The Indebted Earl by Erica Vetsch (love letters to the dead TXT) 📕

switched her focus to finding a suitable husband for Cilla.”

“Poor Cilla. From what little I know of the dowager, when she fastens onto a notion, she’s harder to remove than a barnacle.”

Sophie shrugged back the lace cuff of her bed jacket and reached for her tea. The bread had stayed down, thankfully, but she wasn’t going to press the matter.

“Can we come in?” Thea asked as she traipsed across the rug, not waiting for an answer. Betsy followed, her favorite doll tucked under her arm. The captain’s naval hat dangled from the other hand, one of the peaks bouncing on the floor with each step. The poor bicorn was tattered and well loved, and Charles had given up thought of getting it back.

Penny drifted into the room, her nose in a book. Herrick’s Hesperides. Reading poetry seemed to satisfy something in her romantic little soul at the moment, for which Sophie was grateful.

“Did you flash the hash again this morning?” Thea asked, lacing her fingers around the bedpost and leaning back to swing side to side. “Why do you keep doing that? You don’t look sick.”

“I’m not sick.” Sophie looked to Charles. “Where did she learn such a vulgar phrase?”

He grinned and shrugged. His naval lingo would creep in now and again.

“Charles, the time has come to tell the girls, and I will write to the dowager this afternoon, declining her invitation. I won’t tell her why just yet. Not when she should be focusing her attention on Charlotte’s upcoming confinement and now this Christmas party.”

“Tell us what?” Penny looked up. “Thea, stop swinging like a pendulum. You’re shaking the entire bed.”

Betsy had rounded the footboard, dropped her possessions, and clambered up the steps to sit by Charles. He lifted her to lean back against the pillows between himself and Sophie. Thea, not to be outdone, hopped up to sit cross-legged on the coverlet.

“Ladies.” Charles continued to grin. “The time has come to announce that we’re adding to our crew.” He looked from one young face to the next, and Sophie thrilled to the pride and love in his eyes.

He reached across Betsy to clasp Sophie’s hand.

“For the new sloop? Why? We don’t need but two crew for her, and you hired a boatman just last month.” Thea scratched her temple. “When are we going to name the new boat, anyway?”

Penny dropped her book on the bed and came round to hug Sophie. “Are you sure? Oh, how wonderful.” She turned to Thea. “No, not crew for a boat, you bird-wit. Do you ever think of anything besides boats? Sophie is going to have a baby.”

“A baby?” Thea’s face screwed up. “Why?”

Charles caught Sophie’s eye, and he gave her a wicked wink. She smothered a laugh.

“Do babies make you sick? Is that why you have to eat dry bread every morning?” Thea looked skeptical. “I don’t ever want to have a baby. I hate being sick.”

Sophie nudged Betsy. “What do you think, sweetling? Would you like a new baby brother or sister?”

Betsy thought about it so solemnly, Sophie grew concerned. Then the little girl nodded emphatically. “Yes. I will be a good big sister.”

Sophie’s eyes grew damp—something that happened far too easily these days. “You will all be good big sisters. Let me get up and dressed, and we’ll go tell Mamie, shall we?”

The girls scampered out into the hall, and Charles called after them, “Don’t tell her until we get there.”

“We won’t,” Thea’s voice drifted back.

“I’d lay you a shilling to a ship’s command, she’s sliding down the banister right now.” Charles rounded the bed, and as Sophie slid to the ground, she also slid into his embrace. “Feeling all right?”

She rested her head on his chest, content to steal a few moments in his arms. She would have never thought that God could bring such great joy out of her grief when her captain had walked up the steps of Primrose Cottage a few short months ago. “Never better. Let’s go tell Mamie, and then let’s take the girls down to the shore.”

“Aye, aye.” Charles brushed a kiss on her head.

A

BOUT THE

A

UTHOR

ERICA VETSCH is a New York Times best-selling author and ACFW Carol Award winner, and has been a Romantic Times top pick for her previous books. She loves Jesus, history, romance, and watching sports. This transplanted Kansan now makes her home in Rochester, Minnesota. When she’s not writing fiction, she’s planning her next trip to a history museum and cheering on her Kansas Jayhawks and New Zealand All Blacks. Learn more about Erica at www.ericavetsch.com.

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“Original, engaging, and oh so romantic!”

—AMANDA BARRATT, author of My Dearest Dietrich

“An enchanting tale … that will have [Regency] fans begging for more.”

—JAIME JO WRIGHT, author of The House on Foster Hill

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—RACHEL MCMILLAN, author of The London Restoration

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“This Regency period novel has it all: action, suspense, history, and the right amount of believable romance.”

—World

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—Midwest Book Review

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