by Merry Farmer
“Who is Basil?” Marigold asked. “And why should the devil take him.”
“Basil is Lord Basil Waltham,” Alex explained.
Marigold’s brow shot up. “Oh! That Basil. The Missing Earl?”
“One and the same,” Lord Malcolm grumbled. “It’s all well and good for him to go gallivanting off to wherever he is when things in London are politics as usual, but not with the upcoming election.”
“Do you really think there will be an election, Lord Campbell?” Bianca asked, the only one in the group who wasn’t in a position to call him by a more informal means of address.
“Yes,” Lord Malcolm answered.
“Most certainly,” Alex seconded.
“Is it because of the bill your side has been proposing to increase the rights of women?” Lord Rupert asked. “Which I most fully support, by the way,” he was quick to add while looking at Lady Cecelia.
Lady Stanhope’s grin widened, and she sent Lord Malcolm the barest flicker of an eyebrow, as if saying not only that she was aware of the connection between Lord Rupert and Lady Cecelia, but she approved and dared Lord Malcolm to do anything about it.
“It’s not just that,” Alex answered with the briefest roll of his eyes. “The Liberals back a great deal of reforms, not the least of which is the extension of the franchise to a wider swath of middle and working-class men.”
“The changes are inevitable,” Lord Malcolm continued. “But it’s going to take an election to make them. Everyone knows which way the wind is blowing.”
“Which is why it really would be useful for Basil to come out of whatever hole he’s hiding in,” Alex added.
“Why?” Lady Bianca asked with a slight shrug of her shoulders. “He’s been missing for two years, hasn’t he?”
“Before he got into that ridiculous business with Miss Grey—” Alex began.
“Lady Royston,” Lord Malcolm corrected.
Alex nodded. “Before all that, he was one of our chief spokesmen in the House of Lords. He may not hold an elected office, but he is highly respected, particularly amongst the more liberal-leaning upper classes, and his influence could make the difference between another Disraeli government and the change we desperately need.”
“So it would be in everyone’s best interest, particularly his own, if he ended whatever game he’s playing and resumed his position in society,” Lady Stanhope finished.
“But where is he?” Marigold asked with a baffled shrug.
There was a moment of perplexed silence before Lady Stanhope said, “Nobody knows. He didn’t just slink off to the country to sulk, he genuinely disappeared.”
“Did he leave the country?” Lord Rupert asked.
“If he did, there would be records of his travel,” Lord Malcolm said.
“Unless he crept away under an assumed name or smuggled himself out in the dead of night,” Lady Bianca said.
“He sounds like a fascinating man,” Marigold said.
“He’s a bookish stick in the mud,” Lord Malcolm told her with a wry laugh. “When we were in the Crimea, he spent more time trying to learn Turkish than drilling or planning strategy.”
“As I understand it, those skills saved your lives,” Lady Stanhope challenged him.
“Theophilus Gunn saved our lives,” Malcolm told her.
“Who is Theophilus Gunn?” Marigold asked.
Both Alex and Lord Malcolm laughed. “He’s a story all of his own, my dear,” Alex said. “But the short version is that he’s an American who served as valet to our friend, Lord Stephen Leonard.”
“God rest his soul,” Lord Malcolm added. He and Alex were solemn and silent for a moment, remembering their friend, before Lord Malcolm went on. “I don’t care what embarrassment Basil thinks he’s hiding from, enough is enough. I am determined to find him and drag him home by his collar before any election can take place.”
“Do you have the slightest hint where he is?” Lady Stanhope asked, crossing her arms.
Lord Malcolm flexed his jaw. “All I know is that he has continued to make withdrawals on his accounts since disappearing, though his solicitor refuses to tell me where the money has been sent or what sort of communication he has had with the bastard.”
“Papa!” Lady Cecelia blanched. Lady Bianca too. Lord Rupert looked surprised, but the older people were so used to Lord Malcolm’s forcefulness that they barely blinked.
“I wish you well in your search,” Marigold said. “Even though it sounds like a difficult one.”
“I don’t plan to stop until I find him,” Lord Malcolm said.
The conversation shifted to far less incendiary topics. Marigold and Alex had other guests to greet, and by the time everyone gathered to go into supper, Marigold’s heart felt light.
“If you had told me in August that I would be this happy in December, I wouldn’t have believed you,” she said, holding tight to Alex’s arm and watching as Ruby and Ada gathered James and the village children to take them in to the child’s feast waiting for them in one of the other drawing rooms. “It almost doesn’t seem right to be so happy when so much is still unresolved.”
“There will be time to put whatever is still wrong to rights, my dear,” Alex said. Their guests had all gone ahead of them, so he swept her into his arms and planted a kiss squarely on her lips. “Turpin will have his day. Shayles will be brought to justice. Basil will be found. And Malcolm and Katya will stop vexing each other and realize they belong together.”
Marigold laughed at the way he added that last item to the list of unresolved problems. “I hope it doesn’t take a war to bring those two together.”
“Everyone who is supposed to be together ends up in each other’s arms in the end,” Alex said, kissing her again lightly.
“What a romantic sentiment,” she said, smiling up at him.
“Romantic, perhaps, but it is most certainly true. I have proof of that right here in my arms.”
He kissed her a third time, and in spite of the guests and the meal waiting for them, Marigold closed her arms around him and kissed him with all the emotion that filled her heart. Their whole marriage was based on heat and impulsivity, after all, and she hoped that it would stay that way always.
What happened to the mysterious, missing Lord Basil Waltham? Don’t worry, you’ll find out soon enough in May Mistakes, the third book of The Silver Foxes of Westminster series. It will be released July 20 (which, by the way, is my birthday), but you can preorder very soon! And since it might just have something to do with the indomitable Miss Elaine Bond of Brynthwaite, Cumbria, you might find clues in A Wild Adventure, part of the West Meets East series, which is available now. (wink, wink, nudge, nudge)
But before that, are you curious about what might have been going on behind the scenes with Mr. Gilbert Phillips and Miss Ruby Murdoch? There’s much more to their story than meets the eye, and you can read all about it in Winterberry Spark, available April 13th. And what about that hunky schoolteacher, Mr. Timothy Turnbridge? It’s possible he might have his eye on Winterberry Park maid, Ada Bell. But someone doesn’t want the two of them to be together. Hijinks abound in their story, Winterberry Fire, coming April 20th.
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About the Author
I hope you have enjoyed August Sunrise. If you’d like to be the first to learn about when new books in the series come out and more, please sign up for my newsletter here: http://eepurl.com/cbaVMH And remember, Read it, Review it, Share it! For a complete list of works by Merry Farmer with links, please visit http://wp.me/P5ttjb-14F.
Merry Farmer is an award-winning novelist who lives in suburban Philadelphia with her cats, Torpedo, her grumpy old man, and Justine, her hyperactive new baby. She has been writing since she was ten years old and realized one day that she didn't have to wait for the teacher to assign
a creative writing project to write something. It was the best day of her life. She then went on to earn not one but two degrees in History so that she would always have something to write about. Her books have reached the Top 100 at Amazon, iBooks, and Barnes & Noble, and have been named finalists in the prestigious RONE and Rom Com Reader’s Crown awards.
Acknowledgments
I owe a huge debt of gratitude to my awesome beta-readers, Caroline Lee and Jolene Stewart, for their suggestions and advice. And double thanks to Julie Tague, for being a truly excellent editor and assistant!
Click here for a complete list of other works by Merry Farmer.