The Risqué Resolution (9 page)

“His mother claims she still receives
letters from him,” Dianna said, a rare sliver of bitterness creeping into her
tone. “I fear she lies, but what proof do I have?”

“What proof indeed,” Abigail murmured.
She sighed and straightened in her chair. “When I lost Reginald, it was a
decision we came to together.”
More or less
.
“We were foolish to ever think we could be
married.”

Dianna’s blue eyes darkened. “You were
not foolish, you were in love.”

“Stupidly so,” Abigail agreed.

“Do you… Do you still think of him?
After all this time?”

Every day
. “Once
in a great while.”

“You must despise him for what he did.”

“Oh, no,” she said honestly. “When I
remember him and our time spent together it is with great affection and
fondness. We were children, Dianna, and were both forced to pay the price for
our impetuousness. But that part of my life is long over.” Reaching out
blindly, she grasped her
tea cup
and took a liberal
sip of the cooling liquid. “Best not to dwell on the past, my dear. Memories
are what they are. You cannot change them.”

One of Dianna’s shoulders lifted and
fell in an elegant shrug. “I suppose that is true enough. It is curious,
though, is it not, that you never married?”

Something twisted unpleasantly in
Abigail’s stomach. Now she knew why she never talked of Reginald, nor of the
history they had shared. It hurt her now just as it had back then. It seemed
time did not lessen the pain of
all
wounds,
and the ones she had sustained all those years before were still slowly
trickling blood. “I did not marry because I had no wish to do so,” she said
firmly, hoping her tone would put an end to the subject.

“So you have no lingering feelings at
all,” Dianna persisted.

“For Reginald?” Abigail took another
sip of her tea. “No, none at all.” It was, she reflected, one of the only lies
she had ever told her niece.

“Then it will not matter to you, then.”

Abigail peered at Dianna over the
curved rim of her cup. “What will not matter?” she asked suspiciously.

“It was in all of the papers yesterday
morn. I am surprised you have not heard already.”

“Heard
what
?” She loved her niece, she truly did, but sometimes the girl
could be nothing short of exasperating.

“The Duke of Ashburn. He is returning
home.”

Abigail’s teacup slipped from her hands
and shattered on the floor.

Young and blissfully in love, Reginald and Abigail
were once engaged to be married
. Their lives should have
ended in happily-ever-after, but he was destined to be a duke and she was the
third daughter of a baron. Curtailing to his mother’s demands, Reginald broke
the engagement… and Abigail’s heart.

Thirty years have passed since then. Now a confirmed
spinster, Abigail has forgiven the boy she loved, but she has never forgotten
the man. When Reginald unexpectedly returns to England she wants nothing to do
with him, fearful of stirring up old feelings that should have died long ago.

Reginald made the worst mistake of his life when he left
Abigail. She is the only woman he has ever loved, and he is willing to risk
everything to get her back. But once lost trust does not come easily, and
Abigail is reluctant to give her heart away a second time.

Can Reginald and Abigail come to terms with their painful
past? Or are some second chances best left untaken? Find out in 
The Spinster and the Duke
.

BARNES & NOBLE
 //
AMAZON