A Code of Love
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Falling for the Code Breaker ~ Excerpt from 'A Code of Love'
Preoccupied, Cord didn’t register her outrage. He spoke matter-of-fact. “I’m trying to find a clue to the thief’s intentions. Does your uncle have a secure area for his confidential work? There are two different sets of handwritings on these notes. Is this your handwriting?”
Her heart thumped loudly, as if it might leap out of her chest. “Yes, it’s my handwriting. As you know, I help my uncle with his work. Do you need to go through my uncle’s papers at this time?”
She had almost slipped and called them “her papers.” She needed to be careful not to reveal anything that might hurt her uncle.
Cord stopped his search and came around the desk. His face was creased with concern.
“How is your uncle this morning?”
His quiet strength made her want to confide all the secrets that she had just sworn not to reveal. She was drained. If he so much as touched her, she would cave. “He’s napping but awoke earlier with a headache.”
He stepped closer and his voice softened. “You’re exhausted. You mustn’t worry. Lord Harcourt will recover and return to his normal brilliant self.”
She longed to tell him that her uncle would never return to the man he had been; he hadn’t been that man for years. But once informed, how could he, as the head, ever allow the situation to continue with her uncle?
He took her into his arms, pressed his mouth against her hair, and slowly rubbed her back in slow circles. His touch was gentle and loving. “You’ve had a hard night.”
She inhaled his smell, an earthy mixture of lime and starch. Tilting her head upward, she looked straight into his intense blue eyes and was lost in the deep tenderness.
He cradled her face in his hands and kissed her forehead, her eyelids, her cheeks. “You’re not alone. I’m here.”
Henrietta relaxed into his strong hands. This is how it feels to be cherished. It was a feeling she had never experienced and it filled her with longing and hope.
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#TuesdayTeaser - A Code of Love
She peeled away a sky blue silk to find a worn, brown leather book. She tightened her grasp on the book, trying to stop her hands from shaking. She opened the dog-eared volume, looking for a letter, some word of Michael.
Leafing through the pages, she examined the columns of numbers-a code table. She immediately recognized that this extensive code table was unique. The pages had endless numbers matched to French letters and words. To the untrained eye, this table would appear no different than the one she used to decipher messages sent to Uncle Charles from the Abchurch offices.
She focused on the book trembling between her fingertips. Was this some sort of strange and oblique joke, one of Michael’s McGregors? But Michael never joked about linguistics or codes. No one in the Harcourt family joked about such matters.
A memory floated to the surface-her brother’s high voice fluting down the hallway, calling out to his horrified sister that he had broken one of their mother’s favorite vases. “We’re in a McGregor.” And it seemed nothing had changed over the years. He had her involved in another McGregor.
“Just in time for the Firth ball.” Mrs. Brompton startled her from her reverie. “Shall I send over the deep green silk to Madame de Puis?” Mrs. Brompton folded the silk carefully over her arm. “Remember how your mama always favored her designs? Your mama was always heads above all the other ladies.”
Henrietta nodded. From the look of the cover, the book was old but why would Michael send her old French codes. Was this a book of the new codes the French were working on?
The code developed in the 1700’s was too lengthy and complex to be useful at the battlefront. The French had shortened their coded messages to track troops and communicate strategy. England and France were at peace since the Treaty of Amiens had been signed, but no one believed that Napoleon was finished in his drive for world power.
She fanned the pages of the book, looking for a letter, a note of explanation.
“So you agree? I should send the green silk?”
“Whatever you think, I’m sure…” Henrietta turned back to her desk and reached between two massive volumes retrieving a slender packet-the code table she had meticulously edited based on Abchurch’s previous tables.
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An Unexpected Pleasure ~ Excerpt from 'A Code of Love'
Cord stepped into the hallway. “Lady Henrietta, what a pleasure to welcome you to Rathbourne House.”
She stood abruptly. By the astonished expression on her face, she hadn’t expected to see him. “My lord…” she mumbled, looking down at the floor. She fingered a necklace hidden under her pelisse, an anxious gesture, he was coming to recognize. “I’ve come to see your aunt.” Her chin went up in defiance.
He knew nothing of her friendship with his aunt. He glanced behind her to see if her maid accompanied her. She was alone.
She didn’t offer any further explanation but bit on her lower lip.
A very sensual lower lip, now that she had called attention to it. He found himself riveted to the pink plump lower lip. “My aunt is out on her social calls with Gwyneth. May I assist you?”
It didn’t matter what brought her here today. He wasn’t going to let her leave until he had time to probe the mystery of her unaccompanied appearance.
She stood motionless.
The air filled with expectation.
“Is your need to see my aunt concerning your uncle? I know they’re close acquaintances.”
It was hard to imagine that her large green eyes could get any larger, but they seemed to grow.
“What do you know of my uncle?” Her strident voice and stiffened stance challenged him. She was absolutely compelling with her fiercely determined eyes.
“I don’t believe I’ve yet had the honor of meeting the gentleman.”
She studied him, weighing his answer.
“I’m trying to understand what would cause you to arrive at Rathbourne House, seeking word with my aunt.”
“My visit is of a private nature.”
His impulse was to take her into his arms and console her about whatever problems she faced, to kiss away the anxiety furrowing her forehead. “May I offer you tea while we wait for my aunt?” He gestured with his hand to the marble staircase, which wound grandly up to the second floor.
A Code of Love
All About Kissing - Excerpt from 'A Code of Love'
Excerpt from A Code of Love
Gus pounced as Henrietta rose from her knees, the task of weeding the flower beds complete. Henrietta teetered but the impact of the four-stone Labrador couldn’t be stopped. She fell backward on her heels, giving Gus the perfect position to lick her face. His wet kiss landed squarely on her lips and was followed by a full frontal assault. Her shrieks encouraged Gus to intensify his slobbery affection.
“Gus, you kiss better than the gentlemen of the ton.” She stood, brushing the paw marks from her pale yellow muslin dress.
“You never told me that you kissed a lot of men.” Edward came down the steps. Her younger brother never appeared to be listening, but it was like him to hear her slightly risqué comment.
“I was joking, and a gentleman would never ask a lady whom she has been kissing.”
“Why were Michael and his friends laughing about Lady Hawksley’s lips?” Edward asked.
Henrietta was going to wring their older brother’s neck for being indiscreet about the voracious widow in front of Edward. “I’ll let Michael explain what he and his friends were discussing.”
“I knew you weren’t going to tell me anything. Michael is in France and isn’t going to be home for at least four or five years.”
With his round baby cheeks and the golden Harcourt hair, Edward looked like a cherub in a Raphael painting. Leaning over, she tousled his hair. “I’m sure Michael will be home before you’re twelve years old and will answer all your questions.”
She had definite plans for educating Edward on the relationship between women and men, to shatter the male balderdash that women needed to be protected and thus excluded from the workings of the real world. With Michael’s departure to France for intelligence work, the management of the entire household fell on her shoulders.
Edward chased Gus over the grass and behind a tree. The dog came then waited for Edward to give chase again. The boy and dog ran circles around the giant oak.
Watching their enthusiastic play, she felt a deep longing for something she couldn’t identify. When Edward and Gus came to a halt near her, she hugged her younger brother. “I’ll tell you about kissing. It’s delightful when you’re kissing someone you care about, like your younger brother or your dog.”
“Hen, I’m not talking about that kind of kissing.” Edward, appearing to have no interest in the conversation, drew away and threw a stick to Gus.
“Kissing between women and men is exactly like kissing between families, a sign of mutual affection between people who care about and respect each other.” She shook her gardening gloves, carefully choosing her words. “Women want to know men respect them for their minds, their wit, who they really are, before they share their affection.”
Why was she thinking of a man whose kisses wouldn’t be the least respectful?