He couldn’t speak. There were no words to describe the hot, hard mass sitting in his chest, or the wordless horror in his mind.
Lisa Grace rested her hand on his chest. It was a light touch, yet he flinched. “Tobias is so good to me, Peter. He has made such a difference in my life. I want him in all my life. Do you see?”
He shook his head. “No,” he said flatly. “I do not see. This is…it is beyond reckless, Lisa Grace, even for you. I do not approve and I resent you have made me a party to such a dangerous secret. I do not give my blessing. I cannot.”
He got his feet moving.
“Peter!” Lisa Grace called after him. Her voice broke.
He didn’t stop. He did not dare.
TRAVERS CLEARED HIS THROAT, FORCING Neil to let Blanche go, sit up and tug his jacket back into place.
“There is a gentleman to see you, Master Williams,” Travers said. “I’ve put him in the library.”
Neil sighed. “It’s damn inconsiderate of Cian to be on his honeymoon,” he complained. “Every time someone hangs on the bell, I have to drop everything and speak to them.”
“Because your life is so busy, right now,” Blanche replied, with a small smile. The question about what Neil might do with his life lingered, still. He found it immensely satisfying to discuss the issue with Blanche on the few occasions when they could meet. If sharing his thoughts with his fiancé did unman him, then a great many men would benefit from the emasculation. There was a peace in sharing everything with her—it was the peace he had been looking for all along, but he had not known it even existed.
He touched Blanche’s upturned nose. “I resent the interruptions because they take me away from you.” He watched, delighted, as her cheeks flushed and she grew flustered.
“Actually, sir,” Travers said, “the gentleman asked for you by name.”
“Who is it?”
“The Right Honorable Mr. Edward Cardwell,” Travers intoned.
Neil shot to his feet. “Cardwell is here?”
Blanche jumped to hers, too. “You left him in the library?” she added, horror tinging her voice.
“Sir?” Travers asked, uncertainty in his voice.
Neil patted the butler’s arm. “Never mind, Travers. You weren’t to know.”
“Who is he, sir?” Travers asked, sounding distressed. “I would know the degree of my error.”
“He is the Secretary of State for War, Travers,” Blanche informed him.
Neil picked up her hand. “Come with me,” he suggested. “Cardwell has touched both our lives. You should meet him.”
“Yes, I would like that.” Blanche walked with him through the big house, to the library at the front of it.
Edward Cardwell was a tall, slender man of sixty, with wheat colored hair which shone faintly pink in the sun streaming through the window. He had a large hooked nose and bushy mutton-chop sideburns.
He bowed over Blanche’s hand without hesitation. “Mrs. Joshua Seymour?” he clarified after Neil’s introduction. “Widow of the late Lieutenant Colonel—I apologize, I mean the late Lieutenant Seymour of the Fifth Northumberland Fusiliers.”
“A fact I would prefer to forget as swiftly as possible,” Blanche replied. “I am engaged to Mr. Williams, now.”
“Ah!” Cardwell looked from Blanche to Neil. “The events at Fenham are what brings me here. It would seem appropriate Mrs. Seymour be part of the discussion. I have just returned from interviewing Colonel Hill, Williams. He urged me to do so, and I must say that now I have heard the details of your return to Fenham, I can understand why he insisted upon it.”
Neil rubbed the back of his neck. “I’d like to think I’ve put that behind me, too,” he admitted.
“I should hope not,” Cardwell said fervently. “You are the perfect example of why the military must be reformed. It is why I am here. I want to prevail upon you to use your experience to help me make the changes the army desperately needs.”
“Help…?” Neil asked.
Cardwell nodded enthusiastically. “It’s all very well for me to rail on at generals about changing the way they’ve been doing things for generations. I’m not a military man and don’t speak or think as they do. Worse,” and he smiled, “I am a politician and suspect before I open my mouth. You, on the other hand, have survived what the army can hand a career man. You are a walking example of why things must change and you can explain it to them.”
“Are the reforms not law, now?” Blanche said, her tone puzzled. “The bill was passed in the House of Lords some time ago.”
“In 1870, yes,” Cardwell said. “I am impressed, Mrs. Seymour. Did your experience in Northumbria interest you in this matter?”
“It did,” Blanche admitted.
“The law was passed, yes,” Cardwell said. “The changes themselves are slow to be adopted. Particularly the practice of purchasing promotions…ah, I can see by your faces you both agree with me on this one.”
“How could we not?” Neil said. “If officers were promoted on merit, then Lord Cardigan could not have spent forty thousand pounds on his commission and led the charge of the Light Brigade at Balaklava. Over six hundred men lost their lives in that charge. It was abominable and it should never have happened—” He made himself stop. The heat and the pressure to vent his frustration was the same as he had felt when Jasper had prodded him into talking, at Northallerton. “I apologize,” he told Cardwell. “Speaking ill about other officers is not the done thing.”
“In this case, I would encourage the practice,” Cardwell told him. “Cardigan was incompetent, and that is exactly why I wish you to help me make the generals see the sense of the reforms. Without their connivance, the reforms will remain pages in the legislative journal.”
Neil thought of the way Colonel Hill had delayed and extended the processing of his formal release from the army, then had managed to arrange it almost overnight, when so moved to it. “It is the commanding officers you must also convince,” he told Cardwell. “They are the men who will make change happen, if they believe in it.”
“Then you will help me?” Cardwell asked.
“Oh, Neil, say yes!” Blanche urged him. “It is exactly the sort of meaningful work you have been looking for.”
Neil gave a small laugh. “It would be my great honor, sir.”
Cardwell looked pleased. “Good. Very good. Although, you will have to come to London. That is where the politicians are, after all. After Christmas, shall we say? Here is my card. Report to me at Westminster Palace in the new year. I will have a series of meetings and appointments set up for you by then…I warn you, you will be run off your feet, Williams!”
Neil held up his hand. “Only, you must keep July clear, sir.”
“July? Why…oh, a wedding and a honeymoon. Of course.” He smiled at Blanche. “My congratulations to the two of you,” he told her. “I hope I am invited to the wedding? Well, I must be off. The last train to London leaves that little station in an hour. The station master is holding my luggage. Thank you once again, Major Williams. You will make such a difference, I am sure.”
Travers shut the library door behind Cardwell and saw the man out, while Neil settled himself on the edge of the big desk. He held his hand out to Blanche. She took it with a small smile and moved closer to him. Her face was radiant. “Neil, this is wonderful! You really will make such a difference. Think of all the men in the military, who are pulled around by the old ways, like you were. You could change that.”
Neil kissed her temple. “I knew you would understand,” he said softly. “That is exactly who I was thinking of. That is why I said yes.”
Blanche rested her hand on his chest. The light touch never failed to make his heart stir. “You have found your place,” she added softly.
“More than that,” he assured her. “After the gather, I will go to London.”
“Oh, to sell the white house?” Her smile faded. “It is such a pity, really. I loved that house. Catrin and Annalies a
nd I would hide in the attic and talk for hours and hours, especially when there were thunderstorms.”
“That is why I am going to London,” Neil said. “I won’t sell the house. I’ll write to Cian, although I know he will agree with this. Would you like to live there, Blanche? On Park Lane? You deserve a grand house, one befitting a lady, with staff to clean and cook for you.”
Her cheeks turned pink. “If it is for you, Neil, I would be happy to clean my fingers to the bone and burn every one of them on a hot stove. Only, oh, I do love that house!”
He kissed her and pulled her against him, to feel her softness and warmth. “Then it is yours, my love.”
She wound her arms around his neck, her eyes sparkling as she looked up at him. “I cannot think of what I might have done to deserve you, Neil, yet I am so very glad you came into my life.”
He rested his head against hers and let out a deep, slow sigh. “Peace,” he breathed. “I found it only because of you.”
______________________
The next book in the Scandalous Scions series.
Risk of Ruin, Book 11, Scandalous Scions
Now she belongs to another, he realizes too late that he wants her.
Lady Annalies is the daughter of the Earl of Innesford, but rejects society. Instead, she embraces the Bohemian art world, and lives in secret with her patron and lover, Tobias. The only person who knows the truth is her cousin, Peter, who furiously resents the burden of knowing how she courts disaster for the entire family.
When sales of her paintings diminish, putting her in financial straits, Annalies turns to Peter for help, as he has always helped her in the past. Peter grasps the chance to involve himself in her life, to head off the catastrophe she flirts with every day. The entanglements increase when he realizes it is not merely the risk of ruin which draws him to her.
___
I am overwhelmed by how much I have enjoyed this series so far. It was not superficial fluff as I thought it might be when I began. Cooper-Posey books have touched on so many universal themes.
Get your copy of Risk of Ruin now
https://tracycooperposey.com/risk-of-ruin
Did you enjoy this book?
How to make a big difference!
Reviews are powerful.
Authors like me, without the financial muscle of a sleek New York publisher backing me, can’t take advertisements out in the subways and billboards of the world.
On the other hand, New York publishers would kill to get what I have: A committed and loyal group of readers.
Honest reviews of my books help bring them to the attention of other readers. If you enjoyed this book I would be grateful if you could spend just a few minutes leaving a review (it can be as short as you like) on the book’s page where you bought it.
You can jump to the book’s page by clicking on this link. https://books2read.com/AshesOfPride
Thank you so much!
Tracy
Acknowledgements
Dina Bushrod, Audrey Cienki, Hes. H., Kathi Soniat, Kathy Zisek -- thanks so much, guys!
About the Author
Tracy Cooper-Posey is a #1 Best Selling Author. She writes romantic suspense, historical, paranormal and science fiction romance. She has published over 100 novels since 1999, been nominated for five CAPAs including Favourite Author, and won the Emma Darcy Award.
She turned to indie publishing in 2011. Her indie titles have been nominated four times for Book Of The Year. Tracy won the award in 2012, and a SFR Galaxy Award in 2016 for “Most Intriguing Philosophical/Social Science Questions in Galaxybuilding” She has been a national magazine editor and for a decade she taught romance writing at MacEwan University.
She is addicted to Irish Breakfast tea and chocolate, sometimes taken together. In her spare time she enjoys history, Sherlock Holmes, science fiction and ignoring her treadmill. An Australian Canadian, she lives in Edmonton, Canada with her husband, a former professional wrestler, where she moved in 1996 after meeting him on-line.
Other books by Tracy Cooper-Posey
For reviews, excerpts, and more about each title, visit Tracy’s site and click on the cover you are interested in: http://tracycooperposey.com/books-by-thumbnail/
Scandalous Scions
(Historical Romance Series – Spin off)
Rose of Ebony
Soul of Sin
Valor of Love
Marriage of Lies
Scandalous Scions One (Boxed Set)
Mask of Nobility
Law of Attraction
Veil of Honor
Scandalous Scions Two (Boxed Set)
Season of Denial
Rules of Engagement
Degree of Solitude
Ashes of Pride
Risk of Ruin
Year of Folly
Queen of Hearts
Once and Future Hearts
(Ancient Historical Romance—Arthurian)
Born of No Man
Dragon Kin
Pendragon Rises
War Duke of Britain
High King of Britain
Battle of Mount Badon
Abduction of Guenivere
Downfall of Cornwall
Vengeance of Arthur
Grace of Lancelot
The Grail and Glory
Camlann
Kiss Across Time Series
(Paranormal Time Travel)
Kiss Across Time
Kiss Across Swords
Time Kissed Moments
Kiss Across Chains
Kiss Across Time Box One (Boxed Set)
Kiss Across Deserts
Kiss Across Kingdoms
Time and Tyra Again
Kiss Across Seas
Kiss Across Time Box Two (Boxed Set)
Kiss Across Worlds
Time and Remembrance
Kiss Across Tomorrow
More Time Kissed Moments
Kiss Across Blades
Kiss Across Chaos
Kiss Across The Universe
Even More Time Kissed Moments
Kiss Across Forever
Project Kobra
(Romantic Spy Thrillers)
Hunting The Kobra
Inside Man
Vistaria Has Fallen
Vistaria Has Fallen
Prisoner of War
Hostage Crisis
Freedom Fighters
Casualties of War
V-Day
Romantic Thrillers Series
Fatal Wild Child
Dead Again
Dead Double
Terror Stash
Thrilling Affair (Boxed Set)
Beloved Bloody Time Series
(Paranormal Futuristic Time Travel)
Bannockburn Binding
Wait
Byzantine Heartbreak
Viennese Agreement
Romani Armada
Spartan Resistance
Celtic Crossing
Beloved Bloody Time Series Boxed Set
Scandalous Sirens
(Historical Romance Series)
Forbidden
Dangerous Beauty
Perilous Princess
Go-get-‘em Women
(Short Romantic Suspense Series)
The Royal Talisman
Delly’s Last Night
Vivian’s Return
Ningaloo Nights
Blood Knot Series
(Urban Fantasy Paranormal Series)
Blood Knot
Southampton Swindle
Broken Promise
Vale
Amor Meus
Blood Stone
Blood Unleashed
Blood Drive
Blood Revealed
Blood Ascendant
The Sherlock Holmes Series
(Romantic Suspense/Mystery)
Chronicles of the Lost Years
The Case of the Reluctant Agent
Sherlock Boxed In
The Kine Prophecies
(Epi
c Norse Fantasy Romance)
The Branded Rose Prophecy
The Stonebrood Saga
(Gargoyle Paranormal Series)
Carson’s Night
Beauty’s Beasts
Harvest of Holidays
Unbearable
Sabrina’s Clan
Pay The Ferryman
Hearts of Stone (Boxed Set)
Destiny’s Trinities
(Urban Fantasy Romance Series)
Beth’s Acceptance
Mia’s Return
Sera’s Gift
The First Trinity
Cora’s Secret
Zoe’s Blockade
Octavia’s War
The Second Trinity
Terra’s Victory
Destiny’s Trinities (Boxed Set)
Interspace Origins
(Science Fiction Romance Series)
Faring Soul
Varkan Rise
Cat and Company
Interspace Origins (Boxed Set)
Short Paranormals
Solstice Surrender
Eva’s Last Dance
Three Taps, Then….
The Well of Rnomath
Jewells of Tomorrow
(Historical Romantic Suspense)
Diana By The Moon
Heart of Vengeance
The Endurance
(Science Fiction Romance Series)
5,001
Greyson’s Doom
Yesterday’s Legacy
Promissory Note
Quiver and Crave
Ashes of Pride Page 20