Read The Duke's Dark Secret (Historical Victorian Romance) for Free Online Page B

well.”
                  She stood up. Louisa was upset, but she hadn’t forgotten the family had just lost one of their own. “I’d like to be shown my room. I thank you for the hospitality, but tomorrow I’ll need to secure my own room in town, if you don’t mind.”
                  “Of course. Ann, would you take her to the guest room?”
                  It was getting dark, so Ann lit a lamp and took the young woman upstairs. “Please don’t be too cross. Uncle meant well. I didn’t approve, but.. Thomas was the eldest among us and it was getting on time.”
                  “Let’s say no more about it. Thank you.” Louisa said stiffly, as she was taken to her room. When the door closed behind her and she was sure she was alone, she fell onto the big feather bed, finally allowing herself to cry.
    *****
                  The town of Oak Ridge had very little to offer a single woman. Once she had settled into the Napier Boarding House, Louisa found herself with nothing much to do but look for work.
                  This was an unexpected turn of events. She had come to Colorado Territory with enough emergency money to last her through a month of hardship, though that wasn’t the intended purpose of the money. It had primarily been meant for the purchase of a wedding dress and other necessary finery for a ceremony of such life-changing importance. It was fortunate she hadn’t bought a dress in Baltimore as she had originally intended. She’d feared that the long journey might cause some mishap to ruin the dress, so she’d decided to delay purchase until arrival. It also offered her a measure of protection in case Thomas had proven to be a cad.
                  The largest building in town, by far, was the Lucky Star. Serving as the social center of the community, it had been built practically overnight, surpassing the church on the other end of town as the biggest edifice until then. She smiled to herself, feeling there was a statement that could be made there, and not a very good one.
                  Though she’d had breakfast already with the Bradfords, she felt it might be nice to have a cup of coffee before working on her correspondence. Letters would need to be written to both father and Rebecca, after which she’d start looking for work.
                  She quickly found that there were only two places in town where a person could eat. One was the Lucky Star, which was open 24 hours, 7 days a week. The other option was the Daisy, a small restaurant that served breakfast, lunch, and dinner. She found the Daisy tucked away on the only side street and was surprised to find it almost completely empty.
                  “What’ll it be, hon?” Asked the proprietress. The large-framed woman was friendly, but seemed nervous about serving her for some reason. Her eyes kept darting to the door.
                  “Just a cup of coffee, if you’d be so kind.”
     
                  “Can’t interest you in bacon and eggs?” The woman sounded sad, and she was tempted to buy just to offer her the business.
                  “Tomorrow would be lovely. Today, only the coffee, thank you.”
                  After the woman left, she took out her ink, quill, and paper from a small bag she was carrying with her and began to write. She was so engrossed, she didn’t notice she was soon the only person left dining when a trio of men walked in.
                  “Well, well. See what we have here.” A burly man in a thick beard said. He was grinning nastily at Louisa as they walked in, with a look that made her very nervous.
                  “Not now, Curly.” The man in the lead ordered, removing his flat-top, broad-brimmed hat. “Gertie! Get on out here Gertie. Time we had another little talk.” The other men chuckled, as