Heiress in Love Read online

  He was still standing there, poleaxed by the sight of her, when he heard the galloping tattoo of hoof beats gaining, gaining, finally pulling to a stop with a churn and spray of mud.

  He turned his head to see his brother, George. They’d raced here cross-country, but George’s mount had refused at a stone wall, leaving him to find the long way around.

  Constantine hailed his sibling. “George, I’m in love.”

  “Ha!” His brother leaned forward to pat his horse’s gleaming neck. “You wouldn’t know love if it leaped up and bit you on the arse.”

  Constantine tilted his head, considering. “You could be right. Let’s go inside and see if we can find her.”

  For Jamie, with all my love

  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

  Publishing is a labor of love and I am fortunate to work with people whose passion for great stories inspires me and encourages me every day.

  Monique Patterson, thank you for your energy and skill and your commitment to making my books shine. To Holly Blanck and the rest of the amazing team at St. Martin’s, I’m so appreciative of all the work that goes into getting my books to the shelves. Thank you, all.

  To my brilliant agent, Helen Breitwieser, thank you for your guidance and support and for all the things you do that go above and beyond expectations. I love working with you.

  K and D, there is so very much to thank you for, from your killer plotting and critiquing skills to your loyalty and friendship, all of which are very precious to me.

  To my family and friends, thank you for putting up with all of my craziness and for helping me when the going gets tough. I love you all.

  CONTENTS

  Title Page

  Dedication

  Acknowledgments

  Prologue

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  Epilogue

  Sneak Peek - Mad About the Earl

  Praise

  Copyright

  PROLOGUE

  LONDON, SPRING, 1799

  “You found her. After all this time.”

  The low-pitched feminine voice made the Duke of Montford turn. A lady, magnificent in old gold and diamonds, stood behind him, as out of place as he was in the wholesome austerity of the nursery wing.

  “Yes,” he said.

  He caught a glimmer of maternal softening about the strong, elegant lines of Lady Arden’s face as she contemplated the sleeping girl. Then she transferred her shrewd gaze to his.

  “Dauntry’s child?”

  Montford inclined his head. Very few were aware of this little girl’s existence, but his companion knew he’d been searching high and low for Lady Jane Westruther.

  He shouldn’t be surprised that Lady Arden would take a keen interest in the girl. The woman could sniff out an unattached heiress from a mile away.

  This particular heiress had been lost for eight years. Her mother had run away from Lord Dauntry’s grand estate within a week of the babe’s birth, taking the child with her.

  Perhaps Lady Dauntry had feared her cruel husband’s ire at the babe’s sex, or perhaps she’d fallen prey to a malady that sometimes affected women after the birth of a child. Her lord had not bothered to look for her. From all Montford could discover, she’d died of rheumatic fever within months of making her escape.

  Jonathon Westruther, Earl of Dauntry, had broken his neck in a hunting accident, leaving his only daughter under Montford’s guardianship. It was a common enough arrangement; as head of the House of Westruther, Montford was named guardian to many children in this large and illustrious family. This was particularly the case where the child stood to inherit a family estate or a fortune that might require Montford’s expertise and judgment.

  Sadly, Montford had acquired quite a collection of these wealthy orphans.

  A tribe of children to his name and still no wife … Who’d have thought? Sometimes, he felt a hundred and he hadn’t yet reached his thirtieth year.

  He glanced at his companion, all glittering elegance, her honey-brown hair gilded by candlelight. She’d followed him up here, God knew to what purpose. He wasn’t even sure why he’d come, why he’d needed to see to the child in the middle of his own ball.

  Suddenly, Montford felt a trifle foolish. He’d hired a battalion of servants to care for Lady Jane Westruther, after all. One of them, a nursemaid, slept in the adjoining chamber within earshot in case her charge should wake up. He wasn’t needed here.

  Gesturing for Lady Arden to precede him from the nursery, Montford couldn’t resist one last glance over his shoulder. The thin little girl lay with one small hand tucked under her cheek, her rosebud lips slightly parted and quivering with each breath, the fear in her eyes now shuttered beneath gently curving lids.

  Fury welled inside him at the source of that fear. Fury, however, was an unprofitable emotion in the circumstances. With swift, ruthless efficiency, he’d destroyed the culprits who’d worked her like a slave in that squalid boardinghouse. She was safe now.

  Yet, he couldn’t conquer the fear in those large gray eyes as easily as he’d vanquished the villains charged with her care. He wasn’t sure he knew how.

  Turning away, Montford bowed and offered his arm to Lady Arden. She placed her gloved hand lightly upon it. As they moved through the doorway, he caught a waft of her scent. Understated, complicated, alluring. Much like the lady who wore it.

  After a thoughtful pause, she spoke. “That little poppet is a considerable heiress if she is Dauntry’s child. I shall want her for Frederick Black. Roxdale’s son, you know.”

  Montford masked his surprise at her directness. Lady Arden was legendary among the ton for her prescience and subtlety. “My lady, you know as well as I that this conversation is inappropriate. We must proceed through the proper channels.”

  Her fingers flexed against his arm. “Proper channels! The Ministry of Marriage has become a veritable hotbed of impropriety, and you know it. DeVere has voted against every proposal I’ve made this year.”

  “DeVere is merely peeved because you are immune to his dubious charms,” he replied.

  Emotion flitted over her face, and it bothered him that he couldn’t decipher it. Perhaps he’d be obliged to pay deVere a visit.

  “I want assurances from you that I will get a fair hearing,” she persisted.

  Montford bit back an acid retort. Why did he find her single-mindedness so irksome? She knew little of the girl’s sorry history, after all.

  He reminded himself that he had founded the aptly nicknamed Ministry of Marriage; had only himself to blame for the power struggles that climbed to their peak each Season. In Lady Arden’s shoes, he’d be equally eager to win such a prize as the little girl upstairs for a scion of his own dynasty.

  Montford bowed. “Of course, any match you propose will receive due consideration. I am rather a stickler for the rules, you know.”

  “Particularly when the rules are of your making
,” she observed dryly. “Very well, if the Ministry approves, I shall have Lady Jane Westruther for the future Lord Roxdale. An excellent match.”

  Indeed it would be, on paper. He’d need to further his acquaintance with Roxdale to be sure.

  They neared the ballroom, where the babble of the crowd swelled over the strains of a quadrille and spilled out into the corridor. Lady Arden swept him a curtsy and turned to go in.

  Montford placed his hand on her arm, staying her. “We will speak of this in good time, my lady.” He hesitated. “As the girl’s guardian, it behooves me to choose her husband carefully.”

  Lady Arden’s brown eyes widened until every one of her dark eyelashes seemed picked out against the ivory of her skin. Did she divine the peculiar importance to him of this little girl? He trusted she did not. As the head of a noble house with countless eligible unmarrieds dangling from the branches of its family tree, as a man who sincerely believed love had no place in the business of marriage, he couldn’t afford to show weakness. He couldn’t afford to admit the truth: for once, he didn’t give a damn about the Ministry of Marriage.

  He just wanted to see a frightened little girl smile.

  CHAPTER ONE

  THE COTSWOLDS, ENGLAND, SPRING, 1814

  The newly widowed Jane, Lady Roxdale, stood at the window of her private sitting room, staring out at the scene below.

  Carriage upon carriage, some draped in black crêpe, some emblazoned with noble coats of arms, choked the rush-strewn drive that wound up to the house. Like a train of shiny black beetles, they shuffled between ornate wrought-iron gates, marched through an avenue of oaks, then paused beneath the portico to disgorge mourners.

  Their pace was slow, respectful, inexorable. And Jane could not wait for them all to depart as slowly and respectfully as they’d come.

  She pressed trembling fingertips to the windowpane. How soon? How soon must she leave her home?

  Not hers anymore. His.

  Constantine Black. Her husband’s cousin and heir. The scoundrel who had not even bestirred himself to appear at his kinsman’s funeral.

  If he couldn’t summon sufficient proper feeling to appear today, was she not right to fear for the estate? But then, the new Lord Roxdale was reputed to be glittering and wild, a philanderer, a drunkard, a gamester, with no thought in his head save the next faro bank, the next wench, the next bottle of wine.

  He would run through his new fortune, just as he’d squandered the funds he’d inherited from his father. That would take time, of course, even for an inveterate gamester such as Constantine Black.

  The Lazenby estate was vast, bolstered by the spectacular dowry Jane had brought to her marriage. Her family’s money would fund this wastrel’s dissipation, while she was cast out of her home. The utter, galling unfairness of it! If only …

  If only she’d borne an heir, this disaster could have been averted.

  Her throat ached with a sudden rush of sadness. If only Luke were the son of her body as well as the son of her heart.

  Outside, sullen drizzle turned to rain, spattering those barouches and landaus, tapping at her fingertips through the windowpane. Footmen with umbrellas emerged to rescue the mourners inside the stalled vehicles and shepherd them into the house.

  Jane let the curtain fall and closed her eyes. Constantine Black would plunder the legacy that had dropped like a ripe whore into his lap. She’d no power to stop him. None.

  A jolt of awareness made her eyes snap open. Something must have alerted her. Not a sound, for the rain and the thick panes of glass muffled noise from the outside. More an atmosphere. She fingered the gauzy curtain aside and peered out again to see a flurry, a veritable commotion below.

  A man. Yes, a man on a white horse, thundering down the lawn alongside the drive, streaking past all those black beetles like a shooting star through the night.

  She couldn’t see his face, merely gained the impression of broad shoulders, muscular thighs hugging the horse’s flanks, and a daredevil billow and furl to his cloak as it streamed out behind.

  He reined in where the bottleneck of carriages made passage to the shelter of the portico impossible. The big, milk-white stallion stood quiescent, magnificent, as the gentleman dismounted in a graceful slide.

  The newcomer swept off his hat and bowed to the mourners, who were undoubtedly agog but too well-bred to show it. Black curls tousled and damped in the wet breeze.

  He stilled. His big shoulders lifted slightly, as if invisible fingers pinched his nape.

  Then he turned. And looked up. At her.

  Their gazes met, and the distance between them seemed to vanish in a dizzying flash. Somnolent eyes openly stared at her, heavy-lidded, insolent, a touch quizzical.

  Jane’s lips parted. Her heart pounded against her ribs. She had to remind herself to breathe.

  A sudden smile tugged at the corner of his mouth, then grew in a dazzle of white teeth. It seared through the black pall over her soul like a bolt of summer lightning. She felt it down to the soles of her feet, that blinding warmth, that tingling joy. Bit back an answering gleam that seemed drawn from deep within.

  The stranger’s smile faded. His eyes narrowed to an intent, purposeful regard. Jane’s lungs burned as if she breathed smoke, not air. But she kept looking, looking, powerless to wrench her gaze from his.

  Heavens, but she’d never seen such a man before. By rights, vice ought to be ugly in its incarnation, but he … It must be true that the devil looked after his own.

  Constantine Black. The new Lord Roxdale. Who else could it be? A hard flutter struck up in her chest, like the wings of a finch trapped behind glass. She took a hurried step back from the window, let the curtain swing shut.

  Moments throbbed by in silence before Jane collected herself, straightened her spine. She would not cower and blush before that tricked-out scoundrel, with his loose-limbed charm and his careless strength and his swagger. She disapproved of him utterly. He would not beguile her.

  “Aunt Jane, Aunt Jane, Aunt Jane!”

  The series of jubilant yells made her spin around with a betraying flush. A six-year-old boy flew helter-skelter toward her before skidding to a halt.

  “Did you see him?” Luke’s brown eyes shone as he glanced toward the window, then gazed eagerly up into her face. “The most magnificent beast!”

  Jane’s thoughts instantly reverted to the dark-haired gentleman.

  Her color deepened. “Why, I … Oh!” She let out a shaky laugh. Of course! Luke meant the gentleman’s horse, not the man himself. “Yes, darling. I did, indeed. A most handsome creature.”

  Luke dragged a chair to the window and clambered onto it. Pushing the curtain aside, he peered out of the window.

  Jane stayed where she was.

  “I’ve never seen a stallion that color before.” Luke craned his neck, the better to view this prime piece of horseflesh. “What do you think he is, an Arab or Welsh? Maybe he’s too big to be an Arab. He must be seventeen hands, at least!”

  “Why don’t you run down and find out?” she suggested. “I’m sure the gentleman’s groom won’t mind if you go and look. But only looking, mind,” she warned. “That horse is far too large for you to ride.”

  Luke turned to regard her with a speculative gleam in his big brown eyes.

  Jane held out her hand. “Promise?”

  His mouth twisted with reluctance. “Oh, very well.”

  Solemnly, he gripped her hand in his smaller one and pumped her arm in a firm shake. “Word of a gentleman.”

  Using her hand for balance, Luke jumped down from the chair. She thought he’d take himself off then, but he lingered, his shoulders drooping a little.

  “When do we have to leave here, Aunt Jane?”

  Surprised at the abrupt change of subject, Jane hesitated. “Oh, not for a little while yet, I expect.” Lazenby Hall was the only home Luke had known since he’d been brought here as an orphaned babe. The last thing Frederick had wanted was to be saddled wit
h his kinsman’s child, but Jane refused to be gainsaid. From the moment Luke held out his chubby arms to her, Jane had been his slave. She’d do anything to keep him safe.

  “I don’t see why we can’t stay,” he muttered, lowering his gaze so that his long, black lashes shadowed his cheeks. “It’s not as if there isn’t room.”

  “Thirty-seven of them, to be exact,” she agreed lightly. And that was just the bedchambers.

  “Thirty-seven rooms and he can’t spare us a measly two.” Luke kicked at the chair leg with the toe of his leather half-boot.

  Jane touched her fingertips to his cheek. “I know it seems hard, but this is the new baron’s house now. It doesn’t belong to us anymore.”

  “But what will he do here, living all alone? I should think he’d want us to stay, don’t you, to keep him company? Lady Cecily says I’m excellent company, you know.”

  Laughing a little, Jane ruffled his hair. “The new baron would be privileged to have us, in fact,” she agreed. “But I’m afraid we must go, for all that.”

  Jane repressed a sigh. Lazenby Hall had been her home since she married Frederick at seventeen. Now that she had to leave it, she felt adrift, her spirits more depressed than she would ever admit to Luke. The Lazenby estate and the welfare of its people were no longer her responsibility. She was powerless to help them, much as she longed to do so.

  And indeed, she was more fortunate than many women in her situation. Upon her marriage, her guardian, the Duke of Montford, had ensured that her jointure was more than generous. She could live independently if she chose, set up a household of her own.

  Besides, she had Luke, and that was the most important thing.

  She said to him, “Speaking of excellent company, I have a splendid plan, one I think you will like. You and I shall make our home at Harcourt, with the Duke of Montford and Lady Cecily and Lady Rosamund. Won’t that be fun? We’ll show you all our old haunts, and there’ll be other children there to play with, too.”

  His dark brows knitted. “But all my friends are here.”