Love and Deception: a Clean Medieval Historical Romance Read Online Free Page A

could very well ruin her reputation. Her father might not be alive to suffer the shame of her being caught in the darkness with another man but she was fairly certain he would have felt the disappointment as acutely in heaven as if he were still alive on earth. Even now, the very act of her creeping out of Braxton Hall to secretly meet with her cousin’s lover would have earned her father’s disapproval.
    She crossed herself and said a silent prayer to her father for guidance. He might not approve of her actions but she could still pray for him to have mercy on her and keep her from being discovered. Should a soul find out she had been rendezvousing with another man in the middle of the night, she might as well prepare herself for the dissolution of the betrothal contract and the end of her family line. No self-respecting man would ever offer for a disgraced lady such as she would become if she were found in the company of man in the cloak of darkness without a suitable chaperone.
    A few rocks skittered afoot and she held her breath, fairly certain that the wrath of heaven would fall upon her head. When not a peep followed her miscalculated step, she released the breath she had been holding and slowly crept towards the rendezvous point, her heart beating a dull, throbbing tattoo on her chest.
    Tears stung her eyes when she found the shady oak tree described in the note. It would provide the perfect cover for her. She silently sent a prayer of thanks to her father and asked for his forgiveness in the same breath.
    She gathered her courage and then, slinking in the shadows, she approached the tree and the one awaiting her at its base.
    He stood up when he noticed her approach and she saw for the first time the man who had destroyed her cousin’s life.
    Harry, it would seem was a tall, young man, with a strong, muscular frame. His brown eyes looked at her suspiciously then softened ever so slightly when he seemed to have reassured himself that she was alone.
    “You came alone,” he said.
    She lifted her chin and regarded him with a regal nod. “I would hear your story, Harry, if it would assuage the grief I feel. Vindicate yourself of the role you played in my dear cousin’s death, if you wish. I shall give you the chance to try.”
    “You are exactly like she said you would be,” he muttered hoarsely.
    “And, pray tell, what did my cousin say about me while you spun fairytales in her mind?”
    He shook his head. “She said you would be like this…cold at first, a bit hard to approach. But Kate seemed to be of the mind that you would listen to me if I pleaded my case before you.”
    “Cathy’s family is in turmoil, sir,” she told him quietly, her voice laced with ice and venom. “Lord Fitzhugh has yet to recover from the grief of his loss. Catherine was his favorite child, if you must know. If you had even a scrap of decency, you would not have pursued her at all. She was betrothed when you met her!”
    He sat down on his haunches and cradled his head in his hands in the face of her simmering fury. “I would take it all back, if I could. Kate was the love of my life. I felt like I would die without looking upon her at least once every day. And when she told me about the babe, I was beside myself with joy.”
    “What babe?” Rosamund asked him shakily. Her color quickly drained from her face when she learned her cousin had indeed surrendered her virtue to this man.
    With tears in his eyes, he recounted how on their last meeting, Catherine had divulged that she was with child. She had had high hopes that the betrothal contract would be broken and that her father would choose her over the Baron. Lord Fitzhugh had almost agreed to it, too, but the Baron, furious upon discovering the truth, had refused to break the betrothal contract.
    “He would marry her regardless,” Harry said suddenly, the tears flowing from his eyes. “He knew of ways to separate a child from the womb before its time. Of course, he was a