Regency Mischief Read Online Free PDF Page B

Manners that I would never tell you anything.’
    Sarah stood up. She moved towards him, laying her hand on his arm. ‘Has life been terrible for you, Henry? I thought of you so often, wished that things had been otherwise. Especially when I heard…’
    ‘That I had gone to the devil?’ A wry smile touched his mouth. ‘I decided that I would never give my heart again and so I married for money, though later I inherited more than I could ever need. My wife hates me and I have no love for her. I care only for my daughter, Marianne. I ask you not to tell me if you discover the truth about the child. Manners never told me whether we had a daughter or a son—’ He put out his hand to silence her as she would have told him. ‘It was for the best. I put the whole thing from my mind and to know now might be to open Pandora’s box. I cannot afford scandal for Marianne’s sake. I have hopes that she will marry into the peerage.’
    ‘I have heard that she is a very beautiful girl,’ Sarah said. ‘I am glad you have someone, Henry.’
    ‘My daughter is both lovely and innocent. If it were not for her, I should have asked my wife for a divorce long ago.’
    ‘Is there someone else you care for?’ Sarah looked at him steadily, without revealing a flicker of emotion.
    ‘You know there was only one woman I loved. If, after Marianne is married, I could arrange a divorce…?’
    ‘No, Henry. It was too long ago, my dear. Once I would have given everything to be with you, but it is too late.’
    ‘We could still be together. We were lovers once. Why not again?’
    ‘Because I was younger then. I am older than you, Henry. It was one of the reasons I refused to leave my husband. I did not wish to ruin your life.’
    ‘How could you have ruined my life? It meant nothing to me without you. Let me take care of you, Sarah—let me make up for the lost years.’
    ‘It is too late. My health is not good, Henry. I have settled for a quiet life in the country. You are still young enough to find a new love. I ask nothing more of you than the address I need.’
    ‘I would ask no more of you than affection.’ For a moment his eyes beseeched her, then, as he saw the answer in her face, his expression became cold, withdrawn. ‘Very well, madam. I shall send you what you need. I do not expect to hear from you again.’
    Sarah sank back into her elegant elbow chair, her hands to her face as the door closed behind him. He was still angry and bitter, blaming her because she had given into her husband’s blackmail.
    If only she had been stronger. How different her life might have been if she had been brave enough to leave her husband and go with Henry, as he had begged her.
    Her marriage to Manners had been a disaster from the start. Her husband had never loved her. He had had a mistress in London and spent all his time with her. Once Sarah had given him his heir, he had not bothered to visit her bed again. Lonely and unhappy, she had turned to a young man who gave her everything she lacked from her husband. Henry had been the most generous of lovers, sweet and giving.
    At the time of their affair he had not yet inherited his uncle’s title and had had little in the way of fortune. He was also three years her junior and on the verge of making his career in the army. Lord Manners hadknown at once that her child was not his. He’d forced her to reveal the name of her lover and then threatened to ruin Henry if she went off with him. She had been forced to break off their affair and to give up her lovechild as soon as she was born. Her daughter had been snatched from her arms only hours after she had given birth, taken from her cruelly by her unforgiving husband. Lord Manners had never told her where the child had been taken; even after his death, he had tried to keep the secret from her.
    He had inserted a clause in his will to make certain that she could not find her daughter. If she made the attempt, she would give up the right to live