Emma Lane by Dark Domino Page B

Although her parents and a too meek governess tried to curb her behavior, Sarah remained a free spirit.
    As they grew older, both families grew used to the idea that the pair would marry. It would be a good match. Sarah openly declared her love for him. He could not remember when he realized he had fallen in love with the adorable scamp that was young Sarah Louise. She had burrowed into his heart, and he accepted her as a permanent part of his soul. When he went away to school, Sarah pined and wrote him many sad letters. He decided after a couple of years to leave school and return to help his father with their holdings. Feeling more and more grown-up, he visited friends and had a turn in London with what they called “the debutants.” A country boy at heart, he didn’t much care for the balls and dancing.
    Sarah was overjoyed when he returned, and they resumed their wild rides together, pausing only to fish in the cold, burbling stream that ran between their properties. Then he shattered her world by announcing he was going away to war.
    “How could you? Your father needs you here, Ethan! Why have you thought to do this? I do not understand.” She had stood in shock in the barn with her hands wrapped around the reins of her mount. Still as untamed as a scrubby schoolboy, she had turned fourteen that summer. Her hair was tied back with a leather thong, and the purloined vest was draped over a riding gown that her mother had insisted she wear.
    Ethan would never tell that Sarah split the gown in half and tied it with strings. She then rode astride the same as did he. He could not disagree that a side saddle was dangerous for one who jumped the hedges as did Sarah.
    “Your mother has decided you should go to a finishing school for ladies, sweetling. She told me so this morning. You will learn all the arts of the ladies while I am away at war. It will work out, you will see,” he tried to assure her.
    “Are you angry with me? Do you hate me because I have no ladies’ skills?”
    He could hear the anguish in her voice. “No, no,” he soothed. “You know I love you, my dear. I cannot explain it to you, but you must accept that men must fight in wars. My father understands that I must go.”
    He remembered saying that thinking of the glories of war and the bravery he would display. He wondered now why he had thought those thoughts. War was not glorious. Heroes were not the ones who rushed in to fight. They were the ones who held on when all else seemed to be lost.
    He pressed the curl of Sarah’s hair to his lips once more and carefully restored it to nestle in a scrap of cloth. He started to rise and was surprised to find the world spinning around him. His batman came up at that point and caught him as he fell.
    “Got a bit of the fever, Cap’n.”
    Ethan started to protest, but soon the world went black.

    “Lady Montpearson and Miss Montpearson,” the butler announced at the head of the stairs to a large group of well-dressed people gathered in a ball room. Crystal chandeliers sparkled in candlelight and were reflected in the mirror-lined walls. Sweet smelling flowers were arranged in several spaces in the room, and violin music spun a happy dance tune over the babble of the guests. Sarah glanced at her mother. Her parent would much rather be home with her father, but she had said grimly to her daughter that she guessed she knew her duty.
    There was no use in trying to convince her that Sarah herself would rather be tucked away in the country as well. Her parents were determined that she would be presented at court and rub shoulders with the beau monde . To her surprise, she had met many agreeable women at school. They were all counting the days when they would be released to the world as young ladies — no longer school girls. The day was upon them. Here, indeed, was her first ball.
    “That dress is perfect for you, daughter. The white trimmed with blue catches the colour of your eyes. Is that the necklace of