Chapters (53)
- Cover
- About Alison Stuart
- Also by Alison Stuart
- Title Page
- Dedication
- Prologue
- One
- Two
- Three
- Four
- Five
- Six
- Seven
- Eight
- Nine
- Ten
- Eleven
- Twelve
- Thirteen
- Fourteen
- Fifteen
- Sixteen
- Seventeen
- Eighteen
- Nineteen
- Twenty
- Twenty-One
- Twenty-Two
- Twenty-Three
- Twenty-Four
- Twenty-Five
- Twenty-Six
- Twenty-Seven
- Twenty-Eight
- Twenty-Nine
- Thirty
- Thirty-One
- Thirty-Two
- Thirty-Three
- Thirty-Four
- Thirty-Five
- Thirty-Six
- Thirty-Seven
- Thirty-Eight
- Thirty-Nine
- Forty
- Forty-One
- Forty-Two
- Forty-Three
- Forty-Four
- Author’s Note
- Acknowledgements
- Preview of The Goldminer's Sister
She tensed, waiting for the next blow in this vicious, verbal joust.
He caught her arm. ‘I’m not heartless, Addy. Despite everything, I think you and I could still have a life together, a very comfortable life.’
She tried to shake him free but his fingers tightened with a bruising force.
She met his eyes. ‘Get out of my house, Richard.’
For reply, he brought his mouth down on hers. It was not the kiss of a lover, but the kiss of a possessor: a hard, bruising kiss, his teeth grinding against hers, catching her lip. She broke away, wiping blood from her mouth with a shaking hand, appalled.
‘Get out,’ she said in a low voice to the man she thought she had once loved. ‘Get out before I send for the police.’
He gave a thin-lipped smile of triumph. ‘This isn’t over, Adelaide. You have your father’s pride.’ He wiped a smear of blood from her chin. ‘You need to practice a little humility.’
The door closed behind him but Adelaide hardly heard it. She leaned on the back of one of the dining chairs, fighting tears of rage and humiliation.
Thirty-One
Thirty-One
Caleb had downed twice his ration of bourbon in Lil’s bar by the time Richard Barnwell stormed in. Barnwell, too, had been drowning his sorrows. His necktie was askew and his sandy hair stood up in a disordered cockscomb.
‘Where’s that little bitch?’ he demanded.
Lil came out from behind the bar and stood in front of the enraged man, her hands on her considerable hips. ‘You’re banned, get out,’ she said.
A few of her regulars moved forward but Barnwell had seen Caleb. He pushed past Lil and stood in front of Caleb, his fingers clenching and unclenching.
‘You bastard. You bloody Yankee swine. You’re behind this. What did you say to her?’
Caleb pushed his glass to one side and stood up. Barnwell was not a tall man and Caleb topped him by half a head.
‘I think, my friend, you have had a surfeit of liquor tonight. Go back to your room and sleep it off.’
Barnwell thrust a belligerent finger into Caleb’s chest. ‘I know you were behind her change of mind. What have you got to offer her that’s so bloody marvellous? Or are you after her fortune?’
Caleb grasped the stabbing finger and bent it back, not enough to break it but enough to bring tears to Barnwell’s eyes.
‘Sir, I do not like your attitude,’ Caleb said. ‘I don’t rightly know what passed between you and Mrs Greaves, but I have no doubt in my mind that she was justified in whatever answer she gave you.’