squeak.
“I’m on my way to visit Major St. John Crabtree, as it happens.”
“But how dare you stop at Hawksley and skulk about the private rooms?”
“I’m really not sure that I have to answer all these questions. Don’t you have any of the social graces, Lady Eleanor? It’s more usual, isn’t it, to make small talk about the weather or some book of poetry?”
“When first introduced to another guest, I suppose it is. But not when one’s first meeting was intimate enough to bring up a subject like blackmail.”
“As I remember,” he said perfectly seriously, “our intimacy had very little to do with that.”
Eleanor knew that her cheeks were flaming. “If you were a gentleman, sir, you would never refer to your despicable behavior at the Three Feathers. I assure you that I have forgotten it.”
Laughter danced in his eyes. “Surely not, brown hen? I pride myself that my kisses are extremely memorable. Should I do it again, do you think, in order to refresh your memory?”
He reached out one hand to gently stroke her cheek.
“You have no shame at all, have you? How can you speak so to me when you have been writing to Lady Diana? If her fortune is your goal here, then I give you notice right now that I shall do everything in my power to put a spoke in your wheel.”
“Ah,” he said. “Hawksley. Quite a dowry for such a rattlebrain as Diana.”
“You will never get it. I shall tell her of your behavior to me.”
“Now that I would rather you didn’t do. She is dreadfully fond of me, you know, and would be shocked to think I could behave with so little probity.”
“I imagine you care nothing for her feelings, or anyone else’s. Hawksley Park is your only aim.”
“It would be dishonest if I claimed not to love Hawksley, but I don’t begrudge it. And I have no intention whatsoever of stealing it from Diana. How could I?”
“By marrying her, of course. No wonder she won’t tell Lady Augusta about your attentions! You wouldn’t dare ask proper permission to address her only daughter, would you? What do you intend to do? Elope to Gretna Green with the heiress?”
His smile was full of delight. At my expense, thought Eleanor, almost blind with fury.
“Who exactly do you think I am, Lady Eleanor?” he asked seriously.
“I must suppose you are a certain Mr. Downe,” Eleanor said. “Diana told me about you. You have been acting toward her with a complete lack of honor.”
“Have I?” he said. “How very odd! As a matter of fact, I am not poor Walter, who is actually the Honorable Mr. Downe, I am—”
“Lee!” Lady Diana Hart squealed, hurtling into the room and straight into the man’s chest.
Her golden hair was bright against his dark coat as she crushed him in her arms. Eleanor had to annihilate the humiliatingly ungenerous feelings that rose in her breast.
“I’ve just been hearing that you’re a paragon of feminine rectitude, Di,” he said, hugging her, then holding her at arm’s length to plant a kiss on her forehead. “Firstly from your humble faithful knight, the Honorable Walter Feveril Downe, and now from your furious friend. Then the minute you see me you act like a fishwife. What would Lady Augusta think?”
“That you’re a bad influence, but then she’s thought that for years. Why is Eleanor furious?”
“She thought that I was the suitor, come to steal away the heiress.”
“Oh, Eleanor, you didn’t?” Diana laughed. “How could you be such an idiot? This is my half-brother, Leander Campbell, and next to Walter I love him more than anyone in the world.”
Chapter 3
“Your half-brother?”
“Pray, don’t gape, Lady Eleanor,” he said with the smallest of winks. “Alas, it’s true. Such accidents happen in even the best of families.”
He walked across to the shadowed portrait that hung in pride of place above the fireplace. Eleanor had paid it no attention until this moment. But Leander Campbell lit a brace of candles and
“I’m on my way to visit Major St. John Crabtree, as it happens.”
“But how dare you stop at Hawksley and skulk about the private rooms?”
“I’m really not sure that I have to answer all these questions. Don’t you have any of the social graces, Lady Eleanor? It’s more usual, isn’t it, to make small talk about the weather or some book of poetry?”
“When first introduced to another guest, I suppose it is. But not when one’s first meeting was intimate enough to bring up a subject like blackmail.”
“As I remember,” he said perfectly seriously, “our intimacy had very little to do with that.”
Eleanor knew that her cheeks were flaming. “If you were a gentleman, sir, you would never refer to your despicable behavior at the Three Feathers. I assure you that I have forgotten it.”
Laughter danced in his eyes. “Surely not, brown hen? I pride myself that my kisses are extremely memorable. Should I do it again, do you think, in order to refresh your memory?”
He reached out one hand to gently stroke her cheek.
“You have no shame at all, have you? How can you speak so to me when you have been writing to Lady Diana? If her fortune is your goal here, then I give you notice right now that I shall do everything in my power to put a spoke in your wheel.”
“Ah,” he said. “Hawksley. Quite a dowry for such a rattlebrain as Diana.”
“You will never get it. I shall tell her of your behavior to me.”
“Now that I would rather you didn’t do. She is dreadfully fond of me, you know, and would be shocked to think I could behave with so little probity.”
“I imagine you care nothing for her feelings, or anyone else’s. Hawksley Park is your only aim.”
“It would be dishonest if I claimed not to love Hawksley, but I don’t begrudge it. And I have no intention whatsoever of stealing it from Diana. How could I?”
“By marrying her, of course. No wonder she won’t tell Lady Augusta about your attentions! You wouldn’t dare ask proper permission to address her only daughter, would you? What do you intend to do? Elope to Gretna Green with the heiress?”
His smile was full of delight. At my expense, thought Eleanor, almost blind with fury.
“Who exactly do you think I am, Lady Eleanor?” he asked seriously.
“I must suppose you are a certain Mr. Downe,” Eleanor said. “Diana told me about you. You have been acting toward her with a complete lack of honor.”
“Have I?” he said. “How very odd! As a matter of fact, I am not poor Walter, who is actually the Honorable Mr. Downe, I am—”
“Lee!” Lady Diana Hart squealed, hurtling into the room and straight into the man’s chest.
Her golden hair was bright against his dark coat as she crushed him in her arms. Eleanor had to annihilate the humiliatingly ungenerous feelings that rose in her breast.
“I’ve just been hearing that you’re a paragon of feminine rectitude, Di,” he said, hugging her, then holding her at arm’s length to plant a kiss on her forehead. “Firstly from your humble faithful knight, the Honorable Walter Feveril Downe, and now from your furious friend. Then the minute you see me you act like a fishwife. What would Lady Augusta think?”
“That you’re a bad influence, but then she’s thought that for years. Why is Eleanor furious?”
“She thought that I was the suitor, come to steal away the heiress.”
“Oh, Eleanor, you didn’t?” Diana laughed. “How could you be such an idiot? This is my half-brother, Leander Campbell, and next to Walter I love him more than anyone in the world.”
Chapter 3
“Your half-brother?”
“Pray, don’t gape, Lady Eleanor,” he said with the smallest of winks. “Alas, it’s true. Such accidents happen in even the best of families.”
He walked across to the shadowed portrait that hung in pride of place above the fireplace. Eleanor had paid it no attention until this moment. But Leander Campbell lit a brace of candles and
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