundless waters. The sun broke through clouds to gleam about them, as if anointing them from above.
He stared at it, and the wonder and awe on his face called to her more surely than the sea itself.
“I love it,” he said. He turned to her. “And I love you, Abigail.”
He gathered her close, her love, her healer, and she knew the future would be as bright and boundless as the waves she had painted.
~~~~~~
Dear Reader
Thank you for choosing Linus and Abigail’s story. I knew Abigail required the right man to heal her heart. And Linus needed a little healing himself. A special thank you to my Facebook fans, especially Karen Visnosky, who suggested the title for the book. One tiny confession: grand stand was two words in the Regency period, but I used one word here for clarity. If you missed how Jesslyn and Lark fell in love anew, see The Matchmaker’s Rogue. Eva and James found each other in The Heiress’s Convenient Husband.
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Turn the page for a peek of the fourth book in the Grace-by-the-Sea series, The Governess’s Earl. Rejected by the man she loved, quick-witted bluestocking Rosemary Denby is determined to win the position of governess to the temperamental Lady Miranda, daughter of the Earl of Howland. But is it the widowed earl who truly needs a lesson, in love?
Blessings!
Regina Scott
Sneak Peek: The Governess’s Earl, Book 4 in the Grace-by-the-Sea Series by Regina Scott
Castle How, Grace-by-the-Sea, Dorset, England, August 1804
He might be earl, but he would never be his