Bound by a Scandalous Secret (The Scandalous Summerfields)

by Diane Gaston

  How ghastly. Nothing funny about a forced marriage. ‘I am somehow missing the joke.’

  She rolled her eyes. ‘We are caught in a storm. You could be trapped into marrying me.’ She wagged a finger at him. ‘So you had better hope we are not discovered.’ Then an idea seemed to dawn on her face. ‘Unless you are already married. In that case, only I suffer the scandal.’ She made it sound as if suffering scandal was part of the joke.

  ‘I am not married.’

  She grinned. ‘We had better hope Lord Tinmore or his minions do not come riding by, then.’

  No one would find this place unless they already knew its location, even if they were foolish enough to venture out in a snowstorm. If they did find them, though, Ross had no worries about Lord Tinmore. Tinmore’s power would be a trifle compared to what Ross could bring to bear.

  She took a breath and sighed and seemed to have conquered her fit of giggles.

  ‘I am acquainted with Glenville,’ he remarked. ‘A good man.’

  ‘Glenville is a good man,’ she agreed.

  He could not speak of why he knew Glenville, though.

  He’d sailed Glenville across the Channel in the family yacht several times during the war when Glenville pursued clandestine activities for the Crown. Braving the Channel’s waters was about the only danger Ross could allow himself during the war, even if he made himself available to sail whenever needed. This service had been meagre in his eyes, certainly a trifle compared to what his friend Dell had accomplished. And what others had suffered. He’d seen what the war cost some of the soldiers. Limbs. Eyes. Sanity. Why should those worthy men have had to pay the price rather than he?

  He forced his mind away from painful thoughts. ‘I had not heard Glenville’s marriage had been forced.’

  ‘Had you not?’ She glanced at him in surprise. ‘Goodness. I thought everyone knew. I should say they seem very happy about it now, so it has all worked out. For the time being, that is.’

  ‘For the time being?’

  She shrugged. ‘One never knows, does one?’

  ‘You sound a bit cynical.’ Indeed, she seemed to cycle emotions across her face with great rapidity.

  Her expression sobered. ‘Of course I am cynical. Marriage can bring terrible unhappiness. My parents’ marriage certainly did.’

  ‘One out of many,’ he countered, although he knew several friends who were miserable and making their spouses even more so. His parents’ marriage had been happy—until his mother died. In his father’s present marriage happiness was not an issue. That marriage was a political partnership.

  ‘My sister Lorene’s marriage to Lord Tinmore is another example.’ She glanced away and lowered her voice as if speaking to herself and not to him. ‘She is wasting herself with him.’

  ‘Has it been so bad? She brought him out of his hermitage, they say. He’d been a recluse, they say.’

  ‘I am sure he thinks it a grand union.’ She huffed. ‘He now has people he can order about.’

  ‘You?’ Clearly she resented Tinmore. ‘Does he order you about?’

  ‘He tries. He thinks he can force me to—’ She stopped herself. ‘Never mind. My tongue runs away with me sometimes.’

  She fell silent and stilled her legs and became lost in her own thoughts, which excluded him. He’d been enjoying their conversation. They’d been talking like equals, neither of them trying to impress or avoid.

  He wanted more of it. ‘Tell me about your painting.’

  She looked at him suspiciously. ‘What about it?’

  ‘I did not understand it.’

  She sat up straighter. ‘You mean because the sky was purple and pink and the grassy hills, blue, and it looked nothing like December in Lincolnshire?’

  ‘Obviously you were not painting the landscape as it was today. You said you painted a memory, but surely you never saw the scene that way.’ The painting was a riot of colour, an exaggeration of reality.

  She turned away. ‘It was a memory of those bright childhood days, when things could be what you imagined them to be, when you could create your own world in play and your world could be anything you wanted.’

  ‘The sky and the grass could be anything you wanted, as well. I quite comprehend.’ He smiled at her. ‘I once spent an entire summer as a virtuous knight. You should have seen all the dragons I slew and all the damsels in distress I rescued.’

  Her blue eyes sparkled. ‘I was always Boadicea fighting the Romans.’ She stood and raised an arm. ‘“When the British Warrior queen, Bleeding from the Roman rods…”’ She sat down again. ‘I was much influenced by Cowper.’

  ‘My father had an old copy of Spencer’s The Faerie Queene.’ It had been over two hundred years old. ‘I read it over and over. I sought to recreate it in my imagination.’

  She sighed. ‘Life seemed so simple then.’

  They fell silent again.

  ‘Do you miss this place?’ he asked. ‘I don’t mean this folly. Do you miss Summerfield House where you grew up?’

  Her expression turned wistful. ‘I do miss it. All the familiar rooms. The familiar paintings and furniture. We could not take much with us.’ Her chin set and her eyes hardened. ‘I do not want you to think we blame Lord Penford. He was under no obligation to us. We knew he inherited many problems my father created.’ She stood again and walked to the edge of the folly. Placing her hand on one of the columns, she leaned out. ‘The snow seems to be abating.’

  He was not happy to see the flakes stop. ‘Shall we venture out in it again?’

  ‘I think we must,’ she said. ‘I do not want to return late and cause any questions about where I’ve been.’

  ‘Is that what happens?’ he asked.

  ‘Yes.’ Her eyes changed from resentment to amusement. ‘Although I do not always answer such questions truthfully.’

  ‘I would wager you do not.’

  * * *

  Rossdale again pulled Genna up to sit in front of him on his beautiful horse. How ironic. It was the most intimate she had ever been with a man.

  She liked him. She could not think of any other gentleman of her acquaintance who she liked so well and with whom she wanted to spend more time. Usually she was eager to leave a man’s company, especially when the flattery started. Especially when she suspected they were more enamoured of the generous sum Lord Tinmore would provide for her dowry than they were of her. No such avaricious gleam reached Rossdale’s eyes. She had the impression the subject of her dowry had not once crossed Rossdale’s mind.

  They rode without talking, except for Genna’s directions. She led him through the fields, the shortest way to Tinmore Hall and also the way they were least likely to encounter any other person. The snow had turned the landscape a lovely white, as if it had been scrubbed clean. There was no sound but the crunch of the horse’s hooves on the snow and the huff of the animal’s breathing.

  They came to the stream. The only way to cross was at the bridge, the bridge that had been flooded that fateful night Tess had been caught in the storm.

  ‘Leave me at the bridge,’ she said. No one was in sight, but if anyone would happen by, it would be on the road to the bridge. ‘I’ll walk the rest of the way.’

  ‘So we are not seen together?’ he correctly guessed.

  She could not help but giggle. ‘Unless you want a forced marriage.’

  He raised his hands in mock horror. ‘Anything but that.’

  ‘Here is fine.’ She slid from the saddle.

  He unfastened her satchel and handed it to her. ‘It has been a pleasure, Miss Summerfield.’

  ‘I am indebted to you, sir,’ she countered. ‘But if you dare say so to anyone, I’ll have to unfurl my wrath.’

  He smiled down at her and again she had the sense that she liked him.

&
nbsp; ‘It will be our secret,’ he murmured.

  She nodded a farewell and hurried across the bridge. When she reached the other side, she turned.

  He was still there watching her.

  She waved to him and turned away, and walked quickly. She was later than she’d planned to be.

  She approached the house through the formal garden behind the Hall and entered through the garden door, removing her half-boots which were soaked through and caked with snow. One of the servants would take care of them. She did not dare clean them herself as she’d been accustomed to do at Summerfield. If Lord Tinmore heard of it, she’d have to endure yet another lecture on the proper behaviour of a lady, which did not include cleaning boots.

  What an ungrateful wretch she was. Most young ladies would love having a servant clean her boots. Genna simply was used to doing for herself, since her father had cut back on the number of servants at Summerfield House.

  She hung her damp cloak on a hook and carried her satchel up to her room. The maid assigned to her helped her change her clothes, but Genna waited until the girl left before unpacking her satchel. She left her painting on a table, unsure whether to work on it more or not.

  She covered it with tissue again and put it in a drawer. She would not work on it now. Of that she was certain. Instead she hurried down to the library, opening the door cautiously and peeking in. No one was there, thank goodness, although it would have been quite easy to come up with a plausible excuse for coming to the library.

  She searched the shelves until she found the volume she sought—Debrett’s Peerage & Baronetage. She pulled it out and turned first to the title names, riffling the pages until she came to the Rs.

  ‘Rossdale. Rossdale. Rossdale,’ she murmured as she scanned the pages.

  The title name was not there.

  She turned to the front of the book again and found the pages listing second titles usually borne by the eldest sons of peers. She ran her finger down the list.

  Rossdale.

  There it was! And next to the name Rossdale was Kessington d. D for Duke.

  She had been in the company of the eldest son of the Duke of Kessington. The heir of the Duke of Kessington. And she had been chatting with him as if he were a mere friend of her brother’s. Worse, she had hung all the family’s dirty laundry out to dry in front of him, her defiant defence over anticipated censure or sympathy. He’d seen her wild painting and witnessed her nonsense about Boadicea.

  She turned back to the listing of the Duke of Kessington. There were two pages of accolades and honours bestowed upon the Dukes of Kessington since the sixteen hundreds. She read that Rossdale’s mother was deceased. Rossdale’s given name was John and he had no brothers or sisters. He bore his father’s second title by courtesy—the Marquess of Rossdale.

  She groaned.

  The heir of the Duke of Kessington.

  CHAPTER TWO

  Ross sipped claret as he waited for Dell in the drawing room. The dinner hour had passed forty minutes ago, not that he’d worked up any great appetite or even that he was in any great need of company. He was quite content to contemplate his meeting with Miss Summerfield. He’d been charmed by her.

  How long had it been since a young woman simply conversed with him, about herself and her family skeletons, no less? Whenever he attended a society entertainment these days all he saw was calculation in marriageable young ladies’ eyes and those of their mamas. All he’d seen in Miss Summerfield’s eyes was friendliness.

  Would that change? Obviously she’d not known the name Rossdale or its significance, but he’d guess she’d soon learn it. Would she join the ranks of calculating females then?

  He was curious to know.

  The door opened.

  ‘So sorry, Ross.’ Dell came charging in. ‘I had no idea this estate business would take so long. I’ve alerted the kitchen. Dinner should be ready in minutes.’

  Ross lifted the decanter of claret. ‘Do you care for some?’

  Dell nodded. ‘I’ve a great thirst.’

  Ross poured him a glass and handed it to him.

  ‘First there is the problem of dry rot. Next the cow barn, which seems to be crumbling, but the worst is the condition of the tenant cottages. One after the other have leaking roofs, damaged masonry, broken windows. I could go on.’ He took a swig of his wine.

  ‘Sounds expensive,’ Ross remarked with genuine sympathy.

  How many estates did Ross’s family own? Five, at least, not counting the hunting lodges and the town house in Bath. There were problems enough simply maintaining them. Think of how it would be if any were allowed to go into disrepair. This was all new to Dell, as well. He’d just arrived in Brussels with his regiment when he’d been called back to claim the title. His parents, older brother and younger sister had been killed in a horrific fire. Ross had delivered the news to him and brought him home.

  A few weeks later Dell’s regiment fought at Waterloo.

  ‘A drain on the finances, for certain,’ Dell said. ‘Curse Sir Hollis for neglecting his property.’

  ‘Do you have sufficient funds?’ Ross asked.

  His friends never asked, but when Ross knew they were in need he was happy to offer a loan or a gift.

  Dell lifted a hand. ‘I can manage. It simply rankles to see how little has been maintained.’ He shook his head. ‘The poor tenants. They have put up with a great deal and more now with this nasty weather.’

  The butler appeared at the door. ‘Dinner is served, sir.’

  Dell stood. ‘At least food is plentiful. And I’ve no doubt Cook has made us a feast.’

  They walked to the dining room, its long table set for two adjacent to each other to make it easier for conversing and passing food dishes. The cook indeed had not disappointed. There were partridges, squash and parsnips. Ross’s appetite made a resurgence.

  ‘I hope your day was not a bore,’ Dell said. ‘Did you find some way to amuse yourself?’

  ‘I did remarkably well,’ Ross answered, spearing a piece of buttered parsnips with his fork. ‘I rode into the village and explored your property.’

  ‘And that amused you?’ Dell looked sceptical.

  ‘The villagers were talkative.’ He pointed his fork at Dell. ‘You are considered a prime catch, you know.’

  Dell laughed. ‘I take it you did not say who you were.’

  Not in the village, he hadn’t. ‘I introduced myself simply as John Gordon.’

  ‘That explains why there are no matchmaking mamas parked on the entry stairs.’

  Ross smiled. ‘I do believe tactics were being discussed to contrive an introduction to you.’

  Dell shrugged. ‘They waste their time. How can I marry? These properties of mine are taking up all my time.’

  How many did he have? Three?

  ‘I’m not certain your actual presence was considered important.’ To so many young women, marrying a title was more important than actually being a peer’s wife. ‘In any event, it would not hurt to socialise with some of your more important neighbours, you know.’

  ‘Who?’ he asked unenthusiastically.

  Ross took a bite of food, chewed and swallowed it before he answered. ‘They said in the village that Lord Tinmore was in the country.’

  ‘That prosy old fellow?’ Dell cried.

  ‘He’s influential in Parliament,’ Ross reminded him. ‘It won’t hurt at all to entertain him a bit. He might be a help to you when you take your seat.’

  ‘Your father will help me.’

  ‘My father certainly will help you, but it will not hurt to be acquainted with Tinmore, as well.’ Ross tore off some meat from his partridge. ‘You are related to Tinmore’s wife and her sisters, I was told.’

  ‘They are my distant cousins, I believe,’
Dell said. ‘The ones who grew up in this house.’

  ‘Perhaps they would like to visit the house again.’ Ross knew Genna would desire it, at least.

  Dell frowned. ‘More likely they would resent the invitation. I learned today that, not only was the estate left in near shambles, but the daughters were left with virtually nothing. My father turned them out within months of their father’s death. That is why the eldest daughter married Tinmore. For his money.’

  ‘Seems you learned a great deal.’ No wonder Genna Summerfield sounded bitter.

  Dell gave a dry laugh. ‘The estate manager was talkative, as well.’

  ‘Perhaps it would be a good idea to make amends.’ And it would not hurt for Dell to be in company a little.

  Dell expelled a long breath. ‘I suppose I must try.’

  Ross swirled the wine in his glass. ‘I would not recommend risking offending Lord Tinmore.’

  Dell peered at him. ‘For someone with an aversion to politics, you certainly are cognizant of its workings.’

  ‘How could I not be? My father talks of nothing else.’ Ross refilled Dell’s glass. ‘I would not say I have an aversion, though. I simply know it will eventually consume my life and I am in no hurry for that to happen.’

  Dell gulped down his wine and spoke beneath his breath. ‘I never wanted this title.’

  Ross reached over and placed his hand on Dell’s shoulder. ‘I know.’

  They finished the course in silence and were served small cakes for dessert.

  When that too was taken away and the decanter of brandy set on the table, Dell filled both their glasses. ‘Oh, very well,’ he said. ‘I will invite them to dinner.’

  Ross lifted his glass and nodded approvingly.

  Dell looked him in the eye. ‘Be warned, though. The youngest sister is not yet married.’

  Ross grinned. ‘I am so warned.’

  * * *

  Two days later, Genna joined her sister and Lord Tinmore at breakfast. Sometimes if she showed up early enough to share the morning meal and acted cheerful, she could count on being left to her own devices until almost dinner time. Besides, she liked to see if Lorene needed her company. There were often houseguests or callers who came out of obligation to the Earl of Tinmore. Most were polite to Lorene, but Genna knew everyone thought her a fortune hunter. Genna often sat through these tedious meetings so Lorene would not be alone, even though it was entirely Lorene’s fault she was in this predicament.