Love by Moonlight in Love’s Perilous Road

By Elizabeth Ellen Carter

By daylight, he’s a gentleman. By moonlight, justice is served.

 In the quiet village of Normanton in the autumn of 1817, Captain Robin Somerville returns from naval service to find peace elusive. By day, he’s a charming second son living at his brother’s estate. By night, he becomes the enigmatic Captain Moonlight—a highwayman with a code of honor, redressing wrongs in secret. When Rachel Pendleton, the curate’s daughter, begins to suspect his dual identity, her heart must weigh law against love. As romance blossoms amid secrets and schemes, a shared pursuit of justice could cost them everything.

Meet Rachel Pendleton

Daughter of the village curate, Rachel Pendleton is intelligent, empathetic, and deeply principled. She dedicates her days to caring for her community and guarding her heart, yet she harbors feelings for the dashing Robin Somerville that stretch back years. Suspicious of his connection to the noble but illicit Captain Moonlight, Rachel is torn between her admiration for his courage and her fear of scandal. With a sharp mind and quiet strength, she becomes an equal partner in both love and moral reckoning, proving that true bravery often blooms under moonlight.

Meet Captain Robin Somerville

A naval officer recently returned from war, Captain Robin Somerville is charming, clever, and quietly restless. As the second son of a baronet, he has little expectation placed on him, but great ambition to find purpose. Disguised as the mysterious “Captain Moonlight,” he secretly rights the wrongs of their Sussex village by humiliating cheats and helping the downtrodden. Beneath his easy smile lies a man yearning for justice and love. His affections for Rachel Pendleton, the curate’s daughter, challenge his carefully built disguise and force him to consider a life of hearth and heart, rather than duty and danger.

An excerpt from Love by Moonlight

“Have you time for a walk, Miss Pendelton?”

She paused a moment and regarded him intently.

“Have you come to ask me to purloin another key for you? If so, I shall have to decline. These things have a habit to ending up in the wrong hands.”

The corner of Robin’s mouth lifted in a cockeyed smile. “The wrong hands, you say? Heavens, that will never do. What is this good borough coming to if a man cannot come to church without his seeing his unmentionables flapping in the breeze.”

Rachel found her tongue planted in her cheek to prevent a smile. “Indeed.”

She searched his face looking for the truth and found herself taking in the shape of his jaw, the line of his lips and then into his soft blue eyes.

The look he offered her in return was no less intense.

Would he bring her into his confidence?

Rachel held her breath a moment.

His eyes never left hers and she felt the slight brush of his fingers run down her arm to her hand, caressing each finger before threading his fingers through hers.

Part of her mind clamoured danger. She should not entertain thoughts about his good looks or risk her heart to someone whose social standing was far above her own. Yet she did not object as they walked hand-in-hand around the church grounds.

A neatly tended cemetery with weathered headstones attested to the age of the village – named for the very Normans that stepped on the shore not so far from here. Her father personally oversaw the gardens. Pretty little flowers in white, pink and purple neatly tended amongst soft greens of the grass and the tall yew trees that bounded the graveyard.

Lengthening shadows were a testament to the lateness of the day.

That still, small warning voice that had tried to warn her was soon quieted by the conversation which flowed effortlessly between them. She spoke of her visits to families in the parish and Robin shared Penelope’s plans for the summer house party.

“In truth I was glad to get out from under foot,” he concluded.

Rachel squeezed his hand softly. Her heart went out to him. It mustn’t be easy for a man of action to return to a life of genteel civility.

“You miss your time at sea, don’t you?”

She received a shrug in reply.

“Would you go back into the navy?”

There was silence and Rachel wondered whether it would be another question that would remain unanswered. They stopped at a tree at the corner of the churchyard. Some yards away was a two-storey cottage; modest, but well kept. But here they were not overlooked by it.

“No, I think not,” Robin answered. “That part of my life is over.”