To Claim the Long-Lost Lover

by Jude Knight

  Libby burst into tears, and Sarah felt like crying, too, at the look on her husband’s face. “Shall we take the children home?” she asked.

  “Good idea. I will have to stay to talk to the coroner. I will be home as soon as I can, my love.”

  “I will be at your father’s house, with Libby,” Sarah told him.

  In the end, they did not leave London for another two days, and then made haste to Lechford for Lord Lechton’s funeral, all of the Winshire family coming along in support.

  The reading of the will had Libby in tears. Lechton had left her a substantial annuity to supplement the dower stipulated in her marriage settlements, and accompanied them with an exhortation to be open to marrying again. “For she has been a good wife, and she and our daughters have brought much joy to this old man’s heart. I would wish her to find the happiness she richly deserves.”

  Even so, he left the guardianship of said daughters to Nate, whom he called, “My beloved son, who is safely back in his family’s embrace after all his travels.” Nate was also appointed trustee, along with Cousin Arthur—“one of the most honest men I know”—of the dowries set aside for the three girls.

  Apart from some minor legacies to servants, everything else went to Nate, either as the new earl, or as a personal bequest.

  That evening, Nate wandered off after dinner, saying that he would be back soon. It was a fine evening, and the half moon gave plenty of light, so after an hour Sarah set off in search of him. As she expected, she found him in the little graveyard next to the Lechton family tomb, gazing sombrely on the ornate gothic carving.

  “I did not want to be earl,” he told Sarah, as she sat down beside him and took his hand. “Not ever, and certainly not so soon.”

  “I know,” she answered.

  “I wanted enough time to… I don’t know. Learn to stop being angry with him, I suppose. I think I have resented him all my life, Sarah. It wasn’t just what happened to us. Even before that… When my mother was alive, she would always tell me how important he was, how wise, how worthy. I barely saw him, but that was because he was busy doing God’s work. Then she died, and I grew older, and found that he was an insignificant man in an isolated parish, foolish and too much concerned with appearances and status. I was required to obey him, but he was not someone I could respect.” Tears were running down his cheeks.

  Sarah couldn’t think of anything to say. She had hated her own father and had come to hate her brother, but Lord Lechton had not been the kind of monster Sutton was. Just, as Nate said, a foolish man obsessed with status. She squeezed Nate’s hand, hoping it would be some kind of comfort.

  “His will! Libby told me she had no idea that he thought her a good wife. Isn’t that sad?”

  Sarah could only nod. Libby had said the same thing to her, accompanied by gushes of tears.

  “He was a good landlord; did you know that? Several of his tenants today told me of kindnesses. A child’s school fees paid. A rebate on rent in hard times. Perhaps, if I had not been so angry, so distant, when he sent for me, I would have learned these things, Sarah.”

  “You are learning now,” Sarah said. “And you are learning to stop being angry with him. He was only a man, Nate. If my father and grandfather had not bullied him, he would not have betrayed us. He was not a bad man.” Damning with faint praise, that. She tried again. “He was a good man, in a way.”

  “Perhaps. Probably. Yes, you are right.” His sudden laugh surprised Sarah. “I suppose it would pay for me to stop expecting perfection from my own father now that I have a son who will one day stand in judgement on me from the lofty eminence of his first quarter century.”

  He kissed her ear. “Thank you for coming to find me. Is everyone ready for the grand procession tomorrow?”

  They were leaving for Wind’s Gate, taking Libby and the girls along with them. And they would return here after Christmas. Nate’s mind must have tracked with Sarah’s, for he laughed again and said, “My father got his own way after all. You and I will be living here at Three Oaks. Come on, darling. Let us go inside. Let us go to bed.”

  They walked back along the path from the church to the house, hand in hand. Just outside the side door that she had left unlatched for their return, he stopped to kiss her again. “I could not face all of this without you, my dearest heart.”

  She looked up into his beloved face, turned to planes and shadows in the moonlight, his eyes smiling into hers. “You and I have both shown that we have the strength to stand alone if we must,” she said. “How much better to be able to show the world how strong we are together.”

  The new Earl of Lechton bent to lift his countess, and carried her upstairs to bed.

  Epilogue

  March 1815

  In the early Spring, Charlotte came up to London to support Sarah and her husband. Charlotte and Sarah sat in the public gallery of the House of Lords, watching as the Earl of Lechton, resplendent in his parliamentary robes and flanked by two other earls, made his formal presentation of his credentials to the clerk. The following day, Charlotte and Nate waited in one of the outer rooms of St James Palace while the twin’s mother presented the Countess of Lechton at a drawing room presided over by the Prince Regent.

  A ball hosted by Lord and Lady Lechton at the Winshire mansion, the Lechton townhouse being too small, rounded out the events that marked Nate’s and Sarah’s full ascension to the honours and duties of their new position.

  “They seem devoted to one another still,” Aldridge commented, as he and Charlotte took their turn to stand out of the line in the set they were dancing.

  “They are,” Charlotte assured him. “I have never seen Sarah so happy. When she found Elias, she said that she had all she needed in life, but there was always an edge of sadness—and now it is gone. She and Nate complete one another, I think.”

  Charlotte didn’t mean to sigh. She hoped Aldridge wouldn’t think her jealous of Sarah’s happiness. His comment showed he understood, as he turned his head to watch his half-sister Lady Hamner skip down through the pattern of the dance, her eyes fixed on her husband. “I see Matilda and Charles, so absorbed in one another the rest of us might as well not exist. And I am pleased for them, of course. It makes me wistful, Cherry.”

  Wistful described her feelings perfectly. She was so pleased with his understanding that she accepted his request for another dance, this one a waltz, and then regretted it when he put his hand on her back, just above the waist, and the uncomfortable sensations that only he inspired possessed her.

  * * *

  “They dance beautifully together,” Nate observed to his wife as they watched Charlotte and Aldridge in the waltz. “It is obvious they care for one another.”

  Sarah shook her head. “I wish… But I understand her reasons for refusing him, Nate.”

  “She should tell him her reasons,” Nate argued. “Does he not have a right to know why he is being rejected?

  “She will not, though. She is afraid he would insist it doesn’t matter, then come to hate her. And she could never bear that. I wish he were not heir to a duke, Nate. She might take the risk with an ordinary gentleman.”

  “I imagine he will be the Duke of Haverford before the end of this year,” Nate observed. “I wonder if that is what Colyton is waiting for?”

  The Earl of Colyton was dancing with Jessica. According to the Duchess of Haverford, he had been very attentive since the duchess and her two younger wards had arrived back in Town earlier in the month.

  His caution in coming to the point was understandable, Sarah supposed, given that his chosen wife would also be stepmother to his daughters. Sarah could not forget his scathing denouncement of base-born children in high-born families, but perhaps he had changed his mind.

  “Here comes Val,” Sarah said. The Earl of Ashbury had attended the House of Lords investment, the luncheon after the Drawing Room, and now the ball at the behest of his wife, who had not come to London with him.

  “A good turn o
ut,” he said to the couple. “Sarah, what do you call that colour you are wearing? Ruth will want to know.”

  “Lavender stripes on an ivory base with Esterhazy lace,” Sarah told him.

  Val grinned. “I can manage to remember lavender and ivory. I thought you were going to say ‘maiden’s sigh’, or ‘Princess Royal’ or some obscure French word invented by dress-makers to confuse the rest of us. Mirrie asked me to fetch her Coquelicot ribbons and Genny wanted hers in Pompadour, if you can believe it.”

  “When are you heading home?” Sarah asked.

  “Tomorrow, as I had planned.”

  Nate widened his eyes. “I thought the news from France might…” he trailed off at a nudge from his wife.

  Val responded to the comment anyway. “I cannot make much of a contribution to stopping Napoleon. I can be with my wife when our child is born.” He shrugged. “There’s a lot of posturing in the House of Lords, but this is not going to have a political solution. We will need to fight the man again.” He shrugged the shoulder above his empty sleeve. “I can’t make a contribution there, either, and better tacticians than I are buzzing in and out of the Foreign Office and the Horse Guard.”

  “Give your ladies my love,” Sarah said. “Do you think you’ll bring them up to town before the end of the Season?”

  Val shook his head. “Not with Wharton still at large somewhere. It’s too hard to protect them in London.”

  “That’s what we decided about my sisters and Elias,” Nate told him.

  “Wakefield and his agents are following every possible lead,” Sarah pointed out. “And we have had no trouble since my kidnapping. Perhaps he is dead, or has left the country.”

  Nate and Val didn’t comment, but she knew what they were thinking. Until they had proof positive the evil man would trouble them no more, they would continue to worry about their families.

  The waltz drew to a close, and Aldridge escorted Charlotte towards them. The men began a vigorous discussion about the reaction of the French army to the triumphal progress through France of their deposed Emperor, and Sarah drew Charlotte to one side. “Your waltz was a beautiful thing to see, dearest.”

  Charlotte grimaced. “I know what you’re thinking. It can never happen, Sarah.” She nodded to where Uncle James was talking to Aunt Eleanor. “That might, when she is widowed.”

  Sarah was diverted. “I believe you are right, and I wish them joy.”

  “So do I,” Charlotte replied. “They have waited a long time.”

  As they watched, the duke and the duchess inclined their heads and parted. Their demeanour, at least in public, was above reproach, but his eyes followed her as she walked away.

  Sarah said, “I am going to go and sit down for a while, Charlotte. Come and keep me company?”

  Nate overheard. “Are you well, dearest? Do you need to go home?”

  “And you a doctor!” she scolded. “I am perfectly well, if a little tired. And I am certainly not leaving the ball at which I am hostess!”

  “I will make her sit down and have a bite to eat, Nate,” Charlotte told him. “You look after your guests.” She grinned at him. “This is all your fault, you know.”

  “Fruit of your loins,” Sarah teased.

  The two women strolled through into the supper room and Nate flushed as he turned back to his cousin-in-law and his would-be brother-in-law, hoping they had not heard.

  “I take it,” Val commented, “that congratulations are in order.” So much for that.

  “Yes,” said Aldridge. “Every best wish to you and your growing family, Lechton. May your happiness always increase.”

  How can I be happier? Nate wondered, as he accepted their congratulations. Still, the last few months suggested his capacity for happiness could grow. When Sarah accepted him back into her life and Elias’s, he had thought his happiness complete. And then Elias had called him Papa. And then he became accustomed to the pleasure of waking up beside his wife. And then she told him she was with child again.

  Yes, his happiness increased as his love for Sarah grew—another thing he would not have thought possible three months ago. “If you’ll excuse me, gentlemen, I am under instructions to look after our guests,” he told Val and Aldridge. “I should circulate, and make sure everyone is having a good time.”

  But first, he followed the sisters to the supper room, not to interrupt their conversation—they were enjoying a comfortable coze at one of the tables—but simply to let his eyes rest for a moment on the woman he loved, his safe harbour and his heart’s companion. The long journey was over and a new and better one was well begun.

  THE END

  But wait. There’s more.

  For Charlotte’s and Aldridge’s story, look for To Tame the Wild Rake, now on preorder. The love story of the Duke of Winshire and the Duchess of Haverford will conclude in Paradise At Last, to be published before the end of 2021 as part of The Paradise Triptych (Paradise Regained, Paradise Lost, and Paradise at Last).

  Find more information and buy links at https://judeknightauthor.com/books/

  * * *

  Do you like news before anyone else, plus discounts, and free stuff?

  Sign up to my newsletter. The main newsletter goes out once every two months, and includes news about coming books, discounts, contests, and events. Every newsletter also has news about books from my author friends, and a free story that I write just for newsletter subscribers.

  In between newsletters, if I have something exciting to share I occasionally sends a one-topic email.

  Free book as a thank you

  As a thank you for subscribing to my newsletter, you can expect a series of three emails, the first offering a free copy of one of my books, and the next two with links to other free stories. So why not subscribe today?

  Subscribe to newsletter: http://judeknightauthor.com/newsletter/

  * * *

  Enjoy these books by Jude Knight

  Regency books

  The Return of the Mountain King series

  James Winderfield, exiled third son of the Duke of Winshire, is back to inherit the ducal title.

  In 1812, high Society is rocked by the return of the Earl of Sutton, heir to the dying Duke of Winshire. James Winderfield, Earl of Sutton, Winshire's third and only surviving son, has long been thought dead, but his reappearance is not nearly such a shock as those he brings with him, the children of his deceased Persian-born wife and fierce armed retainers, both men and women.

  The Duke of Haverford, his one-time rival in love, sets out to destroy him, and his children with him, but Sutton is no longer the friendless, open-hearted youth that was exiled for his temerity. Even inheriting his father’s title won’t stop his enemies from trying to kill him. But no one, his people whisper, ever wins against the King of the Mountains.

  As the new Duke of Winshire’s four older children and his twin nieces navigate society to find acceptance and a love of their own, Winshire rekindles his acquaintance with the influential and beloved matriarch, Eleanor, Duchess of Haverford. Their time is long past; their friendship, though, is golden.

  * * *

  Paradise Regained (prequel novella)

  James yearns to end a long journey in the arms of his loving family. But his father’s agents offer the exiled prodigal forgiveness and a place in Society — if he abandons his foreign-born wife and children to return to England.

  With her husband away, Mahzad faces revolt, invasion and betrayal in the mountain kingdom they built together. A queen without her king, she will not allow their dream and their family to be destroyed.

  * * *

  To Wed a Proper Lady — The Barbarian and the Bluestocking (novel 1 in the series)

  Everyone knows James needs a bride with impeccable blood lines. He needs Sophia’s love more.

  James, eldest son of the Earl of Sutton, must marry to please his grandfather, the Duke of Winshire, and to win social acceptance for himself and his father’s other foreign-born children. But only
Lady Sophia Belvoir makes his heart sing, and to win her, he must invite himself to spend Christmas at the home of his father’s greatest enemy: the man who is fighting in Parliament to have his father's marriage declared invalid and the Winderfield children made bastards.

  Sophia keeps secret her tendre for James, Lord Elfingham. After all, the whole of Society knows he is pursuing the younger Belvoir sister, not the older one left on the shelf after two failed betrothals. Even when he asks for her hand in marriage, she still can't quite believe that he loves her.

  (This book was first published as a novella, and has been extensively rewritten to make it a novel. The novella was in the Bluestocking Belles' collection Holly and Hopeful Hearts.)

  * * *

  A Suitable Husband

  A chef from the slums, however talented, is no fit mate for the cousin of a duke, however distant. But Cedrica Grenford can dream. (novella)

  * * *

  To Mend the Broken-Hearted — The Healer and the Hermit (Novel 2)

  Trained as a healer, Ruth Winderfield is happiest in a sickroom. When she's caught up in a smallpox epidemic and finds herself quarantined at the remote manor of a reclusive lord, the last thing she expects is to find her heart's desire. A pity he does not feel the same. She must return to London’s ballrooms, where the wealth of her family and the question over her birth make her a target for the unscrupulous and a pariah to the high-sticklers.

  Valentine, Earl of Ashbury, is horrified when an impertinent bossy female turns up with several sick children, including the two girls he is responsible for. He hasn’t seen his niece and his daughter—if she is his daughter—since his faithless wife and treacherous brother died three years ago. He reluctantly gives them shelter. Even more reluctantly, he helps with the nursing.