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About the Author
ANNE HERRIES, winner of the Romantic Novelists’ Association ROMANCE PRIZE 2004, lives in Cambridgeshire. She is fond of watching wildlife and spoils the birds and squirrels that are frequent visitors to her garden. Anne loves to write about the beauty of nature and sometimes puts a little into her books, although they are mostly about love and romance. She writes for her own enjoyment and to give pleasure to her readers.
Previous novels by the same author:
MARRYING CAPTAIN JACK
THE UNKNOWN HEIR
THE HOMELESS HEIRESS
THE RAKE’S REBELLIOUS LADY
A COUNTRY MISS IN HANOVER SQUARE* AN INNOCENT DEBUTANTE IN HANOVER SQUARE* THE MISTRESS OF HANOVER SQUARE* FORBIDDEN LADY~ THE LORD’S FORCED BRIDE~ THE PIRATE’S WILLING CAPTIVE~ HER DARK AND DANGEROUS LORD~
* A Season in Town trilogy ~ The Melford Dynasty
and in the Regency series The Steepwood Scandal:
LORD RAVENSDEN’S MARRIAGE
COUNTERFEIT EARL
and in The Hellfire Mysteries:
AN IMPROPER COMPANION
A WEALTHY WIDOW
A WORTHY GENTLEMAN
Dear Reader,
This year I’ve had the pleasure of writing a Christmas story for you. I very much enjoyed doing this and hope you will enjoy the story of Selina and her sisters, who have been forced to leave their home because of the inheritance laws that existed at the period. Selina has a secret memory she keeps enshrined in her heart; the memory of a dashing young captain who kissed her and then went off to war. When the new earl comes to claim his estate, where Selina has become a temporary tenant, she and he are in for a shock.
Will the Captain Moorcroft of her dreams and the new earl prove to be the same man—or will she discover that her idol was but a dream? Christmas is the time when wishes ought to come true, so perhaps Selina’s dream will be granted.
Happy Christmas to all my readers and thank you for continuing to buy my books. I hope you have as much fun with this one as I did writing it.
Anne Herries
PROLOGUE
Summer 1810, Bath
SELINA Searles, aged sixteen, innocent and on the verge of womanhood, looked around the crowded Assembly Rooms and felt a tingle of excitement. She was a pretty girl, full of life, happy and thrilled to be at her first ball. Her mama had told her that she was too young to be brought out in London society until the following year. However, since they were in Bath, because dear Mama had been laid low with a chill and Selina had volunteered to care for her, she was being allowed a special treat.
‘I shall expect you to behave properly, dearest,’ her mama had told her. ‘This is your first dance, and you must remember the rules of polite society. If a gentleman asks you to dance, you may do so, but before you waltz I must approve your choice. On no account are you to flirt, nor will you leave the ballroom in the company of a gentleman, and you must never, never allow a man to kiss you unless you have accepted a proposal of marriage. You will do no such thing, for you are too young and it is unlikely to happen, but remember the rules, my love, and you will not go far wrong.’
‘Yes, Mama,’ Selina had said and smiled. ‘You’ve told me all this before, and I should not dream of disobeying you.’
Her feet tapping to the music, Selina waited patiently to be asked to dance. She was an exceptionally lovely girl, some might say beautiful, with melting brown eyes and dark hair that curled about her face before being swept up into ringlets that fell on one shoulder, but it was her vivacity, her joy in life that shone out of her, lighting up the room. A girl like that could not go unnoticed for long, and indeed it was not much more than five minutes before she was asked to dance by a gentleman who presented himself as Lord March.
He was a very correct gentleman and held her at precisely the right distance, so that when he asked for a second dance, which was a waltz, her mama immediately granted her permission. Selina hardly had time to catch her breath at the end of the dance before she was besieged with gentlemen asking for dances and every space on her card was filled. Her mama looked on indulgently, as if she had expected this to happen, nodding her permission each time Selina looked at her. Every waltz had been taken, and Selina was soon lost in the excitement and delight of being a raging success.
It was not until about halfway through the evening that she noticed a gentleman dressed in a magnificent scarlet-and-black uniform. Suddenly it was as if a hundred candles had been lit, for his presence seemed to light up the room. Selina noticed that he was immediately the centre of a large group of young men and women, and she could hear their laughter from across the room. The newcomer was the most handsome man in the room—and popular, for it seemed everyone wanted to be near him. After a moment he seemed to become aware of her interest, and their eyes met briefly. She felt a tingle of excitement run through her and could not turn her eyes away, though she knew she ought.
It was as though an invisible bond stretched between them, and her pulses raced as he excused himself to his friends and began to walk towards her. Selina’s mouth was suddenly dry, her heart beating like a drum in her breast. He was coming. He would ask her to dance, but her card was full. What should she do? Her breath caught in her throat as she gazed up into his eyes and felt as though she were drowning.
‘Captain Moorcroft at your service, Princess,’ he said, his dark eyes bold and filled with confidence as he swept her a bow and seized her card, striking out Lord March’s name, which appeared next on her list. ‘March will not deny me, or I’ll challenge him to a duel.’
‘I am not a princess—and you ought not to have done that,’ Selina reproved, but she was laughing because her heart had leaped at the sight of him, and the touch of his hand made her breathless with a strange excitement she had never known. All at once she felt reckless and wildly happy. ‘My name is Selina Searles.’
‘Robert Moorcroft, sweet Miss Selina,’ he said, and the seductive note in his voice wiped all caution from her mind. ‘You are mine, and if any here dispute it, they may call me out for it. My angel …’
With that he took her hand and swept her out on to the dance floor, whirling her round and round until she was breathless and laughing, her mama’s warnings all but forgotten. For the whole of the dance, her feet scarcely seemed to touch the floor, and she wished it could go on for ever, but then the music was ending, and as he led her to the side of the floor, her next partner was there to claim her.
Selina felt a sharp stab of disappointment. Robert Moorcroft stood watching her for a moment and then turned away. She wished with all her heart that she had an empty card and might dance with him all night, but convention would have allowed him no more than three dances at most.
As her dance ended and her partner thanked her, Selina realised that she’d hardly noticed him, lost in a dream. Her eyes had been searching the room for the young captain. Turning away, with the intent of seeking her mama while she waited for her next partner, she felt a touch on her arm and found herself gazing up at Robert Moorcroft once more.
‘I have settled it with Hendricks that this dance is mine,’ he said, and drew her into his arms as the next waltz began.
Selina was too shaken by her storm of feelings to deny him. Waltzing in his arms was a dream, like floating in a blue sky on a summer’s day. She felt herself drifting away on a cloud of pleasure as he whirled her round and round, and she wanted the dance to last for the rest of her life. To feel like this was something that even in her most romantic dreams she had not imagined. She longed for the moment to go on and on endlessly.
When their dance ended, he kept hold of her hand and strode towards the open doors that led onto the terraces, taking her with him.
‘I have made you hot,’ he told her, with a smile that sent her heart fluttering. ‘We shall take a little stroll in the garden until you feel able to dance again.’
Selina knew that she ought to refuse, but she could not find the words. Besides, it was what she wanted above anything. She had never felt like this in her life, and something told her that she must seize the moment or it might not come again.
Outside, he led her away from the lights of the ballroom to a secluded spot by some rose bushes, the deep, intoxicating smell of which she knew would remain with her for the rest of her life.
‘You are so beautiful that you make me want to weep,’ he whispered softly against her ear. ‘I have never seen a woman as lovely as you, my angel—my Selina. I adore you. You have captured my heart.’
‘Oh …’ Selina was lost. This was flirting, and her mama had told her she must not flirt with gentlemen—but he was the one flirting. She had done nothing but give herself up to the delight of dancing with him. ‘You … you should not …’
Before she could say more, he lowered his head, one hand about her waist as he pulled her in close. She could feel the pressure of his hand in the small of her back and the hardness of his strong body. His mouth was cool and soft on hers, the pressure light at first but increasing as her own lips opened in response. His tongue entered, touching hers lightly in a way that sent little spirals of pleasure skittering down her spine.
‘What should I not?’ he whispered as his kiss ended, and he pressed his lips against her throat.
Selina trembled. Such sensation coursed through her entire being. The response of her body to his was sweeping away all thought, all sense of what was right or wrong. How could this feeling be wrong when it was so glorious?
It was the best thing that had ever happened to her—and the worst. For she sensed that if she were not careful. her reputation might be lost, and yet she was caught by the moonlight and the moment, incapable of repulsing him.
‘Should I not kiss you, or …?’ His hand was at her breast, fondling her through the thin silk, and then he had pushed down the neck of her gown. His lips closed over her breast, sucking delicately at her nipple.
It was so shocking that she was stunned, and yet a ripple of desire shot through her and she moaned. For a moment she was delirious with pleasure, but then she remembered her mother’s warning and broke away, tugging her gown into place. What had she done? To allow such a liberty was to forget that she was a lady—but in his arms she could happily forget the world.
‘You forget yourself, sir. I am but sixteen and … and we should not be here.’ As she turned away, he caught her wrist, turning her back to face him. ‘Please, let me go,’ she begged. ‘You will ruin me, sir.’ All of a sudden she was shivering and afraid of what she’d done.
‘I shall return for you,’ he vowed, and for a moment his eyes burned with a silver light in the darkness. ‘Never forget me, Selina Searles. I have put my brand on you. I adore you and one day I shall claim you. You will be mine. Wait for me …’
‘You must not say such things, for you do not mean them!’ she cried and, tearing herself from his grasp, fled back to the lights of the ballroom, not stopping until she was in the ladies’ restroom, where she splashed her cheeks with cold water and tidied her gown.
He had not meant the things he’d said to her. Of course he had not—because she’d tasted the brandy on his tongue. He was undoubtedly drunk, and in the morning he would have forgotten the things he’d said and done—but she would not forget.
Selina knew that in one respect he had spoken the truth. Captain Robert Moorcroft had put his mark on her, and she would never, ever be the same again.
CHAPTER ONE
Late autumn 1817, Bedfordshire
‘WHAT are we going to do, Selina?’ Amy Searles looked at her elder sister fearfully. ‘How shall we manage now that Mama …’ She choked back her tears as her sister shook her head. ‘It was hard enough when we had Mama’s jointure, but now …’
‘Please do not remind me,’ Selina begged. Her face was tight with grief. Their mama’s rapid decline and sudden death had happened no more than six months after their father had shot himself, having gambled away his fortune at the tables. ‘Something needed to be done even if Mama …’ She swallowed hard because the tears were so very close.
Only two days had passed since they’d buried their beloved mother, and the girls had been left to care for their younger sister, Millicent, who was just twelve years of age. ‘We have her jewels. We could sell those, I suppose, or some of the silver—but that will not solve the problem of where we shall live. Cousin Joshua owns the house now. It only remained Mama’s home while she lived.’
‘We both have a little money that Grandmama Robinson left us,’ Amy said. ‘Is it enough to purchase a house, do you think?’
‘One hundred pounds might buy us a small cottage, but if we spent that we should have nothing left to live on.’ Selina bit her lower lip. ‘We might be able to rent a cottage somewhere.’
‘What about your season? You were to find a rich husband so that we did not need to worry about money.’
‘Had Mama not been taken ill, we should have all gone to London next spring, and you would have been sure to find a husband, but …’ Selina sighed. ‘You know what happened. There is no point in weeping over it, Amy. All thought of a season must be forgotten now. We shall just have to look for somewhere else to live. One of us must care for Millie, and the other … should look for work as a companion or something of the sort.’
‘Oh, Selina … no,’ Amy protested. ‘Look at us. Who would employ either of us as a governess?’
‘I said as a companion. There must be plenty of ladies who need a pretty, intelligent girl as a companion—I would employ you had I the money, dearest.’
‘You mean some crotchety old dear who wants me to run after her all day?’ Amy looked mutinous. ‘I couldn’t bear it, Selina. No, you must marry a rich man and rescue our fortunes. You are so beautiful it must be easy for you.’
‘Do you feel it fair to marry someone entirely for the sake of money? Should one not at least feel some sort of affection for one’s husband?’
‘Well, yes, if one could choose,’ Amy said practically. ‘But what else can we do—short of selling ourselves off as slaves?’ She hesitated, then, ‘You wouldn’t consider marrying Cousin Joshua, I suppose?’
Selina shuddered. ‘I would rather hire myself out as a scullery maid,’ she said. ‘I would marry if I could find someone I could live with—but Cousin Joshua? Would you wish to live with him, Amy?’
‘No!’ Amy made a wry face. ‘He might let us stop here for a while if you were nice to him, Selina. He likes you.’
‘He is angry with me at the moment because I refused his offer of marriage. It is unfortunate that he is our only relative on Father’s side. The elder of Papa’s brothers, Sebastian, and his son, Simon, were drowned ten years ago. I believe they might have allowed us to stay here, for Uncle Sebastian was always kind to us, but Cousin Joshua is different. Mama had only her aunt Mabel, who died two years ago, as you know. She left Mama what she had but it was very little—just that pearl necklace and a thousand pounds, which is what has paid for our clothes this past two years—yours, mine, Mama’s, Millie’s and the servants’. I daresay there isn’t above two hundred pounds left in Mama’s account.’
‘Well, we shall soon know.’ Amy glanced at the beautiful mantel clock. ‘Mr Breck will be here in an hour, and he will tell us how much we have to live on now that Mama …’
Once again Amy almost dissolved into tears.
‘If we have to sell some things, that mantel clock should be worth several guineas—enough to keep us for six months, I daresay,’ Selina said thoughtfully.
‘You cannot sell that, Selina.’ Amy was shocked. ‘It was one of Mama’s favourite things. Her father gave it to her for her last birthday before he died.’
‘I know that.’ Selina sighed. ‘I want to keep all Mama’s things when we move, but if we do not have enough to live on …’ Her words died away as she heard the sounds of a carriage drawing up outside.
Amy went to the window of their small parlour, then turned to look at her. ‘It’s Cousin Joshua.’
‘Oh, no, why did he have to come today? Surely he cannot be so impatient to move in? He has a perfectly good house of his own.’
‘Which is why he may sell this one.’
‘Yes, I know. He did speak of it.’ Selina drew her shoulders back as the parlour door opened and the housekeeper announced the arrival of their visitor. ‘Good morning, cousin. How pleasant to see you. Will you not come to the fire? I am sure it is cold out.’
‘Thank you, Selina.’ Her cousin nodded and moved to the fire to warm his hands. ‘I knew you were expecting your father’s lawyer this morning. I have some news for you myself, but I shall wait until the lawyer has had his say.’ He paused to clear his throat. ‘You must not expect good news, cousin. Sir Richard had little left but this house and a few fields, which I understand bear a mortgage. Since the house and what remains of the estate are entailed, I fear they come to me, which means I must provide for you in some way.’
‘You are very kind, cousin,’ Selina said stiffly. ‘But Mama had a little money of her own, and I hope it will not be necessary for us to become a burden on your purse.’
He had the grace to look awkward as he said, ‘I know you girls are of an independent mind, but I’m not short of a bob or two—neither am I insensitive to your grief. I should certainly not ask you to move out of this house for at least a month—and even then you know you may all have a home with me.’
‘But that means we must leave before Christmas!’ Selina exclaimed, and then turned away before she could lose her temper.
‘You are so very kind,’ Amy said, because Selina was still turned away, her hands clenching at her sides as she struggled against her emotions. ‘But truly Selina speaks for us all—we shall be independent if we can.’
‘If you can, of course,’ he agreed, much mollified by Amy’s sweet smile. ‘I am not made of stone, Miss Amy. I could not see my cousins starve or be deprived of all their precious things. I know some of the furnishings belonged to your mama, and I’ve already told him he will have to furnish part of the house himself.’
Selina turned, her eyes wide and startled. ‘Whom do you mean? Have you already let the house to a tenant? It is only a few weeks until Christmas. I did not think you would expect us to move so soon, cousin.’
‘Well, I shouldn’t, of course—except that I think you would all do better staying with me for the festivities. This house is expensive to keep up, you know. Your mama could scarcely afford it these past few months, and some of the necessary repairs have not been done.’ There was a hint of reproach in his voice. ‘I did offer to do them for her, but she said she would not trouble me and intended to see to them herself—though we both knew she could not afford the iniquitous prices these builders charge. Ladies will have their way, but now that the house has passed to me, I shall, of course, be sending someone to do the repairs quite soon.’
Selina looked at her sister. Neither said anything, but they both knew that this was their cousin’s way of making it impossible for them to stay in the house, despite his earlier claim that they could remain for at least another month. Selina was about to reply when the housekeeper announced the arrival of their family lawyer. He was early, but being a punctilious man had no doubt set out early lest the roads were bad.
‘Well, at least we shall know the truth now,’ Selina said, but her heart sank as the lawyer was announced, and she saw from his face that the news was far from good.
‘Good morning, Mr Breck,’ she said, and went forward to meet him with outstretched hands. No matter how heavy her heart, she would not forget her good manners. ‘It was so very kind of you to come out on such a cold day, sir.’
‘It is cold for the time of year, though we have less than two months until Christmas, Miss Searles. I must tell you at once that I have been looking into your dear mama’s affairs, and the outlook is not good—but I think I may have solved one of your problems at least temporarily.’
‘Oh … I think you must tell us what you mean,’ Selina said. ‘Please, come and sit by the fire, sir. You have been a good friend to Mama, and we shall not stand on ceremony, even if you are the bearer of bad news.’
Mr Breck flicked out his coattails and sat on a substantial chair close to the hearth. He had chosen their late father’s chair, and the sight of a man sitting there brought a lump to the girls’ throats, but neither of them said a word. They were breathless, their eyes betraying their fear as they waited.
‘As you know, your father had secured the house to your mother for her lifetime, but he was never able to break the entail, which would have cost him too much of his slender capital. That part of the estate which was entailed bears a mortgage, and all the land your father owned personally was sold before his death to pay his debts.’
‘Yes, sir. You told Mama when Papa died,’ Selina said. ‘But Mama’s jointure was safe, and we think she had a little money of her own—is that not so?’
‘Yes, she did have a little of her own, and she was left a thousand pounds by her aunt, but most of that has been spent. The dear lady honoured me with the care of her slender funds, as you know, and I did manage to invest a small amount, which will bring you in two hundred pounds a year, but besides that you have only seventy-five pounds in capital …’
Selina gave a little gasp. ‘So little …’ She swallowed hard as she saw her sister’s stricken expression. ‘We had hoped it might be two hundred pounds or so.’
‘Your dear mama spent quite a bit on clothes and the things she wanted to give you and your sisters. Of course all her furniture and jewels belong to you, and I daresay they may fetch a thousand or two—if you care to sell them.’
‘We may have to if we are to find ourselves a new home,’ Selina said, and glanced at her cousin, who had the grace to look ashamed. ‘We are determined to be independent of Cousin Joshua, even though he has kindly offered us a home in his house.’