Of One Heart - By Cynthia Wright Page 0,156
box you have?"
"Oh, I nearly forgot. It's the bonnet you ordered for Temperance's birthday. Mother did lovely work on it. It hardly seems fair that you should buy it, since you own the shop, but times being what they are—"
"Hush, minx! I may own the shop, but I don't have a talent for making bonnets! Leave me the bill, now. Stay awake in church this week and perhaps you'll see the thing modeled." His eyes danced.
"Nick, you are too bad."
"And you, miss, are an authority on making mischief! Which reminds me—Shaw mentioned today that he's seen you wandering about the docks! That's got to stop, Devon. You'll find yourself with more trouble than even you can handle." He looked at the Frenchman. "Isn't that so?"
"Unquestionably," Raveneau confirmed.
"You'd better be off as well, Devon. Your mother will give me the devil for keeping you all afternoon. Knowing you, you took the longest route getting here." Nick put an arm around her shoulders and pressed a kiss to her tumbled hair. "Can't you find a comb in that shop?"
"Must you scold me? I can see that this is not the place to come for a good laugh any longer!"
Nick chuckled and gave her an affectionate wink. "Say, I've an idea! Perhaps Captain Raveneau would see you home. What do you say?"
"Sir, you have read my mind," he said. Devon doubted it but was thrilled all the same, until he added, "The only drawback is that I came on foot."
He's laughing at us! Devon thought, humiliated. The man is a cad!
"Oh, that's no problem," said Nick. "It is getting dark; no time of day to be wandering the streets. I insist that you take my carriage. I'll have a boy drive you."
Raveneau lifted a dark brow, but his only reply was, "You are too kind, M'sieur Nicholson."
"Nonsense! Wouldn't want anything to happen to America's most valued privateersman!"
"What about me?" Devon demanded, feigning outrage.
"Well, now, that's another story!" Nick laughed, ducking her effort to cuff his arm. They left the library and were walking toward the door when Nick inquired conversationally, "Still reading Gulliver's Travels, Devon?"
She laughed. "You underestimate me! That was last week! I've finished Candide and that tiresome Vicar of Wakefield since then."
"And now?"
"I don't think I should tell you."
Raveneau looked on with interest as Nick's bristling gray eyebrows came together. "Devon—"
"Tom Jones!" was her cheerful reply.
"Good Lord! Where on earth did you get a copy of that?"
Rebecca opened the front door and Devon scampered outside before calling back, "From your library, of course!"
Nick clapped a hand to his head and was shaking it hopelessly from side to side as Andre Raveneau bade him farewell. "An interesting visit!" he commented, unable to repress a smile. "I will see you in a few weeks, M'sieur Nicholson."
Nick recovered enough to grasp the Frenchman's hand and wish him luck with the voyage he would undertake on the morrow.
A handsome carriage was brought around, the horses tossing their heads at the sight of Devon, who greeted them and the young driver by name. A bemused Andre Raveneau helped her up, and after a last wave at Nick they started off down Union Street.
Suddenly Devon felt a choking shyness close around her. Gazing at her lap, she was able to view Raveneau's legs as well, only a few inches from her own. The long muscles of his thighs were outlined against the fawn breeches he wore; she yearned to touch him, to find out if his leg could actually be as hard as it looked.
Raveneau could feel her scrutiny. It was unsettling. What was the girl looking at? "I was quite impressed to hear of all the books you read this week," he said at last, hoping to halt her gaze before it continued any farther up his legs.
Startled, Devon looked up. Outside, dusk was deepening into a blue-gray mist, and she had the impression that this entire experience was not real, but one of her recurring dreams.
"Were you really?" she asked. Perhaps he was laughing at her again.
"Of course! I do not know many literary females, especially of your age."
"I am not so young!" Devon retorted hotly.
Raveneau could not help glancing at the soft curves displayed by her too-small dress. "No, of course not, mademoiselle. Not a child, by any means!"
Devon thought she detected a glint of silver in his penetrating gray eyes. Oh, he was so handsome! Even in her dreams he had not looked so devastatingly attractive. Her eyes moved over him in the dimming twilight, memorizing the gleam of his black hair, the hard lines of his scarred jaw, mouth, cheekbones, the strength of his neck, the width of his shoulders...
Raveneau managed to meet her dreamy eyes. "Mademoiselle, you seem to be greatly preoccupied with my looks! Perhaps you’d like a closer view?"
He brought a dark hand up to her chin. Devon shivered at his touch. Her heart pounded in her ears and he moved nearer, then slowly lowered his head until their lips brushed. Raveneau meant to give her the briefest of kisses, just something to dream about, but her lips were so soft, as sweet and moist as crushed berries. Hesitantly, they moved against his harder mouth, and he slid his fingers around her neck, into the cloud of her hair. She smelled of sunshine and fresh air...
Devon was sailing through a sea of stars; she tingled from head to toe. Tentatively, remembering the way Morgan had kissed her, she parted her lips. Raveneau was lost. His tongue touched even white teeth, then the soft, sweet tip of her tongue and he was shot through with the fierce sort of desire he hadn't experienced in years.
Abruptly he broke away, forcing himself to remember that he was kissing an innocent girl who looked to be nearly half his age. He slid his hand from her hair reluctantly, saw huge blue eyes staring up in confusion. He stared back, astounded.
"Good God!" was all he could say, and each word was like a gunshot.
Devon's entire body blushed crimson with shame. As the carriage drew to a halt before the Linen and Pewter Shop, she rallied and delivered a stinging slap to Raveneau's dark, harshly cut cheek.
“Romance the way it was meant to be,” raves Kathe Robin of Romantic Times Magazine about Cynthia Wright’s 13 “classic” historical romances.
A reader says: “Her warm, adventurous, loving stories match Kathleen Woodiwiss in sensuality, but have a wholesome sweetness and zest all their own.”
Cynthia Wright launched her career as a bestselling novelist in 1977 with the publication of CAROLINE, when she was twenty-three. She went on to write 12 more beloved and acclaimed historical romances set in Colonial America, Regency England & America, Medieval England & France, and the American West. Seven of these, the intertwined Raveneau Novels and Beauvisage Novels, have special places on the keeper shelves of readers around the world.
Cynthia’s novels have won many awards from Romantic Times and Affaire de Coeur, but her favorites are messages from readers like this one: “Your books show love the way you want your own relationship to be: real AND romantic!” After taking a break from writing for several years, Cynthia is excited to be back as an “indie” author, bringing all 13 of her novels back as eBooks (newly edited, with gorgeous new covers!). She will also release a new Raveneau novel, TEMPEST, in 2012.
Today, Cynthia lives in northern California with her partner, Alvaro, in a 1930’s Spanish cottage. When they aren’t riding their tandem road bike or traveling in their 1959 vintage airstream, she loves spending time with her family, especially her two young grandsons. Cynthia is also a college student who says, “It’s never too late to re-write the story of your own life!”
Cynthia invites readers to join her at her website: http://cynthia-wright.com/
And on Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/cynthiawrightauthor
Table of Contents
Cover
Books by Cynthia Wright
Prologue
Part I
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Part II
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Part III
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Part IV
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Part V
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Epilogue
Excerpt from YOU AND NO OTHER by Cynthia Wright
Excerpt from CAROLINE – The Author's Cut Edition by Cynthia Wright
Excerpt from SILVER STORM by Cynthia Wright
Meet Cynthia Wright