Before the Scarlet Dawn - By Rita Gerlach Page 0,3

laughed. “Like me? How can you feel anything for me when we have never said more than hello or goodbye in chance meetings either at church or in the village? And I cannot marry a man I know nothing about.”

“You shall get to know me, beginning today.” He smiled with a glint in his eyes.

She ignored him and cinched the saddle. “And I cannot resign myself to a life of boredom, shut up in some London house, with nothing to do all day but sit and sit.”

He moved closer. “I will find plenty of diversions for both of us.”

Eliza pulled her horse forward. “I am not of your society.”

“You will be. I am taking a risk, I know, by marrying a vicar’s daughter. People will say I could have reached higher. But I do not care what the gossips may spread. It is a challenge I relish.”

Turning to face him, Eliza lifted her chin. “What do you mean?”

“I should like to change you, take you like a piece of clay and mold you into a wife suitable to my status. With my money, you shall have plenty of silks, and a string of pearls that shall be envied.”

“Change me? Mold me? Now I know a union between us would be a disaster. And I do not like silk. It stains too easily. And I cannot abide lavish balls or dinner parties. I am not right for you.”

His jaw stiffened. “But I desire you, Eliza. Doesn’t that count for something? Is that not what a woman wants? That, and a rich husband?”

She huffed at him. “Surely it is an infatuation on your part. What you see before you on the outside will fade in time.”

Frustrated, he breathed out and took her roughly by the arms. “What I see is the most beguiling woman in all the world. You would end up an old spinster if not for your body, which I can only imagine is luscious beneath this dress. And that dark hair of yours—I’ve thought of it flowing over your bare shoulders. And those violet eyes to tempt me with. Can’t you see I want you?”

“I can, and in a manner I do not welcome.” She resisted his embrace and pushed him back. His lustful words caused her to wither. She squirmed out of his arms and stepped away.

He slapped the stable wall. “One day you will regret your refusal, Eliza.” He mounted his horse and rode off. When he was finally gone, Eliza climbed onto her mare’s back and nudged its side with her heel. Her eyes pooled with angry tears that slipped from her eyes and ran down her cheeks. If only he loved her for what thrived deeper than skin, perhaps then she would have considered his proposal. His handsome bank account was not enough to tempt her, nor his promise of a secure future.

Langbourne proved to be no different from the others who had courted her affections. They wanted what they saw on the outside—a body as desirable as an artist’s model, seductive lavender eyes, hair the color of black silk, and skin as light and translucent as morning mist.

She reined in her mare and dashed the tears briskly from her face. With a heart that yearned and sought God’s plan for her life, she stared at the downs that stretched far into the distance, and drew the cool, damp air deep into her lungs. Determined to make her own choice, she kicked the mare’s ribs with her heel and raced it across the windswept heath.

2

The shrill throaty call of a hawk caught Eliza’s attention. She halted her horse and gazed at the slow sweep of the hawk’s wings as it soared across the clear blue sky above Hope Valley. It hovered a moment, then dove straight toward earth and snatched up a gray field mouse in its talons.

“You see that, Lord?” She ran her gloved hand slowly along the mare’s broad neck. “Langbourne is like that hawk. Please, do not let me be that poor little mouse.”

Beyond the outstretched wings the bird spread into the wind, the sun pierced a pale beam through a cluster of blue-gray clouds. Eliza marched her horse on, toward the River Noe. Wild comfrey grew along the riverbank, and she dismounted when she spied a spray that was dead from the winter cold. The dried leaves would suffice to comfort her father’s malaise. Pinching the base with her fingertips, she plucked the stems from the ground and put them inside