Shattered Rainbows Read Online Free

can't bear to let Viscount Tregar out of your sight."
    "Hello, Michael." Her eyes twinkled as she extended her hand. "It's very lowering—I feel exactly like a mother cat standing guard over her kittens. My friend Marged assures me that in another month or two, I shall become more sensible."
    "You're always sensible." He kissed her cheek with deep affection. By her mere existence, Clare was an example of all that was good and true about womankind. Releasing her hand, he glanced into the crib. "Incredible how tiny fingers can be."
    "Yet he has an amazing grip," she said proudly. "Give him a chance to demonstrate it."
    Michael leaned over the crib and gingerly touched the baby's hand. Kenrick gurgled and locked his miniature fist forcefully around Michael's fingertip. Michael found himself unexpectedly moved. This minute scrap of humanity was living proof of Clare and Nicholas's love, with his father's wickedly charming smile and his mother's vivid blue eyes. Named for his paternal grandfather, Kenrick was a bridge from past to future.
    There might have been a child of Michael's, who would have been almost five now…
    Unable to bear the thought, he gently disengaged his finger and straightened. "Is Nicholas home?"
    "No, but he should be back anytime now." Clare's brows drew together. "Has something happened?"
    "Napoleon has escaped from Elba and landed in France," Michael said flatly.
    Clare's hand went to the crib in an instinctive gesture of protection. From the doorway, there came the sound of a sudden intake of breath. Michael turned to see the Earl of Aberdare, his dark hair beaded with moisture from riding in the mist.
    His mobile features uncharacteristically still, Nicholas said, "Any word on how the French people are receiving him?"
    "Apparently they are welcoming him back with wild acclaim. There's an excellent chance that within the next fortnight, King Louis will run for his life and Bonaparte will be sitting in Paris and calling himself emperor again. It isn't as if Louis has endeared himself to his subjects." Michael pulled the letter from his pocket. "Lucien sent this."
    Nicholas read the letter with a frown. "In a way, it's a surprise. In another way, it seems utterly inevitable."
    "That was exactly how I felt," Michael said slowly. "As if I'd been waiting to hear this news, but hadn't known it."
    "I don't suppose the allied powers will accept this as a fait accompli and let Napoleon keep the throne."
    "I doubt it. The battle must be fought once more." Michael thought of the long years of war that had already passed. "When Boney is defeated this time, I hope to God they have the sense to execute him, or at least exile him a good long way from Europe."
    Clare looked up from the letter, her gaze level. "You're going to go back to the army, aren't you?"
    Trust Clare to guess a thought that had scarcely formed in Michael's mind. "Probably. I imagine that Wellington will be recalled from the Congress of Vienna and put in charge of the allied forces that will be raised to oppose Napoleon. With so many of his crack Peninsular troops still in America, he's going to need experienced officers."
    Clare sighed. "A good thing Kenrick will be christened in two days. It would be a pity to do it without his godfather. You'll be here that long, won't you?"
    "I wouldn't miss the christening for anything." Michael smiled teasingly, wanting to remove the concern from her eyes. "I only hope that lightning doesn't strike me dead when I promise to renounce the devil and all his works so I can guide Kenrick's spiritual development."
    Nicholas chuckled. "If God was a stickler about such things, every baptismal font in Christendom would be surrounded by charred spots."
    Refusing to be distracted, Clare said in a tone that was almost angry, "You're glad to be going to war again, aren't you?"
    Michael thought about the tangle of emotions he had felt on reading Lucien's letter. Shock and anger at the French were prominent, but there were