“I thought so,” she replied without any discernible emotion. “She drove him to distraction.” As I left, she went back to the bed and picked up her book. I didn’t turn the key in the lock behind me.
Downstairs I told Richard and Alicia what Susan had decided. Richard looked resigned. Here, amongst friends, there was no need for him to school his features. “I was afraid she might. She’s been bred to it, by her mother and by Julia Drury.”
“Will you try to stop her?” I asked.
He shrugged. “What right have I? I fathered her but I wasn’t her father. She must decide her own way and I’ll protect her as much as I can.”
“I’ve been talking to her,” Alicia said in her matter-of-fact way. “She’s a bright girl and she should do well. I don’t think she would be good at taking orders, she seems too impatient for that and it would be some years before she could be a full-fledged lady’s maid. For what it’s worth, I think she’s making the right choice.”
When we reached home, Richard sent me to bed for an hour. My tiredness must have been obvious and so I didn’t argue with him; I was only too glad to go. I sank into the dreamless sleep of the exhausted and felt much better when Nichols woke me to dress for dinner.
In the carriage on the way to Hareton House, Richard told me that he’d dismissed Brangwyn. “He said he was Steven Drury’s cousin and he had gone to Thompson’s because he knew of the connection with us. The references he gave us were genuine. I haven’t dismissed him without a character but I couldn’t give him the one he would ordinarily deserve. He says he wants to go into politics. He seems well suited for that, if Drury decides to back him.”
“Steven’s cousin?” I echoed, fixing on that point.
He shrugged. “I suppose he had to have some. It wasn’t pleasant, he denied it right up to the end but I got him there eventually.” He stared out of the window and I covered his hand with mine. He turned back to me and smiled. “I really have a lot to be thankful for, don’t I?”
When we reached Hareton House, Martha was passing through the hall on her way upstairs, so we went up with her. Going into the drawing room, seeing all those familiar faces, even the Terrys, made me realise one thing with a shock.
I was no longer one of them. I had entered a new world, one they were welcome in but not a part of. As well as making a new life inside me, I was making one for myself, almost without knowing. The transition, so frightening at first, had now happened and I was ready to go forward and see what it held.
About the Author
LYNNE CONNOLLY HAS the best job in the world. She writes historical, paranormal and contemporary romance and she doesn’t seem to be able to stop. She has won a number of awards, including two EPPIES, and she lives in damp, rainy England with her family and her mews.
Once a year she crosses the ocean to visit friends, attend conventions and other shindigs, and promote her books, so watch her blog if you want to meet her. She loves travelling and meeting people who she will then use in her books, but then, authors are like that.
Her website is at http://lynneconnolly.com
You can email her at [email protected]
She tweets @lynneconnolly
Her Facebook is at https://www.facebook.com/lynneconnollyuk
And her blog is here: http://lynneconnolly.blogspot.co.uk/
One day she’ll grow up and get a proper job, but not just yet!
Look for these titles
Triple Countess:
Last Chance, My Love
A Chance to Dream
Met by Chance
A Betting Chance
Secrets Trilogy:
Seductive Secrets
Alluring Secrets
Tantalizing Secrets
Richard and Rose:
Yorkshire
Devonshire
Venice
Harley Street
Eyton
Hareton Hall
Maiden Lane
Lisbon
The Emperors of London
Rogue in Red Velvet
Temptation Has Green Eyes
Danger Wears White
Dilemma in Yellow Silk
Reckless In Pink
Veiled In Blue
Wild Lavender
The Shaws
Fearless
Sinless
Dauntless
Boundless
Even Gods Fall In Love
Lightning Unbound
Mad For Love
Arrows of Desire
Forged By Love
War Chest
Her Quicksilver Lover
Single Titles
It Started at Waterloo
Dreaming of Waterloo
Uncovering Vanessa
Counterfeit Countess
Maybe Tomorrow
Loving Lucy
Seducing Laura
Don’t miss out!
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Did you love Harley Street? Then you should read Eyton by Lynne Connolly!
Scandal, murder and passion—an ordinary day for Richard and Rose.Richard and Rose, Book 5When Richard and Rose visit his family estate in Derbyshire to celebrate the christening of their firstborn, Rose comes face to face with some hard realities about the powerful Kerre family. The vast majority of them are far from delighted with Richard’s choice of wife. Plus, they think a man who shares his bed with his wife every night must have something wrong with him.Rose is driven half mad by Richard’s overly careful love for her. Somewhere underneath that smooth, sophisticated surface lies the passionate, intense lover she longs for—and she takes steps to seduce that savage lover back into her bed.Their joyous occasion is marred by the theft of a valuable necklace. Richard’s family looks to him to solve the crime—but something isn’t adding up. Evidence pointing to two trusted servants seems too convenient…and then they’re murdered.From the tangle of jealousies, secrets and desperate lies, Richard and Rose once again dance on the edge of danger to achieve justice—without dragging the family name into public scandal.
Read more at Lynne Connolly’s site.
Harley Street Page 29