An Heir of Uncertainty Read Online Free PDF Page A

were both Vaughans, after all. But it sounded as if this man possessed none of Edward’s sweetness, none of his elfin charm.
    “And there’s more,” Cassie said. “He’s brought his brother with him. His unmarried brother.”
    That made two new adversaries, then, for Lina couldn’t imagine the brother would be any happier about being consigned to obscurity.
    A spark of excitement lit Cassie’s blue eyes. And why shouldn’t she look excited, with an eligible young gentleman arriving in the neighborhood? She was long overdue for a beau , and too pretty not to have one. “He’s about my age, Martha told the dairymaid—‘thin, even handsomer than his brother, but a bit of an odd duck.’ What do you suppose she meant by that last part?”
    “I’ve no idea. Will we have a chance to meet them?”
    “The older brother hasn’t said yet whether they mean to stay until the question of the inheritance is settled or go back to his property in Hampshire, though the feeling below stairs is that they’ll go. The servants are convinced he’s only giving his daughter a short respite before they take to the road again.”
    Well, that was something at least. Lina would breathe easier without the heir presumptive lingering in the vicinity, watching like a vulture from only half a mile away, adding a fervent wish to his prayers every night that her baby would be a girl. She might have crossed paths with him now and then, and she couldn’t imagine anything more awkward than having to make polite conversation with the man whose hopes must run so entirely counter to her own.

Chapter Three
    How little do they see what is, who frame their hasty judgments upon that which seems.
    —Robert Southey
    Later than morning, Lina walked over to Malton to see how the stonemason was getting on with Edward’s monument. It was a melancholy errand, and strictly speaking it wasn’t proper for her to venture out while still in deep mourning, but it eased her mind to view the progress Mr. Monkman had made. She ran her hand over the chiseled inscription. Sacred to the memory of Edward Cuthbert Vaughan, seventh Earl of Radbourne. She’d wanted to add a more personal epitaph, especially after all Edward had done for her, but knowing the local scandalmongers, they’d be sure to twist it into something vulgar.
    She took the shortcut back to the dower house, trekking through the woods to reach the lane, her breath making white puffs in the frosty air. A flock of rooks winged its way across the winter sky, their echoing caws only adding to her sense of loneliness.
    She was halfway through the woods when a disturbance shattered the quiet.
    It was a masculine voice, speaking in a harsh, angry tone. “For God’s sake, have your wits gone begging? You should know better. I can’t imagine anything more heedless.”
    “But—”
    “Don’t ‘but’ me. Not if you know what’s good for you. You’re not a baby anymore, yet did you stop for even one second and think where you were—”
    Lina had heard that disapproving tone too many times before in her life, though rarely in a voice of such furious severity. She peered through the trees and saw a tall man towering over a dark-haired little girl in a blue spencer, railing at the child. The man had his back to her, but tears streaked the child’s face.
    It could only be the cousin from Hampshire— a widower with a young daughter —but any hope of a civil introduction evaporated as Lina’s inner big sister came rushing to the fore. The girl couldn’t be more than five years old. How dare a grown man vent his temper on such a small, frightened child?
    Instinct taking over, Lina charged out of the trees. “That’s quite enough, sir!”
    She must have startled him when she burst out onto the path, for the face he turned to her was blank with astonishment—and ten times more handsome than she’d expected. She had a quick impression of straight brows, roguish eyes and a firm jaw, adding up to such