Scandal at the Dower House Read Online Free Page A

and, as Walter rarely went to London, Nicholas had not known morethan the barest facts. Had she wanted to marry a man so much older? Had the title persuaded her?
    He had never expected to inherit the title. There was a shortage of men in the family so it had been a tenuous relationship : Walter’s grandfather and his own great-grandfather had been brothers. And once Walter married a young wife he would have been expected to sire his own sons. An ancient dispute between his grandfather and Walter’s father had ensured the families were not on more than terms of civility when they met accidentally. They never paid visits, even though their principal houses were but a day’s ride apart.
    Unlike Lady Keith, he had no quarrel with Walter’s will. He was wealthy enough to be able to maintain the estate, even if the revenues from the entailed property proved insufficient. His father and grandfather had both married heiresses who had brought substantial fortunes into the family.
    His thoughts swung to Catarina again. She was a difficult woman to dismiss from his mind. He knew little about her, but his aunt’s strictures on her parentage were, he suspected, spiteful guesses. A younger son, her father had made his own fortune by importing wine. He knew that much, and that her uncle was well-regarded in Bristol where he was influential in the town. If Joanna’s remarks were accurate, their mother was from a good family. Both girls seemed well educated, and ladylike, despite Joanna’s tendency to flirt with his brother.
    He glanced at Jeremy. The boy was handsome, popular amongst his fellow officers, a welcome guest in Society whenever he was on leave, and had an adequate income from what his mother and grandmother had left him. He was, however, too young at four and twenty to contemplate marriage. He himself, six years older, did not yet feel the need to marry and set up his own nursery. There were too many complaisant young matrons bored with their husbands and offering distractions for him to want to lose his freedom just yet.
    When they reached the inn where they planned to spend the night he shrugged off his preoccupations. There he might hear more news about Bonaparte’s escape.
     
    It was a lovely morning in May and Catarina, having admired the spring flowers in the meadows as she walked to the Dower House, and picked some bluebells to brighten up the drawing room, had been talking to the estate carpenter about the final details to the changes she was making there. She had just turned to walk back to the Grange when Sir Humphrey Unwin appeared.
    She sighed. He and Walter had been friends since childhood, had done the Grand Tour together and, when they had both settled down on their estates, been fellow Justices. He rode over almost every day, offering all sorts of advice and help, and looking hurt and woebegone when she refused. He often brought news of what was happening in France, the progress of Bonaparte and the mobilizing of the Allies in Belgium, but he pooh-poohed the idea that it would come to a battle.
    ‘You should not worry, my dear. The French will see sense.’
    She could hardly tell him she was not worried. It all seemed rather far away from her present concerns.
    As she was wondering whether she ought to invite him to take a nuncheon with her, the sound of an approaching carriage made her glance towards the lane.
    A very smart curricle was turning into the driveway to the Grange, which ran past the Dower House. Seeing her, the driver, wearing a many-caped coat, halted his equipage and alighted. Catarina recognized Lord Brooke and her pulse began to beat rapidly. It was the shock of suddenly seeing him, she told herself. Before she could wonder what brought him here he had handed the reins to his tiger and was striding up the path towards her.
    ‘Good morning,’ he said. ‘I’m pleased to have met you, as I have very little time, I have an appointment with my agentsoon. Your servant, Sir Humphrey. Lady