history | Author, Jane Lark's stories

The Lost Love of a Soldier

The prequel to The Marlow Intrigues series

I am going to share some excerpts from The Lost Love of a Soldier, leading up to the release date July 17th

Dressing Ellen’s first husband in his Scarlet Military coat (The Illicit Love of a Courtesan)

and adding flesh, blood and bones to John’s father (The Scandalous Love of a Duke)

The Lost Love of a Soldier

Ellen’s stomach growled with hunger for the umpteenth time as she lay on her bed. She’d been confined to her room for four days, but this would be the last day… She was leaving. The thought clutched tightly in her heart. No one knew. In ten hours Paul would come to meet her. She’d not even told Pippa, she was too terrified her father would hear it from someone if she said the words aloud. Every detail of their escape, in Paul’s words, was safely tucked inside her bodice near her heart, pressing against her breast. “Eleanor.” “Eleanor!” The sound seeped through her bedchamber door; a deep heavy pitch that made her instantly wish to comply. Obedience had carved its mark into her soul – and yet she was about to disobey. Where on earth would her courage come from? “Father?” The key turned in the lock on the outside and Ellen scurried off the bed. When the door opened she stood by the bedpost, her hands gripped before her waist, her back rigid and chin high, but her eyes downturned. It felt as though she was one of Paul’s soldiers on parade when she faced her father. She did not feel like his flesh and blood. “Your Grace.” She lowered in a deep curtsy sinking as far as she was able, in the hope he would think her penitent and be kinder. She did not look up to meet his gaze in case it roused his anger. But she needn’t even look at her father to know when he was displeased; displeasure hung in the air around him without him saying a word. Yet he never showed his anger physically, apart from barking orders and offering condemning dismissals. Those cutting words and his exclusion were enough punishment though. He never looked at her as if he cared, never smiled… What I am planning will horrify him… Her father’s fingers encouraged her to rise, with a beckoning gesture. “Papa.” She lifted her gaze to his. Paul’s words, promising faithfulness, love and protection, pressed against her bosom as she took a deeper breath. A blush crept across her skin. She feared even the blush might give her away. Compared to her father, Paul was water to stone, something moving and living. Vibrancy and approachability – warmth – emanated from Paul. Her father hid beneath coldness and disdain. If there was any warmth in his soul she’d never been able to see it. He most often communicated in a series of bitter glares rather than words. Yet Paul had experienced awful things. Death. Illness. He had cause to be bitter. He’d seen friends die, and killed others for the sake of freedom in Europe. He never spoke of it though, even when she’d asked. He always spoke of good things. But she supposed his months in England were months to forget the Peninsular War. “Well? Have you thought about your behaviour, Eleanor?” Paul’s letter was warm against her heated breast. Yes, she had thought, and she had made a choice – to leave. “Yes, Papa.”

You can buy The Lost Love of a Soldier by clicking on the cover in the sidebar on the right hand side.

Go to the index

For

the story of the real courtesan who inspired The Illicit Love of a Courtesan,
another free short story, about characters from book #2, A Lord’s Scandalous Love,
the prequel excerpts for book #3 The Scandalous Love of a Duke

Jane Lark is a writer of authentic, passionate and emotional Historical and New Adult Romance stories, and the author of a No.1 bestselling Historical Romance novel in America, ‘The Illicit Love of a Courtesan’.

Click here to find out more about Jane’s books, and see Jane’s website www.janelark.co.uk to learn more about Jane. Or click ‘like’ on Jane’s Facebook page to see photo’s and learn historical facts from the Georgian, Regency and Victorian eras, which Jane publishes there. You can also follow Jane on twitter at @janelark Jane’s books can be ordered from most booksellers in paperback

The Lost Love of a Soldier is out on the 17th July

You already know much of the story if you have read The Illicit Love of a Courtesan… But the Prequel to the Marlow Intrigues is much more than a brief view of Ellen’s first marriage, it makes Paul, John’s father, flesh and bone, and places the scarlet coat on his shoulders…

An excerpt from The Scandalous Love of a Duke…

‘John felt like the child he’d been when he’d left. The child his uncle had always seemed to pity. He nodded though, and walked on along the familiar hall as Richard turned the other way.

John’s head was suddenly full of pictures from the past. The most acute being the day his mother and his stepfather had come here to fetch him during that troubled tenth year of his life. The day he’d been returned to his mother after the scene which haunted him. The moment they had been ripped apart.

She’d taken John from school previously, in the middle of the night. John’s stepfather had been with her then, but he’d been a stranger to John at the time. They’d travelled north for miles and then she’d married that stranger.

It was only a couple of weeks after that John’s grandfather had come and taken him back.

The day his mother had collected John here, his grandfather had acknowledged her for the first time...’

An excerpt from The Lost Love of a Soldier ~ in the beginning, when Ellen and Paul met, John’s mother and father…

‘In those weeks Paul had singled her out. He’d sat next to her for several meals, and turned the music sheets for her when she’d played; his thigh brushing against hers as they’d shared a narrow stool.

She’d known her father’s intention had been for her to draw the interest of the Duke of Argyle, but she didn’t want to marry an old man. Paul had talked to her and made her laugh, whispering as she played, while the other men talked politics and struck bargains about the room.

They’d communicated through the servants since the beginning of August.

Paul had befriended a groom while he’d stayed here and the man took letters back and forth, passing them through Pippa.

Ellen’s conscience whispered as she turned to open her writing desk, which stood on a small table before the window.

The very first time she’d seen Paul, before they’d even been introduced, something had pulled her gaze to him.

Perhaps it was his scarlet coat which made him stand out among her father’s political friends, or his dark blond hair, which swept sideways across his brow, as though his fingers had combed through it. Or his blue eyes which had looked back at her. Or the dimple which dented his cheek when he’d smiled before looking away.

When they were introduced, her stomach had somersaulted, and when he’d kissed the back of her fingers her knees had weakened. It was as if she’d known him a lifetime as he’d held her gaze.

She’d told her sister, Penny, she wished to marry the soldier, not the old Duke.

She should not have written to Paul though, not without permission… Thrusting the guilt aside, she put his letter down to start her own, sitting before a blank sheet of paper.‘

You can purchase The Lost Love of a Soldier by clicking on the cover in the right hand column.

Go to the index

For

the story of the real courtesan who inspired The Illicit Love of a Courtesan,
another free short story, about characters from book #2, A Lord’s Scandalous Love,
the prequel excerpts for book #3 The Scandalous Love of a Duke