Embrace the Day Read Online Free PDF

her in a card game with a man called Henry Piggot, who's been sent here to find a wife for a Virginian planter."
    This brought dismay to Prudence's soft eyes. "How could you? Poor Genevieve—Roarke,
why
?"
    He shrugged. "I know nothing of your friend, except that she doesn't belong there in Farthing Lane, serving unwashed louts while they ogle her and make sport of her. The thought came to me suddenly that she'd be much better off in Virginia."
    "You shouldn't have taken it upon yourself…"
    He thought for a moment, recalling the girl's outrage, the hatred seething in her gemstone-hard eyes. "Regrets occurred to me too late, I'm afraid." He sighed. "If Genevieve is truly averse to going to Virginia, I'll see Piggot today and settle with him."
    Prudence nodded. "It is best." She stared at him for a long time. "You've done a foolish thing, but you're a good man, I think, Roarke Adair."
    He glanced at her sharply, taken aback. Slowly, a smile spread across his face. "We'd best go and be married now, Miss Moon," he said, helping her down from the coach.
    Genevieve left the ink-and-paper-scented office in a pensive mood, walking a few steps behind a rather self-congratulatory Henry Piggot. She didn't feel any different, but following an unceremonious signing and stamping of papers, she was a married lady. Mrs. Cornelius Culpeper of Virginia Colony.
    "We're off to Southampton tomorrow," Piggot said as they reached the head of Farthing Lane. "The
Blessing
sails the day after."
    "I'll be ready."
    He studied her with small keen eyes. "I dare say you will. 'Tis best you bring little with you. The
Blessing
is a cargo ship with scant room for passengers' effects." Taking in her worn, drab clothing, he pressed a few coins and bank notes into her hand. "Use this to get whatever you need for the voyage."
    Genevieve covered her surprise as Piggot walked away. He couldn't know he'd just given her more money than she'd ever had in her life—close to five pounds. Carefully, she folded her hand around the notes and coins and placed them in her apron pocket.
    Her hand brushed against a small piece of paper. Frowning, Genevieve took it out and stared at it. Spidery writing, woefully misspelled, described a certain hooded wall clock that had been left at a pawnship. Genevieve had a sudden image of Angela Brimsby thrusting the paper at her, commanding her to take it to Pembroke's. In the ensuing argument the slip had been forgotten.
    Genevieve hurried to the shop and presented the claim to the pawnbroker. He set a clock before her, and she studied it closely, curious as to why Angela Brimsby would want it. The timepiece was decades old, oddly handsome. Charming even, with a halfpenny moon peeping through a hole in the dial. Below the face was etched a small inscription:

    Behold this hand, observe ye motion's trip, Man's precious hours, away like these do slip.

    A sudden smile lit Genevieve's face. All at once she knew exactly what she'd bring to Virginia with her.
    She left the shop with the clock concealed beneath the laundry in her basket. A small victory over Angela Brimsby, but she felt a certain grim satisfaction in it.
    As she trudged toward the tavern, it struck Genevieve that this would be her last night of servitude in the taproom. That a life of another sort of servitude awaited her in Virginia didn't matter. Nothing could be as degrading as her existence here in Farthing Lane.
    She had no idea what to expect beyond the cramped, sooty bounds of London, but a tremor of excitement eddied through her at the thought of the adventure that lay ahead. Smiling to herself, Genevieve envisioned vast green fields rolling out in all directions, a grand planter's house, perhaps a sun-warmed garden where she could while away the hours…
    Lost in thought, Genevieve didn't notice she wasn't alone. Then a long evening shadow suddenly crossed her path, and she heard her name spoken.
    "Miss Elliot."
    She spun about, her heart quickening inexplicably.