How to Catch an Earl with Ten Lies
A Historical Regency Romance Novel
Patricia Haverton
Contents
A Sweet Gift For You
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Chapter 40
Chapter 41
Chapter 42
Chapter 43
Chapter 44
Chapter 45
Chapter 46
Chapter 47
Chapter 48
Chapter 49
Chapter 50
Chapter 51
Chapter 52
Chapter 53
Chapter 54
Chapter 55
Chapter 56
Chapter 57
Epilogue
Extended Epilogue
Preview: The Lost Countess that Counted Stars
Prologue
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Also by Patricia Haverton
About the Author
A Sweet Gift For You
Thank you for supporting my efforts. Having you beside me on this wonderful journey means everything to me.
As a Thank You gift I have one of my full-length novels here for you. The Last Lady of Thornhill Manor is only available to people who have downloaded one of my books and you can get your free copy by clicking this link here.
Once more, thanks a lot for your love and support.
Patricia Haverton
About the Book
“Oh, what a tangled web we weave...when first we practice to deceive.”
If there is one thing Miss Penelope Chapman is known for, that's the number of suitors she has turned down.
When her uncle and legal guardian announces that her little sister is to marry a man of ill repute, Penelope does the one thing she can think of to spare her: she poses as Edith and takes her place.
Recently returned to England after a long absence to open his father's will, Benjamin Gray, Earl of Newhorn, is in for an unpleasant surprise: in order to gain full access to his inheritance, he must find a suitable wife. He sees his chance in the face one Miss Edith Chapman...or not.
As Benjamin challenges everything she has ever heard about him, the weight of her feelings for him coupled with her guilt push Penelope to her breaking point.
With the inescapable truth of Penelope's identity looming over them like a bad omen, Benjamin's greatest mistake returns to haunt him: his sister's death. Penelope is not the only one who has been lying. And some lies are deadlier than others…
Chapter 1
“Penny! Penny!” Edith called softly.
Penelope roused herself from the book she was reading. “Oh, Edie. Back from shopping so soon?”
“Yes. Lola found a breadth of silk and some lace. But, Penny, I hope you will intercede with Uncle for me.”
“Intercede? Of course. But why?”
Edith sank down on the carpet beside Penelope, and opened her shopping basket. A scrawny, miserable-looking black kitten poked its head up. Baby blue eyes looked around in terror, and it tried to bolt.
Penelope nipped the speedy little creature around its middle with one hand and held it up, taking care not to be ravaged by the tiny claws. She suppressed a sigh. It was not the first starveling stray Edith had brought home. “Oh, Edie. You know what he said last time. But I will do my best. Poor little mite! What a brave little thing to fight as it is. Come on! We’ll pop down to the kitchen and get some milk for it.”
“Penny, you are the best sister in the world. Maybe we can persuade the hound master to help hide her, or maybe the stable master.”
“I’m more likely to get help from Stella. But we need to be careful. If we implicate her in our machinations, we could get her turned off. Then, I have no idea what we would do, for she has been with us forever.”
“I know, Penny. But some mean boys were tormenting her. Lola thwacked them with her umbrella while I caught the kitten.”
“Good for Lola! I’m glad she was with you.”
“Oh, so was I! I was so upset by the way they were treating the poor thing, but I would never have felt bold enough to do anything about it.”
Penelope made a mental note to thank Lola, the daughter of one of their mama’s friends from before their parents’ death.
“I should never have let you go to market without me,” she declared.
“Oh, Penny! You were enjoying your book. I am always fine with Lola. But what shall we do about this poor little one?”
“Feed it, dry it off, and I’ll have Stella help me smuggle it into my room. We’ll need to devise an earth box for it. My dressing room has a sound enough door that we will be able to keep it hidden until it is old enough to catch mice in the stable or something.”
Penelope sat up, pulled a large lace doily off the arm of the sofa, and wrapped it around the kitten who had increased its struggles while they talked. She was barely able to move her thumb out of reach as the kitten tried to set its tiny teeth in the ball of it. “On second thought, let’s pop it back in the basket and take it to my room. I’ll send Stella down for a tea tray and request extra milk to go with it.”
“Thank you, Penny,” Edith said. “My dressing room door doesn’t fit tightly enough to keep her in.”
“I know. Let’s go on up to our rooms, and enlist Stella’s help.”
Stella, a tall, raw-boned woman with sandy hair and a distinct Orkney accent chuckled when she was given a glimpse of the little problem. “Well, now if that don’t beat all. An’ there was lads beatin’ up on the puir wee thing? You’ll need a bit more than milk to feed the scrawny little mite. I’ll see what kind of scraps the cook has on hand.”
When Stella returned from her errand, she was trailed by James, a footman who was a particular friend of Penelope’s and a kind protector to both girls. He, like Stella, had been hired while their parents were still alive.
James carried a shallow wooden box, half filled with sand, an old vegetable basket, and some worn towels. “Sally, the scullery girl, found these for the little ‘un,” he said. “Mr. Vonter said that he was too busy to be messin’ about with findin’ food and gear for an animal, but he gave us some ground up meat scraps all the same.”
“And he made up a nice tea for both of you, as well as for the kitty,” Stella added, setting a tray down on the small table that served as both worktable and tea table for the girls. Their withdrawing room was small, but nicely furnished. Each girl had her own bedroom and dressing room that adjoined the withdrawing room, making a pleasant suite for the sisters.
“Let’s go set everything out in my dressing room and get the kitten settled before we have our tea,” Penelope said. “Otherwise, she will be leaping about and knocking things over.”
“Oh, dear, I do hope she doesn’t damage anything!” Edith said.
“It will be fine. My things are either in drawers or hung up in my wardrobe. She won’t be able to get to them. Come in, let’s lay out her food and drink, and then let her out of the basket.”
Smelling the ground meat, the kitten leaped out of the basket like a shot out of a musket, grabbed a large gobbet and dragged it under the dressing table, where she crouched over it, growling ferociously in a tiny, squeaky kitten growl.
“Go on out, Edith, and I’ll back out after you. Let’s give her a chance to settle down.”
Once they were both outside the dressing room and door safely closed to keep the kitten from escaping, they quickly commenced having their own tea. They were just finished when there came a tap on their door.
When Stella opened it, Marpole the butler stood there. “Miss Penelope, Miss Edith, Lord Castlemount would like to speak with you.”
The sisters glanced at each other guiltily. Surely he had not found out about the kitten already. Penelope felt her stomach drop. Uncle Horace granted them almost anything, but Edith’s strays sometimes surpassed his patience, especially since cats made his eyes water and his nose run.
Penelope wiped her fingers on her napkin, and stood up. “We’ll be right there, Marpole. Tell Uncle Horace we shall be down momentarily.”
“Of course, Miss Penelope. I shall tell him straightaway.” Marpole withdrew.
“He can’t have found out about the kitten so quickly,” Edith whispered, wringing her napkin in her hands.
“Surely not. It will be something else. We can expect perhaps a surprise. I know! We might be going to the seashore.”
“Only what would we do with the kitten, then? Oh, Penny, I can’t bear it if something were to happen to the poor little thing.”
Penelope was rapidly beginning to form a different feeling about the little cat, but she could not bear to upset her sister. Ever since their parents’ death, Edith had been extremely shy and retiring. It was fortunate that Lola was willing to go about with her because otherwise she would not stir from the house without Penelope.
“Oh, Edie, you know Uncle Horace. I’m sure it is something pleasant to surprise us. Come on, don’t act like a goose. It will be fine.”
“I’m sorry to be so missish, Penny.” Edith stood up, shook out her skirts. “I’ll be good, truly I will.”
“Dearest sister, you are always good. Come on, it won’t do to keep him waiting.”
The sisters hurried from their suite, down a short hall and then down the great staircase to the main floor where the library and their uncle’s office was located. Horace Chapman, Viscount of Castlemount, beamed affably upon his nieces. “There you are my dears! I had begun to believe that you were still out. Now, sit down, my girls. I have amazing news for you!”
Penelope and Edith looked at each other. Uncle Horace had been assiduous of late in his efforts to discover suitable alliances for them, much to Penelope’s dismay. As the eldest, and having recently had her twentieth birthday, their uncle had made it clear that he was beginning to despair of finding anyone who would meet her fastidious expectations for a husband.
“Perhaps you have heard of Benjamin Gray, the Earl of Newhorn? He has but recently returned from the continent where he was taking the tour. His father has passed, and having recently come into his title, he is in need of a wife to assist him with setting up his household. His townhouse is not far from here, and I have given him leave to come pay court to Edith.”
Edith turned ashen white and Penelope sucked in a breath.
“Come, come, now my dears,” their uncle went on, “Since Penelope seems determined to be an old maid, I must get at least one of you suitably wed. I am not a young man, and I will not live forever, you know.”
“Oh, Uncle,” Penelope protested, “You are the very picture of health. And anyway, if we have our own households, who will take care of you?”
“Never you mind about that,” the Earl of Castlemount said, “I shall do very well for myself, I am sure. But I am determined to find at least one of you a husband before the year is out. That way, should I fall, the married sister can take care of the other. No doubt, this will work very well in the long run, since Penny has been the caretaker these last several years.”
“But Uncle,” Penelope said, “What do we know of this young man? Since he has been abroad, and not at court, we are not acquainted with him. What if he turns out to be a wastrel or to have a bad temper? Surely, we should look into his background.”
“Although I do not know the young man particularly, I did know his parents. They were both very fine folk, so I am sure the young Earl will be a fine fellow also. Do not fret on that score either. Just be prepared for him to call upon Edith tomorrow. I will be out. Duty calls elsewhere, but Marpole will stand as chaperone for you.”
“Heavens, Uncle!” Penelope exclaimed. “You will not even be there to introduce us?”
“I am so very sorry, my dears,” Lord Castlemount said, “It really cannot be helped. The Earl is doing us a favor by calling so soon as it is. He has urgent business in the city which must be seen to, and tomorrow morning will be his only opportunity for several days to come. Truly, this is an unexpected opportunity and I do not wish for Edith to miss it.”
“Very well, Uncle,” Penelope said. “I will see to it that Edith is turned out in her best furbelows and prepared to do her duty when the gentleman comes calling.”
“Thank you, my dear. I knew I could count on you,” their uncle said. Then he went away, leaving the girls to look at each other in consternation.
“Oh, Penelope!” Edith breathed when their uncle was out of hearing, “A complete stranger! I do not think I can bear it.”
“Don’t worry,” Penelope said, “Let’s go visit the kitten. I’ll think of something.”
Just what I am going to think of, I have no idea. I am capable of turning off unsuitable suitors, but Edie is a babe when it comes to managing people. She’ll say yes just because he looks sad and lonely. She looks ready to bolt. Whatever shall I do?
Chapter 2
Benjamin stared morosely into his drink. It was a perfectly fine drink, a nice red wine that had an excellent bouquet and faint overtones of rose and violet. Ordinarily, it was his favorite, but tonight it might as well have been vinegar for all the pleasure he was taking in it.
Marriage! For years he had been able to avoid it, ever since that ill-fated duel over a lovely dancer the year he had turned twenty-one. Granted that the relationship would never have resulted in marriage, but it had been his one and only serious venture into romantic love. And it had ended disastrously.
Nine years in exile, waiting for a pardon for wounding a peer. Nine years, seeing his parents only when they came to the continent for holidays or on business. Nine years away from the estates that he had loved as a boy, mourning for his beloved sister. Now, to be summoned back to take up his title only because his parents were dead was an insult to their memory and an excruciating mortification to his pride.
Benjamin held up his drink so that the fading daylight coming in through the window caught the ruby liquid. Damn! It would serve them all right if he went back to the continent and left Prinny and all his cohorts to fight over the estates. But that would likely get all the residents, who had looked to his parents for support and a place to live, scattered to the winds. Prinny was not well known for taking care of the little people.
Even had he not gone, things would not have been the same. His sister had met with her fatal accident only hours before he was exiled. Poor dear Florence! They had gone riding the day before the duel. Florence always rode neck or nothing, and that day had been no exception. Her horse had refused a gate at the last minute and she was thrown over it.
Fl
orence was dead within minutes of hitting the ground. He would never forget the horrible angle of her neck or the opaque, fixed stare of her eyes. He had never seen a dead body before that day, although he had seen plenty of them since on the continent.
How To Catch An Earl With Ten Lies (Historical Regency Romance) Page 1