An Unscripted Courtship (Heartsong Presents, Band 1125) - Softcover

Richardson, Lisa Karon

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0373487630 ISBN 13: 9780373487639

Verlag: Love Inspired Heartsong Presents, 2015

Inhaltsangabe

JULIA WREN HAS AN UNSEEN ENEMY 

Pressured into staging her play for the genteel residents of Tuxedo Park, college student Julia resigns herself to mingling with the upper crust. But she never imagined she'd have to protect herself from danger lurking in the production. Or that she'd have to join forces with wealthy heartthrob Robert Malcolm to do so. 

Even though they're from different worlds, Robbie's captivated by the feisty young playwright—and he won't see her hurt. Together they work to discover who's out to get Julia. But as their love grows, will they be able to overcome their different social standings before the curtain falls on their romance?

Über diesen Titel

Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

Influenced by books like The Little Princess, Lisa Karon Richardson’s early stories were heavy on boarding schools and creepy houses. Now, even though she’s (mostly) grown-up she still loves a healthy dash of adventure in any story she creates, even her own. She’s been a missionary to Africa and now that she and her husband are back in America, they are starting a daughter-work church and raising a family. You can find Lisa at: inkwellinspirations.com or at lisakaronrichardson.com.

Auszug. © Genehmigter Nachdruck. Alle Rechte vorbehalten.

Tuxedo Park, New York, 1901

Robert Malcolm stopped short and raised his face to the breeze, imagining himself as a bloodhound scenting prey. He held up a hand to silence his companions. He thought he'd heard something.

Chattering and laughing, the others failed to notice and plowed into him. He staggered forward, the bark of a tree biting into his palms as he reached out to steady himself. He rubbed his hands against his pants and shook his head.

"Robbie, what is it?" Geraldine Scott demanded, her voice wavering between pique and concern.

"Shh!" He rubbed his hands against his pants again. He wanted one of his cameras, even his little Kodak Brownie. Without one he always felt out of kilter. It was the way he framed the world. But after that last set-to with his father, they'd all been confiscated. The idea of an adventure, however short-lived it would likely be, felt both liberating and all wrong if he couldn't capture its essence on film.

There it came again, the faint sound of laughter. Ears almost itching from listening so hard, Robert stepped off the dirt path. The foliage welcomed him with the mossy, green smell of unspoiled wilderness. Who could it be? Whoever it was, he meant to make the most of anything unexpected.

"I hear it, too." Charlie Morton pushed his way forward.

Robbie grabbed for his collar. "Hold up there, chum." This was his adventure and he'd be dashed if Charlie was going to take it over. "I'll take the lead."

Assuming the point position, Robbie stepped carefully through the thick, late summer undergrowth. The others trooped behind him as subtle as a marching band. Their smothered giggles grated on his nerves. He ought to have ditched them all and come back on his own.

The trees thinned and grew more windblown. They'd come nearly to the lake's edge. Robbie took refuge behind the last line of trees and stopped.

Along the edge of a tiny cove formed by a natural outcrop of stone, two young people reclined on the grass in bathing costumes. A pretty young woman in a bathing suit stood before them gesturing broadly. Robbie squinted, making sure his eyes weren't deceiving him.

They were villagers. Villagers sporting in Tuxedo Park as if they had a perfect right to the place.

This was better than he'd dared hope.

Standing right at his shoulder, Geraldine gave an outraged snort. "How dare they!"

Robbie held a finger to his lips. "Let's see what they're up to."

She scowled, but held her peace.

Robbie knew the girl declaiming before her friends. It was Julia Wren, the daughter of the owner of the local ice cream parlor. But she was different from the last time he'd seen her. Gone were the pigtails and pinafore. He edged just a hair more around the tree. She was more than pretty—she was beautiful, with luminous eyes of iris blue, dark hair and fair skin. Yet the change in her was more than the fact that she had blossomed into womanhood. She held herself with confidence. Her words held her friends in thrall.

They held him in thrall, too.

Longing again for his camera, he decided to risk getting closer.

Julia bowed at the waist, her loosely braided hair flopping over her shoulder.

"Bravo!" Her friends Minna and Friedrich Bauer jumped to their feet. "Encore!"

"I think it's brilliant, Julia." Minna sprang forward and gave her a hug. "Your professor is going to love it. You will get an A for sure."

Friedrich was more decorous, but he reached for Julia's hand and raised it to his lips. "Delightful, dear Julia." His tawny, close-cropped hair was still damp and darker than usual, but his eyes were the same vivid blue as always.

The intensity in his gaze made her cast her eyes to the ground and she gently withdrew her hand. She opened her mouth to thank him.

"Brilliant indeed." A more languid clapping came from Julia's right. She spun in the direction of the unexpected sound.

Robert Malcolm stepped from the woods flanked by several other Parkies. The leading lights of their set. Her hands grew suddenly clammy. The jig was up. Her friends depended upon their jobs at the Park, and now her desire for a lark had gotten them in big trouble.

She didn't say anything. What could she say? Minna and Friedrich stood shoulder to shoulder with her. In Julia's imagination they were the gallant underdogs, facing a vastly superior force. Lines from "The Charge of the Light Brigade" began spooling through her mind. Half a league half a league, Half a league onward.

Mr. Malcolm stopped about six feet from her.

Julia found her voice. "We're leaving."

He raised an eyebrow. "Now why would you want to do that? It seemed as if you were all having such a jolly time."

The response flustered Julia. She had half expected the Parkies to produce horsewhips and drive them from the Park. She sensed a trap, but her pride nudged her. "We were having a jolly time."

Harriet Vines, thin faced and purse-lipped, crossed her arms with the air of someone longing for a horsewhip. She settled for words with nearly as much sting. "Minna, it distresses me to think how disappointed Mama will be when I inform her of this transgression.

We simply can't continue to employ a maid who doesn't know her place and sneaks about like this on her half day."

Julia flinched for her friend. The high flush in Minna's face fled and she dropped her gaze to the ground, but she did not move away from Julia's side. Friedrich stepped forward, his hands curled into tight fists at his sides.

Harriet opened her mouth to say something to him, but to Julia's surprise, Mr. Malcolm gave Harriet a withering look and she subsided. "Tell me about this play you were acting out. Some parody on Shakespeare?"

Warily, Julia appraised him. Why was he so interested?

Now both eyebrows rose.

She forbore from sighing. "It's called A Tempest in a Teapot. I reimagined The Tempest in a modern American setting. In a place much like Tuxedo Park in fact."

"Sounds droll." The ever-elegant Geraldine Scott said in a voice that meant the opposite as she fluffed the frills on her parasol.

"I don't know. It could be intriguing." Mr. Malcolm settled himself on a rock. "Why The Tempest?'"

Julia smiled wryly. "Originally? Because I liked Ferdinand and Miranda the best of any of Shakespeare's lovers."

"More so than Romeo and Juliet?" His eyes danced with light. "I thought it was something of a requirement that young ladies fall madly in love with dashing Romeo."

"A silly, ill-considered popinjay," Julia responded promptly.

"And Juliet?"

"Misguided, obtuse and overhasty."

Once again Mr. Malcolm's eyebrows rose and a rogue's smile flashed across his face. "'Though she be but little, she is fierce.'"

Julia bit her lip to keep from responding with a grin of her own. No sense in letting him know she didn't have the upper hand. Which of course, he already did know. But still. No need to reinforce his superior position.

Charlie Morton had followed Mr. Malcolm's lead and claimed a tussock to sit on. Despite the tittering of the other Parkies, he ignored his fellow's jest. "Don't you think that's rather missing the point?"

"Perhaps," Julia said, "but I have little patience for Romeo and Juliet and their ilk." Wondering how on earth they had fallen into an actual conversation, but...

Details zur Ausgabe

• Verlag: Love Inspired Heartsong Presents
• Erscheinungsdatum: 2015
• Sprache: Englisch
• ISBN 10: 0373487630
• ISBN 13: 9780373487639
• Einband: Taschenbuch
• Anzahl der Seiten: 192
• Kontakt zum Hersteller: Nicht verfügbar
• Verantwortliche Person: Product Safety Manager; enquiries@harpercollins.ie; ; HarperCollins, Macken House, 39/40 Mayor Street Upper; Dublin 1; D01 C9W8; Irland