Home is Where the Heart Is

HOSTAGE QUEEN

RELUCTANT QUEEN

THE QUEEN AND THE

COURTESAN

THE DUCHESS OF

DRURY LANE

LADY OF PASSION

Table of Contents

Cover (#ub07d4af8-6d13-55a7-8d1c-0241cd496ddb)

About the Author (#u704b6824-8b42-50cf-b5a2-183e5be7b866)

Title Page (#u5f05e0f7-d14f-5bae-a6ab-166625ff8b02)

Also by Freda Lightfoot

CHAPTER ONE (#ulink_d640071c-9a8b-5903-8d97-e7f6e0ea4252)

CHAPTER TWO (#ulink_caf7e5d5-af13-5486-8af4-7519eb68f63e)

CHAPTER THREE (#ulink_717fe7c8-13ab-54a9-ac1a-15ab1cbe25b1)

CHAPTER FOUR (#ulink_b0c3e903-11dc-5a1d-8841-ebed8dbd953f)

CHAPTER FIVE (#ulink_1937e898-4bd9-58cd-9177-63d7f9d0a576)

CHAPTER SIX (#ulink_a57295f9-db92-5612-b1f2-fab0f37d3d4a)

CHAPTER SEVEN (#ulink_611d9f86-18bb-5cf1-9471-6315d84c75a7)

CHAPTER EIGHT (#ulink_8806971f-dfbb-55cb-a4f2-e948ee2fed7c)

CHAPTER NINE (#litres_trial_promo)

CHAPTER TEN (#litres_trial_promo)

CHAPTER ELEVEN (#litres_trial_promo)

CHAPTER TWELVE (#litres_trial_promo)

CHAPTER THIRTEEN (#litres_trial_promo)

CHAPTER FOURTEEN (#litres_trial_promo)

CHAPTER FIFTEEN (#litres_trial_promo)

CHAPTER SIXTEEN (#litres_trial_promo)

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN (#litres_trial_promo)

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN (#litres_trial_promo)

CHAPTER NINETEEN (#litres_trial_promo)

CHAPTER TWENTY (#litres_trial_promo)

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE (#litres_trial_promo)

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO (#litres_trial_promo)

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE (#litres_trial_promo)

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR (#litres_trial_promo)

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE (#litres_trial_promo)

CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX (#litres_trial_promo)

CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN (#litres_trial_promo)

CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT (#litres_trial_promo)

CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE (#litres_trial_promo)

CHAPTER THIRTY (#litres_trial_promo)

Endpage (#litres_trial_promo)

Copyright (#litres_trial_promo)

CHAPTER ONE (#ulink_ca66a970-a4dd-5d30-b05c-b9a6de50f6de)

1945

Cathie gave a squeal of joy as she read the letter that had arrived that morning. ‘Alex is coming home!’ she cried. She’d waited so long for this news she couldn’t quite believe it. It must be nearly two years since she’d last seen her fiancé and now the war was over he’d be home for good, at last. She quickly scanned the letter again to make sure she’d read it correctly. ‘He says he hopes to be home by Christmas.’

There was no one to hear her exciting news except for the baby, bouncing up and down on her chubby little legs in her cot, holding fast to the rail and giving a happy gurgle as if to echo Cathie’s delight.

Gathering the child in her arms, Cathie screwed up her nose and chuckled. ‘I think you need changing, sweetie.’ But even as she smiled into the baby’s soft blue eyes, her own filled with tears. ‘Oh, I do wish your mummy was here, and your daddy, of course. It’s so desperately sad that you’ll never get to know or love them. I shall tell you all about them as you grow, of course. Particularly Sally, my dear sister, who loved you so much, and was very much a part of my life.’

At least a baby did not experience the pain of grief that she had suffered, Cathie thought, as she laid the infant on a towel-covered table to strip off the wet nappy and set about cleaning her plump little bottom.