The Mad Duke’s Bride (THE DUCHESS DILEMMA #1) by Tessa Brookman EPUB & PDF – eBook Details Online
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- Authors: Tessa Brookman
- Language: English
- Genre: Historical Romance
- Format: PDF / EPUB
- Size: 2 MB
- Price: Free
I cannot continue. I am exhausted and so is my horse. If I do not find
shelter, we will both die of exposure.
Selina Voss rode astride her bay mare, Wind, unusual enough for a woman.
She achieved this by the simple expedient of wearing breeches like a man.
Those breeches had been stolen from a young footman the night before.
Selina regretted the crime, but her need had been great. Riding side-saddle
would have forced her to a pace that would have been easily overtaken had
her father decided to pursue her.
I do not know that he hasn’t. Our last exchange was…fractious.
Her cheek still smarted from their last exchange. It had been that blow that
had sent Selina running from the house in which she had grown up. Struck
by a man twice her age, whom her father had introduced her to as the man
she would marry. Selina had resisted that notion, laughed in the face of the
gray-haired old man who thought he could buy himself a young wife. His
face had turned purple, and he had slapped her hard enough to knock her to
her knees.
Maximilien Voss, the Earl of Sawthorne and father to Selina had been in the
room. He had stood by and done precisely…nothing. Struck because she
refused a marriage to a man twice her age. A politically and financially
convenient marriage for the Voss family, but one devoid of her say, just like
her mother before her. Struck and not defended by the one man that ought
to have protected her. Her father.
Tears stung her eyes and she angrily scrubbed at them with her gloved hand,
pulling Wind to a halt as her vision deteriorated. There was no moon or
stars to speak of. The storm obscured both and lashed her with rain besides.
Her fingers were becoming numb, as were her toes. The landscape around
her was a mass of impenetrable darkness. She was riding into the pit of a
void.
Somewhere out there is Valebridge. Somewhere out there is my only hope.
Arthur. My once beloved Arthur. If anyone can help me now, it is him. But
where are you?
Her stomach was an empty hollow. She turned her head to the sky and
opened her mouth allowing rain to spatter across her tongue to quench her
thirst. In a saddle bag, there were dried apples and oats for Wind, but she
had been in too much of a hurry to pack much food for herself. And had not
thought of water. After all, this was Kent, not Arabia. But she had not drunk
anything since a cup of tea at midday when her father had announced his
plans for her.
She did not know what the time was now, but it felt as though it must have
been at least midnight. Reaching into the saddlebag, she took out a handful
of oats and reached to Wind’s muzzle to let her eat. Selina’s head was
swimming with fatigue, her cheeks stinging from the impact of the freezing
rain against the sore spot where she was struck.
What choice did I have but to run? I am not property to be bought and sold.
Mother warned me of this, but I did not believe I would ever face the same
fate.
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