Authors: Lisa Ann Verge
Tags: #Irish warrior, #Sexy adventure, #medieval Ireland, #warrior poet, #abandoned baby, #road trip romance, #historical romp
Sing Me Home (31 page)
“Cecile awaits you tonight,” Marie said as she knotted the last lace of her bodice. “She’ll open the door and guide you to my bed.”
“Good.” In her new clothes, she twirled before Marie. “Well?”
“You have the carriage of a noblewoman.” Marie plucked at her plain black robes, hesitating. “Perhaps this shall all work out as you planned.”
I swear that it will.
“But,” Marie began, her voice catching, “if you are caught—”
“I won’t be.”
“—the punishment for what we are doing is severe.” Her breath came fast. “We’re switching places under the very nose of Mother Superior. It’s like tricking the King himself—”
“The king and Mother Superior want girls to fill their ships, no more. They won’t look too closely after counting.”
“If we’re caught, they could force us into a convent,” Marie stuttered. “They could shut us away from the world forever.”
They’d shut you into a convent, Genevieve thought, but they would find a far more painful punishment for her.
Marie ventured, “You are sure?”
“Yes.” Any risk was worth the possibility of freedom.
“Very well.” Marie took a deep breath. “You'll be leaving at dawn tomorrow for Le Havre. Cecile will shield you from Mother Superior as you board the carriage, but it’ll be tricky.”
“Mother Superior is half blind,” Genevieve said. “She’ll never even notice me. And I'll be crying like an onion seller into my—your—handkerchief. Will we be traveling in a public carriage?”
“Oh, no!” She rested a hand on her throat. “The carriage will be sent by the king, of course.”
“Who else will be in it?”
“Some guards will ride outside to see that we are protected until we reach the ship. But there will be other girls from here, I’m told.”
“Do those girls know you?”
“No. I don’t know anyone coming but Cecile. But what if one of them recognizes you?”
She forced her feet into Marie's boots—a bit too small. “None of the women who live in my section were chosen, so I don't have to worry about being recognized. Go, Marie.” She waved toward the gates. “Your Musketeer awaits.”
Marie lurched forward and seized Genevieve's hand. “I will never forget you for the sacrifice you've made for me—oh!”
Genevieve pulled away but it was too late, for Marie had already dropped Genevieve’s chapped hand like a hot poker.
Marie staggered back, her mouth falling open.
“Obviously,” Genevieve said, raising her chin, “I’ll need gloves. Even in Quebec, no one will believe that a fine young lady has the hands of a washerwoman.”
Marie made a choked sound and then raced away. Genevieve stared sightlessly at the place where the woman had been. She’d been right, it seemed, to hide her true identity as she slipped notes amid Marie’s clean laundry. Marie would never have agreed to this desperate scheme if she had known the truth.
The only women who washed linens in the Salpêtrière were the whores.
~Excerpt from
Heaven In His Arms,
copyright 2014 ~
About the Author
Lisa Verge Higgins is the critically acclaimed RITA-nominated author of seventeen novels that have been published worldwide and translated into as many languages. She started her career as Lisa Ann Verge writing emotionally intense romance about hot men and dangerous women, and now as Lisa Verge Higgins she writes life-affirming women’s fiction. A finalist for Romantic Times’ book awards five times over, Lisa has won the Golden Leaf and the Bean Pot, and twice she has cracked Barnes & Noble’s General Fiction Forum’s top twenty books of the year. She currently lives in New Jersey with her husband and their three daughters, who never fail to make life interesting.
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Publishing History
First Print edition published by Kensington Publishing as Wild Irish Rose
Copyright 1997, 2015 by Lisa Ann Verge
Digital Edition formatted by Lisa Ann Verge
Cover design by Kim Killion
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Table of Contents
Enjoy this excerpt from HEAVEN IN HIS ARMS, another road-trip historical romance!
