Broken Hearts and Loving Souls (The Fallen Angels NOVELLA Series Book 4) Read online

  Broken Hearts and Loving Souls

  The Fallen Angels Novella Series

  Julianna Hughes

  Contents

  Acknowledgments

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Epilogue

  Other Books by Julianna Hughes

  About the Author

  Copyright © 2019 by Julia C. Oliver w/a Julianna Hughes

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  This book is a work of fiction and any resemblance to persons, living or dead, or places, events or locales is purely coincidental. The characters are products of the author’s imagination and used fictitiously.

  Editor, Casey Harris-Parks of Hearts Full of Ink.

  Copy Editing by Barbara of The Killion Group, Inc.

  Cover Design and Interior Format by The Killion Group, Inc.

  I would like to Dedicate this book to

  the eternal hope of Love and the

  healing power it can bring to your soul

  Acknowledgments

  My profound thanks to Lori, my dear friend and spirit sister. You have been a safe harbor during the turbulence of the last year. And thanks to Marlene. Your support and encouragement have been immeasurable.

  * * *

  And my thanks to RWA. Both on the local level and on the national level.

  * * *

  And thanks to Kit and Belle. I love you and my life is enriched by you being apart of my life.

  Chapter 1

  Her troop was finally assembled. It was how Lady Cora Heathman had come to think of her small family. Angela, her eldest daughter, had secretly served in the army as a lieutenant for three years while pretending to be her dead brother. Her new husband was Captain Ricarda Dorko, a retired cavalry officer who had saved Angela’s life the year before. And her youngest daughter, six-and-ten-year-old Patricia, or Patty as she preferred, was General Devlin to everyone that had experienced her domineering ways.

  Right now, they were all gathered several yards from their farmhouse, preparing for a trip to Yorkshire in the far north. Or more precisely, her two daughters and son-in-law were preparing for the trip. Cora was staying home so she could watch over the major renovations to their new home. At least, that was the reason Cora had given her family for not accompanying them on the trip from Cornwall to Yorkshire. The truth was she had plans of her own and didn’t want any of her family interfering with them.

  “Mother, are you sure you don’t want to go with us to meet Ricarda’s family?”

  By Cora’s accounting, this was the tenth time one of her daughters had asked the same question that morning. Ricarda had asked only once. And that had been last week when they had first gotten the invitation from his grandmother, the Countess of Carliston, to come visit for a fortnight.

  Angela, or Angie as ever one called her, had grudgingly agreed to the invitation. Not because she disliked the countess or the earl- in fact she had never met them. None of them had. It was why his grandparents had extended the offer.

  “If you need us or anything please do not hesitate to send a message to the earl‘s immediately,” her eldest daughter said, pulling her out of her musings.

  “Angie,” Cora said, exasperated with her daughter’s overprotectiveness. “You have given me directions to the Carlistons’ estate four times. And you have given me the address of every one of the inns the three of you will be staying in on the way there. Trust me, if I find myself in need of you, I will know how to get ahold of you. And Jamie, Mr. Malcomson, has agreed to ride to you with all due haste if the need should arise.”

  Mr. Jamie Malcomson was in truth, Jamieson Gavin Malcomson, a retired army surgeon as well as an accredited medical doctor. He was also her new son-in-law’s best friend. However, for reasons only the good doctor and Ricarda knew, the man had quit practicing medicine of any kind at the end of the war.

  Jamie was three and forty. The same age as Cora. It was one of the few private things she had been able to learn about the man. Outwardly, he was everything she had once dreamed about in a husband. At just under six feet tall, he was a full head taller than her five-foot-four inches. His hair was a sable brown with silver wings on the side, making him look extremely distinguished in her opinion. And where her eyes were nearly the same shade as her own brown hair, his were a light blue. A blue so light as to look like a frozen lake in winter. Yet they weren’t cold, emotionless. No, his eyes were alive with emotions and usually a bit of bedevilment. Something that was more often than not turned on her since his arrival two months ago.

  It had been his rather odd sense of humor that had infuriated her at first. Then he had been wounded protecting her and her family, and her feelings toward the Scotsman started to change. Cora now saw his warped humor in the same light as Angela’s and Ricarda’s rather odd sense of humor: Products of their time in the army.

  Once Cora stopped hating him, she began to notice other things about him as well. Jamie was just as honorable as her new son-in-law. She had also discovered that he was a very caring and compassionate man.

  Since she had met him, he had broken his vow not to practice medicine on two occasions. He had helped Ricarda when he had been ambushed and shot in the back. He had also help Ernie Tuttle, their cook and house keeper’s son when he had been wounded during the kidnapping of Angie several weeks later. And that had led to her noticing other things about him as well.

  Her eyes darted to the back of the traveling coach as the man on her mind came around the corner. Jamie had been helping with the last of the luggage and was now walking over to stand beside her. He had obviously been listening to their conversation.

  “Lassie,” he said to Angie, “you need to be gettin' on with yourself. Your mother and I have everythin’ well in hand. There is naught for you to be doin’ until the carpenters and roofers are through fixin’ the east side of the house.”

  Cora shuddered. The house was their new home, Litton Moor Farm in Cornwall. The land and manor house had been given to Angie for saving the Prince Regent’s life the year before. Unfortunately, unlike their former home, Litton Moor was not a prosperous farm, and the house was in need of major renovations due to lack of care for years. Work that by necessity was being done while they lived in the house.

  “And you can stop worrying about your mother’s health,” Jamie continued. “I may not be practicin’ medicine anymore but I ken how to care for a person if the need arises. Get on with yourself, lassie. The lot of you, afore you find yourselves gettin' to the first inn in the middle of the night.”

  Jamie’s light Scottish brogue washed over Cora in waves of sensuous pleasure, something she had not expected to ever feel for another man after surviving the horrors of her late husband. It was a wonderfully scary emotion she still did not know how she felt about.

  “Mother, are you absolutely sure you do not want to come with us?” Patty asked from inside the coach.

  It would be the first time since her youngest had been born that they
would be apart. Because it was the first time since her birth that Cora felt safe allowing her out of her sight. The yawning emptiness of being separated from Patty was almost enough to make her relent. However, Cora had plans of her own. And having her daughters or son-in-law under foot would make those plans harder.

  “No, sweetheart,” Cora replied. “You and Angie need to spend some time together.” That was true. And it was something she knew her two girls needed in order to reconnect after Angie’s three-year absence. “And you need a chance to know Ricarda better as well.” Which was also true, just not the whole reason Cora wanted them out of the way. “Besides, as Jamie said, there is nothing any of you can do until the men are through with the roof and renovations on the east end of the house. The only two bedrooms that are inhabitable are mine and Jamie’s. So, go. Have fun. And we’ll see you in about a month.”

  Cora hoped they would be gone for a least the full thirty days that were planned. With five days to a week to get there, it would give Angie a fortnight to get to know her new in-laws before heading back to Litton Moor. Knowing her eldest as she did, Cora was afraid they would arrive and turn around and return home the next day. Which meant at best she had a month, maybe more to see her plans through. At worst, a fortnight as that was how long it would take her daughter to travel by coach to Yorkshire and back.

  Angie was contemplatively gazing at her, making her a bit uneasy, especially with her recent thoughts and plans. Hopefully neither of her daughters suspected what she was planning. It would be too mortifying. She just smiled back and waited until Angie had bussed her on the cheek and awkwardly climbed into the coach with Ricarda’s help. Cora shook her head and wondered if her eldest would ever get used to having a man help her do anything.

  She and Jamie took several steps back and waited as the coach pulled away and headed down the drive toward the main road. They stood there waving at Patty as she hung out the window like the hoyden she was, waving at them until the coach pulled through the gate and out of sight.

  Unconsciously, she took a step after the coach as she wiped away a tear sliding down her cheek. Jamie’s strong, reassuring hands grasped her shoulders and held her in place.

  “Lass, let them go. Your bairns need a chance to get to ken each other again. With your Angie being gone for so long, your girls are no’ but strangers now.”

  “I know,” she replied harsher than she intended. “It is why I insisted they go without me.”

  Of course, it wasn’t the only reason. Unfortunately, the other ones were making her feel even more like a neglectful mother than she already did. But she wouldn’t give in to her desire to lean back against the reassurance Jamie was offering. She determinedly wiped away another tear and straightened her back. Once she was sure she had her composure under control, Cora pulled away from his grasp and turned to face him. The chaos of the house renovations enveloped them and the deafening pandemonium forced her to step toward him.

  Cora eyed the house then glanced up at his concerned face. She might as well put the first part of her plan into motion. “Jamie, I need to go to town. I had Mrs. Tuttle put together a couple of baskets for some of the neighbors. And I need to pick some things up for her from the store. Would you mind driving me to Ponsanooth?”

  His eyebrows snapped together as he gazed back at her, and she wondered if he knew what her true motives were. Thankfully, after a few seconds, he turned and scanned the area. Cora knew what he was doing even before he said anything.

  “Ernie’s shoulder hasn’t completely recovered from the wound he received,” she said, “and there is no way he can handle the ribbons on the wagon. Especially for a trip to town and back. And everyone else is working on the roof on the east side of the house.”

  “Bluidy hell,” he muttered.

  She didn’t take offense at his reluctance to escort her. Since ending their initial hostilities, she had been spending more and more time with him. Cora had needed the time to work up the nerve to move to the next step in her campaign for him. Especially after what she had endured at the hands of the last man to touch her.

  Determined to get over her former life, about a week ago the second part of her plan for the next few weeks began. She started giving him little touches here and there. Her whole body trembled the first few times. Not from pleasure but from fear. Then with each touch her confidence grew, as did her pleasure.

  Her fingers would brush against his hand. Her hand casually caress his arm in a friendly gesture. Her breast would press accidently (well, not so accidently) against his back while she looked over his shoulder at something they were working on. In truth, the first time had been a complete accident. However, the bolt of awareness that shot through her had encouraged her to repeat the “accident” several other times.

  At first, he looked at her indulgently, as if to say hello. From then on, she had turned her subtle seduction into a private game. Until one day he started a little more than usual, and she knew she was getting to him. Cora would not have known he’d like her touching him in such a way if not for the young man she’d fallen in love with before her marriage to the baron. Jamie Malcomson had gazed at her in the same way, causing her heart to flutter and her blood to run hot.

  After the years of abuse at the hands of her late husband, Cora had been left with an arm that was nearly useless. With his death, she never thought she’d want another man to look at her thusly. At first, she had been surprised at her own wantonness. Logically, she knew she was a mature woman and he was a grown man. Her growing attraction to him was normal. And quite ordinary. Why shouldn’t they look at each other in that way?

  Jamie now watched her warily, as if he expected her to assault his virtue at any moment. Even though she’d had a fantasy or two about doing just that, she had no intentions of following through with it. She most definitely wanted to explore the possibility of having an affair with him. Cora just had no intentions of attacking him.

  She also had no desire to ever marry again. Once had been more than enough. Thanks to her husband, she knew that a number of widows conducted discreet affairs all the time. So why not her?

  From what she could tell, Jamie had no desire for marriage either. Therefore, a discrete affair was just the thing for the both of them.

  Before doing so, she planned to help him regain his life and his career as a surgeon. Or better yet, as a physician. Cora had never thought of herself as a meddling kind of female. However, there was just something about the way he looked after Ricarda and Ernie when they had been hurt that made her want to help him regain what he had lost during the war.

  Consequently, part one of her plans was to introduce him to the village of Ponsanooth, and the people of the town to the good doctor. The second phase was to discover why he seemed skittish with her and find a way around it. And then to see if he would be interested in having that affair with her.

  Chapter 2

  This was a bad idea. A very bad one. Jamie had been drawn to Lady Cora Heathman from the moment they met. Fortunately, it had been a safe attraction as there was no way the lady would return his feelings. In fact, he had inadvertently antagonized her when he and Major Dorko (Rick for as long as Jamie had known the man) had first arrived at their farm. He hadn’t thought there was any danger of the attraction becoming mutual.

  However, fate or the gods were in a mischievous mood. He had gotten wounded helping protect her family, and she had been the one to take care of him. Somewhere between then and two weeks ago, he seen a change taking place in her attitude toward him. At first, it was simply that her hostilities toward him had softened. Then last week, she had begun brushing up against him when they were talking or working together. Jamie had tried to shrug it off as merely incidental touches that meant nothing at all. Unfortunately, he had made the mistake one day of looking into the velvetiness of her eyes, and he had seen desire and longing there. And it had scared the holy hell out of him.

  Because as much as his body might want to explore the
possibilities, there were just too many complications to even consider the idea of an affair with the lady. For one, she was his best friend’s new mother-in-law. He would never dream of doing anything to dishonor that friendship. Secondly, she was a gently born lady. Even though he knew some genteel widows enjoyed such things, there was no way in hell he was having an affair with one of them.

  Jamie was the fourth son of a Scottish earl and been raised as a gentleman. Despite being disowned by his family for becoming a surgeon, he still considered himself a gentleman. Hell, he could still hear his mother’s voice telling him that gentlemen just didn’t do that kind of thing.

  Thirdly, he simply liked and respected Lady Cora Heathman too much to even consider dishonoring her by having a potentially ruinous affair with her. No matter how much he might like to, he couldn’t and wouldn’t allow his baser urges to ruin someone like Lady Cora. If that wasn’t enough to keep him from exploring the attraction between them, he currently had no home, no livelihood, and no idea what he wanted to do with the rest of his life.

  All of that meant that the possibility of spending the day driving around the country with her sitting next to him was a bad idea. An extremely bad one.

  “Cora,” he began and then decided he needed the formalities as a bulwark between the two of them. “Lady Heathman, you ken we can’t both be harin’ off to town. Not with so much work goin’ on right now.”

  He frantically looked around for anyone that could drive her and save him from the potential disaster. She quickly squashed any further argument he could make with the simple fact that there really was no one else available to drive her to town.

  “Bluidy hell,” he muttered.

  She smiled charmingly up at him and he knew he had been outmaneuvered. Others might see Lady Cora Heathman as a near invalid because of her partially paralyzed left arm from a fall five years ago. However, he didn’t. And her daughters might treat her with kid gloves because their father had tried to poison her with arsenic after the incident that left her arm almost useless. Not Jamie. He had seen the steel in the lady’s backbone. Lady Cora was not a woman to be trifled with. Nor underestimated. Something he had unfortunately just done. Consequently, he would have to be on guard today.