The Bridal Quest Read Online Free PDF Page B

childhood, of course. I was the eldest, and then there was my brother, who, of course, grew up to be the duke. He was Rochford's grandfather. After him was our sister Mary, and finally, the youngest, Pansy. Pansy married Lord Radbourne. Gladius, his name was. Damned silly name. His mother chose it, and a more foolish woman never lived. But that's neither here nor there. The problem is Pansy's grandson, Gideon. Lord Cecil's son."
    "Oh." Francesca recognized the name. "Lord Radbourne."
    Lady Odelia nodded. "Aye, you understand me now, I warrant. You'll have heard the gossip."
    "Well ..." Francesca demurred.
    "No point trying to deny it. It was all over the
ton
the last few months."
    Francesca nodded. "Of course."
    Lady Odelia was right. Francesca—along with all the
ton
and, indeed, much of the rest of London—had heard the gossip. Many years ago, when he was only a lad of four, Gideon Bankes, the heir to the Radbourne title and estate, had been kidnapped, along with his mother. Neither the boy nor his mother was ever seen again. Then, years after he had been long-presumed dead, Gideon Bankes had reappeared.
    His reappearance, and his inheritance of the title and estate of the Earl of Radbourne, had been the talk of the town for several weeks. Everyone Francesca knew had had an opinion on the matter—what the suddenly reclaimed heir was like, where he had been all these years and whether he was, in actuality, an imposter. There had been more questions than there were facts, for few people had actually met the new earl, and very few of those had offered any gossip.
    Francesca looked again at the duke. She had seen him here and there, at various parties, over the past few months, but never had he said a word about the recovery of the lost heir. Indeed, she had not even realized that Rochford was in any way connected to the Bankes family. This fact only served to confirm her opinion that the Duke of Rochford was the most tight-lipped gentleman she knew. It was, she thought with a little flash of irritation, quite typical of the man.
    "I am sure that what you have heard is mostly wrong," Lady Odelia remarked. "I might as well tell you the whole of it."
    "Oh, no, I am sure that is not necessary," Francesca began, torn between curiosity and the strong desire to get Lady Odelia out of her house.
    "Nonsense. You need to hear the truth of it."
    "You may as well let her tell it," Rochford advised Francesca. "You know it will be easier."
    "Don't be impertinent, Sinclair," his great-aunt admonished him.
    Francesca noted somewhat sourly that Rochford, of course, did not seem at all in awe of the intimidating woman.
    "Now," Lady Odelia went on, "I am sure you don't remember it, as you were just a child then yourself, but my nephew Cecil's wife and son were abducted twenty-seven years ago. Frightful business. They received a letter demanding a ransom—a necklace of rubies and diamonds, dreadfully ugly thing, but worth a fortune, of course. It had been in the family for generations. Legend said it was given to them by a grateful Queen Elizabeth when she came to the throne. Cecil gave them what they asked for, but they did not give him back his wife and child. We all assumed both had been killed. Cecil was grief-stricken, but he held out hope that they would somehow, someday, return. Years went by before he remarried. Of course, when he did, he had to go through legal proceedings to have Selene—that was the first countess—declared dead. She had been missing for almost twenty years by then. But still, he did nothing about the boy. I presume he could not bring himself to admit that his child was dead."
    She shrugged and went on. "But then, a year ago, when Cecil himself died, something had to be done. If Gideon was still alive somewhere, then he would be the heir. However, Cecil's second wife, Teresa, had given him a son, so if Gideon was dead, then Timothy would be the heir. Before we started legal proceedings, I set Rochford to see if he