Evelyn Richardson Read Online Free

was not only a fair and honorable gentleman but someone whose passion was the improvement of his estate and the implementation of modern agricultural practices. In fact, the only criticism anyone could voice concerning Granville Park or its owner was that it lacked a feminine touch. There had been great rejoicing when it was announced that on a trip to Yorkshire to look after his interests in a joint venture in a canal Lord Granville had met a young lady and decided to make her his wife.
    The prospective bride was the only daughter of the Earl of Hunsford, a personage of enough importance to be known even in rural Somerset, and it was generally accepted that in marrying the only daughter of such an ancient and respected family. Lord Granville was making a most advantageous match. It only remained to see the lady in person to make this marriage the finishing touch to a man already loved and honored by his tenants and his neighbors.
    Lady Catherine had not disappointed expectations. A decade younger than her husband, she was all that was charming, equally friendly and easy with the cottagers and the gentry, but retaining a touch of reserve that gave dignity to her youth and her position.
    And if she was not so fashionable nor so much of an Incomparable as some of the more romantically inclined members of the female population had hoped, she was decidedly pretty, with large, sparkling, hazel eyes, a fresh complexion, and a lively expression that drew everyone to her. Her clothes were like her person, in quiet good taste, becoming rather than a la mode , but obviously of the very best quality.
    In short, the countryside had almost instantly approved, and Lady Catherine Granville had soon become a much beloved fixture in the community, so beloved that when Lord Granville died and a new Lady Granville appeared on the scene, she was not welcomed with any evidence of enthusiasm, despite her outstanding beauty and the decided air of fashion so lacking in Lady Catherine.
    It was this lack of enthusiasm which had prompted the new Lord Granville to move his uncle’s relict to the dower house as quickly as possible, isolating her as best he could from the devoted servants and adoring tenants of Granville Park.
    However, removing a beloved mistress from the immediate vicinity had done nothing to improve the popularity of the new Lady Granville who, with her London airs and graces, had soon alienated even those initially attracted by her fashionable appearance. And the new Lady Granville had only made matters worse by declaring herself utterly bored with the country. She had soon returned lo London, leaving her husband to deal with the rustics of Granville Park as best he could.
    “But you would still welcome the marquess’s niece as a pupil at the academy in spite of her father’s reputation, would you not?” Margaret broke into her friend’s reverie.
    Catherine did not answer. Staring blindly off over the gardens of the houses around them she saw neither the graceful Lombardy poplars in the garden next door, nor the elaborate espalier on the garden wall of the house on the other side; instead she pictured an angular aristocratic face whose gray eyes glinted with ironic amusement and whose lips curled in a mocking smile except when they had smiled at her. Then the eyes had been warmed with the gleam of shared humor and the smile had been a private acknowledgment of the ridiculousness of it all.
    Lucian’s daughter. It was not the reputation of the father that gave her pause. Oh no, it was something far more unnerving than that. It was the thought of his flesh and blood here in her world, the calm, quiet, orderly world she had worked so hard to create for herself after he had disappeared from it. What would happen to that world of hers if she had to see his eyes looking at her every day or watch his smile transforming the face of one of her pupils? What would become of that calm, orderly world then?
     
    Chapter Three
     
    Catherine