This was where she belonged. And if her father said Robert belonged here as well, that was the way of it.
The fire below the oven snapped, and she blinked, then knuckled the last trace of tears from her eyes.
You cannot have everything.
"Promise me, Amy. Promise me that Goldsmith & Sons won't end with you."
"You have my promise."
"I love you, poppet," Hugh said quietly.
He only wanted what was best for her. As she turned into his arms, the ring slipped from her fingers and clattered to the wooden floor.
"I love you too, Papa," she said.
IT WAS A long time before she bent to pick up the ring, an even longer time before Robert came in to find her staring at it.
He stood over her. "You still working on that damned signet?"
She looked up at him, but couldn't find the energy to summon as much as annoyance.
"It's finished," she said. "I'll have it delivered in the morning."
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ABOUT LAUREN ROYAL
I decided to become a writer in the third grade (or, as my Canadian friends call it, grade three), after winning a “Why My Mother is the Greatest” essay contest and having my entry published in a major newspaper. Seeing my words in print was a thrill! But everyone told me it's too hard for novelists to get published, so after college I spent fourteen years as the CEO of my own jewelry store chain before writing my first book. A mistake? Maybe…but my first heroine, Amethyst, was a jeweler, so at least I took advantage of that wise old saying, “Write what you know.” And I learned a good lesson: Don't let other people tell you what you can or can't do!
I write humorous historical romance mostly set in England and Scotland in the 17th and 19th centuries (Restoration and Regency periods). I've been oh-so-lucky to see my books hit bestseller lists all over the world, including the New York Times and USA Today lists, making this second career a real dream come true. I live in Southern California with my husband, our three young adult children, and one constantly shedding cat, and I still think my mother is the greatest!
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
My heartfelt thanks:
To Deborah Alexander, MD, for helping me choose an appropriate illness for Lord Lincolnshire and spending much precious time describing all the pertinent details. (For anyone who may not know, dropsy is currently called edema and in Lord Lincolnshire's case was caused by heart failure.)
To Andrew Potter, research assistant at the Royal Academy Library, for the list of Academicians on the 1817 Selection Committee and historical information on the selection process.
To Devon Royal (best daughter in the world), for reading bunches of old Minerva Press novels and pulling out quotes for me.
To my Chase Family Readers’ Group, for their enthusiastic support.
And, once again, to my readers, because I do this for you.
Thank you, one and all!
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