Castonbury Park 01 - The Wicked Lord Montague

by Carole Mortimer

  ‘Yes.’ Mrs Lovell’s voice quavered with emotion. ‘I didn’t want to give you up, Lily.’ She clutched anxiously at her granddaughter’s hand. ‘I just didn’t know how else to protect ye. If Black Jack ever found out that ye were alive, none of my threats would have made an happerth of difference to his one day coming back and claiming ye for himself, or his son.’

  Lily still felt completely overwhelmed by all that Mrs Lovell had told her. ‘But why? I do not understand. And what possible reason could Judah have had for carrying me off in that way today? Why did he attack you so viciously? Break up your beautiful home and destroy all your things?’

  The elderly lady grimaced. ‘Because he was looking for something.’

  Lily blinked. ‘But what? And what can it possibly have to do with me?’

  Her grandmother smiled. ‘Can you have forgotten your mother’s ten thousand pounds?’

  ‘I—’ She gave a confused shake of her head.

  ‘I was going to tell you all afore I left Castonbury this summer.’ The elderly woman nodded. ‘You’ll be twenty-one come October, Lily. And on the day of your twenty-first birthday, or the day ye marry, you’ll inherit Thea’s fortune.’

  Lily looked stunned once again. ‘I will?’

  ‘Judah couldn’t know it, o’ course, but your inheritance is all nice and safe in the bank waiting for you, exactly where Thea left it.’ Mrs Lovell nodded with satisfaction.

  Giles drew in a sharp breath as he realised his worst fear had just become realised. Lily was to be an heiress, whereas he—he was nothing more than the precarious heir of a dukedom which was almost bankrupt!

  ‘Judah told me his da were rambling in his fever when he died a year ago—and may his soul rot in hell!’ Mrs Lovell added hardly. ‘He told Judah the real reason they went to Ireland, of Thea and Matthew, and the fortune he had lost when Thea and the babe died. It were our misfortune that there were nothing to hold Judah in Ireland once his da were dead, and that he decided to look up his old aunt in Castonbury.’ She shook her head impatiently.

  ‘When he recognised the likeness between us the other day, and realised the truth of it, Judah decided to take your fortune for himself.’ She gave another disgusted snort. ‘That boy’s as stupid as his da. Thought I carried the money about with me in my varda. As if!’

  ‘And that is why he beat you?’

  ‘Yes, my chivvy. But he didn’t get nothing out o’ me.’ Her grandmother squeezed her hand reassuringly. ‘I told him your money was in a bank where he couldn’t get his dirty hands on it.’ Her face darkened. ‘That’s when he decided to carry ye off and marry ye.’

  Lily now understood only too well those remarks Judah Lovell had made to her concerning silk handkerchiefs.

  Just as she now realised that not only did she have a grandmother, but a fortune too. A fortune which would make her more Giles’s equal, and as such able to accept his proposal of marriage….

  * * *

  ‘Giles?’

  He looked up from where he had once again been reading the letter delivered to him only this morning, his expression softening as he saw Lily standing in the doorway of his father’s study, and still wearing the borrowed robe and night-rail. ‘Is all now settled between you and your grandmother?’ Giles had excused himself from the ladies’ company shortly after the revelation about Lily’s fortune, needing to be alone with his thoughts for a while.

  With the knowledge that he was no longer in a position to ask Lily to become his wife.

  ‘For now.’ She nodded, smiling as she entered the room and closed the door softly behind her. ‘I have left my grandmother and my father to speak privately together.’ Her smile widened. ‘I believe a considerable amount of that conversation will be memories of what a little hellion I was as a child!’

  Giles chuckled huskily. ‘I remember you being an enchanting hellion.’

  Her eyes widened as she moved to stand in front of the desk where he sat. ‘You do?’

  He nodded. ‘Very much so.’

  ‘And I always believed you never even noticed that I was alive!’

  ‘You were far too impishly entertaining to ignore,’ Giles assured softly.

  Lily tilted her head as she studied him quizzically. ‘You seemed to…leave us rather abruptly, earlier.’

  Giles’s gaze could no longer meet her probing one. ‘Sir Rufus had arrived to deal with Mr Lovell.’ He referred to the local magistrate. ‘And I thought to allow you and Mrs Lovell some time alone together.’

  Her eyes glowed. ‘Is it not wonderful news, Giles?’ She clasped her hands together. ‘Not only do I have a grandmother, but a fortune too!’

  ‘Wonderful news,’ he echoed softly.

  She frowned. ‘You do not seem particularly pleased?’

  Perhaps because he was not. Which was totally selfish of him!

  And he did not mean to be selfish; it was only that Lily’s change in circumstances, when placed beside the now-dire ones of all the Montague family, made it impossible for him to repeat his proposal of marriage to her. ‘I am very pleased for you, Lily. I can only imagine how relieved you must be to know the truth after all these years.’

  ‘But…?’

  He gave a pained frown at her intuitiveness. ‘What makes you think there is a “but”?’

  Lily looked down at him searchingly. She had come to know this man very well in the past two weeks—to love him—and although Giles had not returned to that haughtily arrogant gentleman she had known previously, neither was he the loving man he had been but a few hours ago.

  ‘There is a “but,” Giles.’ She deliberately moved about the desk as she spoke, standing so close to him now that her thigh touched his, and knowing that he was affected by her proximity as a flush darkened his cheeks and his gaze burned hotly as he looked up at her. ‘Tell me what is wrong?’

  He drew in a ragged breath. ‘Could you perhaps return to the other side of the desk?’

  ‘No.’ She smiled confidently, knowing that whatever was wrong it had nothing to do with Giles falling out of love with her.

  That flush deepened in his cheeks. ‘I cannot think logically when you are standing next to me, Lily!’

  ‘And if I have no wish for you to “think logically”?’ Lily looked at him teasingly.

  ‘I must!’ He stood up abruptly to stand some distance away in front of the window, his hands clasped tightly together behind his back. ‘Lily, I— There is a letter atop the desk. I think you should read it.’

  Lily looked down curiously at the desktop. ‘This letter?’ She picked up a single sheet of white notepaper.

  Giles glanced back at her. ‘Yes.’

  ‘But it is addressed to the Duke of Rothermere.’

  He grimaced. ‘And my father would have a heart attack and die if he had been allowed to read it before I did!’

  ‘And yet you wish me to read it?’

  Giles smiled grimly. ‘You will see why once you have done so.’

  Lily frowned as she turned her attention to the letter, quickly reading the words written there, and the signature of Alicia Montague at the bottom of the sheet of paper. ‘This lady says that she is your brother Jamie’s widow? And that there is a child!’ Lily raised a hand to her throat.

  ‘A boy of eighteen months.’ Giles nodded abruptly. ‘Named Crispin for my father.’

  Lily blinked. ‘You had no knowledge of your brother having married before the receipt of this letter?’

  Giles shook his head. ‘None.’

  Lily allowed the letter to flutter back to the desktop before moving quickly to Giles’s side. ‘She states the marriage took place in Spain some two years ago, shortly before Lord James’s death.’

  ‘She states that, yes.’

  ‘But would Lord James not have told his family, told you, if that had been the case?’

  ‘I would like to think so, yes.’ His expression was grim. ‘I find it…curious indeed, that this woman has waited all this time to declare herself
my brother’s widow, and her son his heir.’

  Lily looked at him searchingly. ‘What do you intend to do about it?’

  ‘I had thought to go down to London immediately and speak with this lady myself— What is it?’ Giles prompted softly as she gasped.

  She chewed on her bottom lip. ‘I had not imagined the two of us would be parted so soon after our betrothal?’

  Giles drew in a sharp breath. ‘There can be no betrothal between us now, Lily.’

  ‘What?’ She stared up at him dazedly, her face having gone pale. ‘I do not understand, Giles. Earlier today you said— You asked— You do not for one moment think—? Giles, it makes no difference to my love for you whether you are heir to the dukedom or not.’

  He shook his head. ‘I did not for one moment think that it would.’

  She looked uncertain. ‘You no longer wish to marry me?’

  Giles groaned as he saw the pain in her green eyes, awash with unshed tears. ‘Of course I wish to marry you, Lily.’ He grasped both her hands tightly in his. ‘There is nothing I want more! But— There are several other things you are as yet unaware of.’

  ‘What things?’ Her expression was distraught. ‘Do you have a secret wife hidden away somewhere too? A son of your own your family is unaware of?’

  ‘No, of course I do not,’ he dismissed impatiently. ‘Lily, last year my father—’ He shook his head. ‘All you need know of that is that because of an unwise decision he made a year ago, the Montague family is all but bankrupt.’

  She stilled. ‘And this is the reason that the estate was allowed to become run-down? And why you personally paid for several of the refreshments at today’s celebrations?’

  Giles nodded. ‘And why my father and I visited the lawyers together last week—on the occasion you believed I was endangering his health by taking him out for a carriage ride,’ he added drily. ‘And why I have myself called upon them again earlier this week.’ His expression was grim. ‘All to no avail. The family coffers are all but empty, and Jamie’s inheritance from our mother is caught up in the same legality as the naming of the heir to the Duke of Rothermere. Although the latter may not be quite so urgent now that it seems a child who is only eighteen months old may eventually become that legal heir.’

  Lily gave a slow shake of her head. ‘I am sorry for all of that, of course. I can appreciate how worrying it must have been for you. But I do not see why it should affect our own plans to marry. In fact—’ her expression brightened ‘—once I am in possession of my own inheritance I will be able to—’

  ‘No, Lily!’ Giles’s hands tightened painfully on hers, his eyes glittering with intent. ‘I will not hear of you putting a single penny of your inheritance towards saving the Montague family!’

  ‘And I will not hear of you being so noble as to renege on our betrothal because your family’s finances are unsettled and my own are suddenly changed!’ Her eyes glittered just as intently.

  Giles’s expression softened slightly as he saw that determination in her expression. ‘You truly are magnificent when you are angry, Lily.’

  ‘Do not attempt to flatter me out of my present mood, Giles.’ She glared up at him. ‘If you so much as attempt to back out of our betrothal, out of a false sense of pride, then I shall be forced to visit lawyers of my own with a view to suing you for breech of promise!’

  He smiled. ‘It is not false pride, Lily. Nor, if you recall, did you ever formally accept my marriage proposal.’

  ‘I am accepting now!’ There were two bright spots of angry colour in her cheeks as she continued to glare up at him. ‘I love you, Giles, and I have every intention of marrying you!’

  Giles’s heart had leapt at her declaration, only to sink again as he thought of all the reasons he should refuse. If Lily were to marry him, then she would be marrying a man whose position in life was no longer secure; Giles’s personal fortune was dwindling by the day in an effort to keep the Montague family in the luxury to which they were accustomed, and if Alicia Montague’s claim should prove true, then he was no longer the future Duke of Rothermere either. It might mean that he could eventually rejoin the army, of course, but would Lily really want that sort of life for herself now that she had the money to do whatever she wished?

  ‘I can imagine nothing I would enjoy more!’ Lily’s reply was the first indication Giles had that he had asked that last question out loud. ‘Mrs Lo— My grandmother—’ her face flushed with pleasure

  ‘—was quite correct when she predicted that I have always wished to see more of the world. It must be my Romany blood, but I am sure I should enjoy nothing more than accompanying my husband, Lord Giles Montague, when he travels with his regiment.’

  Giles felt his earlier resolve weakening in the face of Lily’s enthusiasm. In the face of the love for him that shone in the clear green brilliance of her eyes….

  ‘Oh, my darling Giles.’ Lily clasped his hands tightly as she glowed up at him. ‘Can you not see how wonderful it will be? The two of us married and together always?’

  Giles could see. And how he hungered for it. Hungered for Lily! ‘You are an heiress now, Lily, a very wealthy young lady, and may have your choice of husbands—’

  ‘Then I choose you.’ Her mouth was set stubbornly. ‘If you will have me?’

  ‘If I will have you!’ He released her hands to crush her tightly in his arms. ‘How can I possibly resist you?’ He groaned.

  ‘It is my hope that you cannot.’ She smiled confidently.

  He sighed his defeat in the face of her determination and his deep love for her. ‘Then we shall only be married on two conditions.’

  She eyed him quizzically. ‘Which are?’

  ‘Firstly, that we will not marry until the identity of the heir to the Duke of Rothermere has been decided upon.’

  ‘But does that mean you will not make love to me again either, until after that matter has been settled?’

  How could Giles possibly be with Lily, be in love with Lily and know that love was returned, without making love with her? ‘I will make love to you again in but a few minutes if you agree to my second condition!’ Giles assured vehemently.

  ‘Very well, I agree.’ She grinned up at him impishly.

  He shook his head. ‘Secondly, that when you come into your inheritance in a few months’ time, not a penny of it is to be put at the disposal of the Montague family. That condition is more important to me than the first, Lily,’ he insisted as she would have protested.

  Lily gazed up at him searchingly, noting the pride in Giles’s expression, the determination in his gaze and the stubborn set of his jaw. ‘Very well, I agree to your second condition, also. For now,’ she added warningly. ‘If circumstances should change, then I also reserve the right to change my mind and help in any way that I can.’

  ‘Just knowing that you love me and intend on becoming my wife will be enough to help me to get through this,’ he assured huskily.

  She reached up and cupped either side of his face as she gazed up at him with all the love she felt for him shining in her eyes. ‘I will love you always, Giles. Always.’

  ‘As I will always love you, my darling, darling Lily!’ Having believed such a short time ago that he must, in honour, let Lily go, Giles now found himself totally lost to the warmth of her love.

  A love for each other that he had no doubt would last a lifetime.

  * * * * *

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  Read on to find out more about

  Carole Mortimer and the serie
s…

  Carole Mortimer was born in England, the youngest of three children. She began writing in 1978, and has now written over one hundred and fifty books for Harlequin. Carole has six sons: Matthew, Joshua, Timothy, Michael, David and Peter. She says, ‘I’m happily married to Peter senior; we’re best friends as well as lovers, which is probably the best recipe for a successful relationship. We live in a lovely part of England.’

  Previous novels by the same author:

  THE DUKE’S CINDERELLA BRIDE*

  THE RAKE’S INDECENT PROPOSAL*

  THE ROGUE’S DISGRACED LADY*

  LADY ARABELLA’S SCANDALOUS MARRIAGE*

  THE LADY GAMBLES**

  THE LADY FORFEITS **

  THE LADY CONFESSES **

  THE RETURN OF THE RENEGADE***

  THE RELUCTANT DUKE**

  TAMING THE LAST ST CLAIRE**

  *The Notorious St Claires

  ** The Copeland Sisters

  *** The Scandalous St Claires

  Did you know that some of these novels are

  also available as eBooks?

  Visit Harlequin.com

  Author Q&A

  Where did you find the inspiration for Giles and Lily?

  Giles is exactly the kind of strong and aristocratically arrogant Regency hero that I love! He also possesses a strong affection and allegiance to his family, as well as an inner determination of will which has seen him survive years of battling against Napoleon’s armies as well as the death of two of his beloved brothers. His seriousness of nature hides a deep sensuality, which instantly responds to the exotic and lovely Lily.

  Lily was just a wonderful character to write about: independent, capable, and more than a match in will for the arrogant Giles. Her own birth and heritage are something of a mystery until the very end of the book, although I do give tantalising hints as to that heritage throughout the story.