Margo Maguire (28 page)
Authors: Brazen
Windermere Park. Late August 1816
T
his was not a visit Christina looked forward to, but Gavin deserved it. He’d earned every shilling of the prize Windermere had promised him, and she was going to see that he got it. And then they were going to Ashby Hall to meet her sister, whose husband did not want her to travel while she was with child. Christina wanted to meet her before her own pregnancy became too advanced.
Her wedding to Gavin, one week after the anniversary of Edward’s death, had been a quiet one. Only her family, Gavin’s lovely sister, and their closest friends had attended. And Theo, of course. He walked ahead of her now, between her parents as they ascended the steps of the mansion at Windermere Park. They had accepted Christina’s little hero into their circle without question—just as they had Christina. And Gavin.
Gavin took her hand, sensing her nervousness, the way he seemed to sense all her moods. “He’s just an old man with regrets, Christina. At least he’s got them.”
“Unlike your father.”
Gavin shrugged.
Christina knew he thought his father a lost cause, and would never forgive him for abandoning Eleanor. The irony that Eva and Eleanor shared the same plight was not lost on Christina. She did not judge either woman, and had fallen in love with Gavin’s little niece as quickly as she had Theo.
Christina now understood Gavin’s reasons for wanting to buy his farm. He’d wanted to assure Eleanor and Rachel’s security at Weybrook Manor. Which Christina had delayed.
She assuaged her feelings of guilt by putting up the funds to purchase the manor as soon as he told her his intentions. Weybrook was the perfect home for Eleanor and her daughter.
Gavin squeezed her hand. “Don’t worry. The old man is too weak to bite . . .” he said. “Although I might be tempted to sample a morsel later . . .”
Christina felt her cheeks suffuse with heat and knew they’d turned as deep a red as the gown she wore. “You are one wicked man, Captain Briggs.”
“That’s
Baron Dartmoore
to you, my lady.”
Christina laughed as her father turned and called to them. “Come along. There’s no sense in delaying this.”
Lady Sunderland turned and smiled reassuringly at her daughter. She knew how much Christina dreaded this meeting and had insisted on traveling with her daughter to meet the old curmudgeon. Christina learned that the Windermere title would now become dormant, for there was only one possible heir, and he had immigrated to America some years before.
What happened to the title was of no interest to Christina. The last Duke of Windermere had not behaved with honor, and she had already decided she would never call herself his granddaughter. She was Christina Jameson, now Baroness Dartmoore, since Gavin had received not only medals of honor from the crown, but letters patent for saving the life of Lord Wellington at Waterloo, and on at least one other prior occasion.
She was exceedingly proud of her husband.
“There is an old woman in London,” Gavin said, perhaps to distract her from the meeting she was about to face. “She was your nurse at the time of your parents’ deaths.”
“You met this woman?” Christina asked, her brows furrowing with curiosity.
Gavin nodded. “Aye. When I was following leads to locate you and Lily. Miss Thornberry is her name.”
Christina had tried not to think too much about her mother and father, or their drowning deaths. She had not wanted to recall anything she might have felt during those dark days when she and her sister were separated and taken away from their home.
But she felt a little light-headed now. The old nurse could probably tell her and Lily about their parents, about their life in London before . . .
Gavin spoke again. “I know my visit worried her.”
Christina stopped and pulled Gavin to the far side of a pillar on her grandfather’s portico. “And now you’re concerned for her?”
He touched a curly wisp of hair near her ear. “What would it hurt if you were to write her, you and Lily—to reassure her?”
Her heart swelled with love for this man who was so considerate of an old woman he barely knew. “Do you know how very much I love you, Gavin Briggs?”
“If it is half as much as I love you, my lovely wife—then it is enough.”
Christina slid her hands up her husband’s broad shoulders and pulled him down for a kiss. He was not the terrible brute he thought he was, but the kindest, most honorable man she could imagine.
And he was all hers.
Their kiss was brief, considering where they were. “Look, Christina,” Gavin said when they moved apart.
Christina’s heart nearly stopped when she saw what . . .
who
stood at the top of the portico.
A woman who looked exactly like her. Except that her hair was longer, and her midsection was somewhat thicker. Christina put one hand on her own slightly rounded abdomen and returned Lily’s beaming smile, pleased that her sister had come to Windermere instead of waiting for her at Ashby Hall.
“Come on, love. It’s time you met your sister.”
My thanks to my editor, Amanda Bergeron, for her insightful editing of the plot and characters in this novel. Her sharp understanding of the conflicts in this story helped me to make it a better book.
M
ARGO
M
AGUIRE
is the author of nineteen historical romance novels. Formerly a critical care nurse, she worked for many years in a large Detroit trauma center. Margo writes full time and loves to hear from readers. Keep up with news on Margo’s latest books by signing up for her newsletter on her website,
www.margomaguire.com
, and looking her up on Facebook and Twitter.
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Temptation of the Warrior
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The Perfect Seduction
The Bride Hunt
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
BRAZEN
. Copyright © 2011 by Margo Wider. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.
EPub Edition DECEMBER 2011 ISBN: 9780062096456
Print Edition ISBN: 9780062018410
FIRST EDITION
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