To Catch An Heiress (25 page)

“I'll take the path,” James said.

“Are you certain?” she asked with a frown. “You must be terribly weary.”

“Someone has to fetch the horses. You two go ahead. I'll meet you on the road.” And before either of the Ravenscrofts could argue, James had taken his leave and was scrambling up the steep path.

Blake smiled and tugged on Caroline's hand. “Riverdale is a very smart man.”

“Oh, really?” She tripped along behind him, leaving Chartwell to guard the prisoner. “And what prompted you to make that observation at this time?”

“I have a feeling he would be a bit uncomfortable accompanying us.”

“Oh? Why?”

Blake offered her his most earnest expression. “Well, as you know, there are certain aspects of marriage that require privacy.”

“I see,” she said gravely.

“I might have to kiss you once or twice on the way back.”

“Only twice?”

“Possibly three times.”

She pretended to think about that. “I don't think three times will be nearly enough.”

“Four?”

She laughed, shook her head, and ran down the beach.

“Five?” he offered, his long strides easily keeping up with her. “Six. I can promise six, and I'll try for seven…”

“Eight!” she yelled. “But only if you catch me.”

He broke into a run and tackled her to the ground. “Caught you!”

She swallowed, and her eyes filled with sentimental tears. “Yes, you did. It's rather funny, actually.”

Blake touched her cheek, smiling down at her with all the love in the world. “What?”

“Oliver set out to catch an heiress, you set out to catch a spy. And in the end…” Her words trailed off, and her voice choked with emotion.

“In the end?”

“In the end, I caught you.”

He kissed her once, lightly. “You certainly did, my love. You certainly did.”

non-par-eil
(noun). A person or thing having no equal; something unique
.

A year of marriage and still I think my husband a
nonpareil!

November 1815

e-da-cious
(adjective). Devoted to eating, voracious
.

I am quite hungry now that I am carrying a child, but still I am not as
edacious
as I was those days while trapped in Blake's washing room
.

May 1816

trea-tise
(noun). A book or writing which treats some particular subject
.

Blake finds so much in our two-day-old son to boast over; I anticipate a
treatise
on the topic of David's intellect and charm any day now
.

January 1818

col-la-tion
(noun). A light meal or repast
.

This confinement is nothing like the last; it is a blessed day when I can even manage to partake of a cold
collation.

August 1824

cur-sive
(adjective). Of writing; written with a running hand, so that the characters are rapidly formed without raising the pen, and in consequence, have their angles rounded and separate strokes formed, and at length become slanted
.

Today I tried to instruct Trent in the art of
cursive
writing, but Blake intervened, stating (rather impertinently, in my opinion) that I have the handwriting of a chicken
.

June 1826

prog-e-ny
(noun). Descent, family, offspring
.
Our
progeny
insist that the holes dotting the wall around Blake's dartboard were made by a wild bird somehow trapped in the house, but I find this explanation implausible
.

February 1827

eu-pho-ni-ous
(adjective). Pleasing to the ear
.

We have named her Cassandra in honor of my mother, but we both agree that the name has a most
euphonious
ring to it
.

June 1827

be-a-ti-fic
(adjective). Making blessed, imparting supreme happiness
.

Perhaps I am a foolish and sentimental woman, but sometimes I pause to look around at all that is so precious to me—Blake, David, Trent, Cassandra—and I am so overcome with joy I must wear a
beatific
smile on my face for days. Life, I think—I know!—is good, so very, very good
.

Julia Quinn
started writing her first book one month after finishing college and has been tapping away at her keyboard ever since.
The New York Times
bestselling author of thirteen novels for Avon Books, she is a graduate of Harvard and Radcliffe Colleges and lives with her family in the Pacific Northwest. Please visit her on the web at www.juliaquinn.com.

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Brighter Than the Sun

Dancing At Midnight

Everything and the Moon

How to Marry a Marquis

Minx

Splendid

To Catch an Heiress

The Bridgerton Series

The Duke and I

The Viscount Who Loved Me

An Offer from A Gentleman

Romancing Mr. Bridgerton

To Sir Phillip, With Love

When He Was Wicked

Anthologies

The Further Observations of Lady Whistledown

(with Suzanne Enoch, Karen Hawkins, and Mia Ryan)

Where's My Hero

(with Lisa Kleypas and Kinley MacGregor)

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

TO CATCH AN HEIRESS.
Copyright © 1998 by Julie Cotler Pottinger. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.

ePub edition June 2004 ISBN 9780061754159