She saw it from a distance sitting like a grand old lady surrounded by beautiful parkland, timeless, gracious and brooding, its elegant beauty expressing power and pride. When the carriage drew to a halt in front of the house, scarlet and gold-liveried footmen appeared and...
‘Richard? Oh well, I suppose we had to meet some time. I pray there is no trouble. Please don’t let him provoke you, Guy.’ ‘The only thing that galls me is the wound to my pride if I have to step aside.’ She shot him an irate glance. ‘You cared little for his pride when I was promised to him. How...
It was from an associate informing him of matters at Court and other matters that might be of interest to him. The messenger was known to William and, closeted in the privacy of the library, they talked well into the night. The following morning he brusquely announced to his mother that he was le...
The horses were frisky and eager to exercise their legs in a gallop after their confinement on board ship. The third horse carrying the gold, it was hoped, would provide a mount for Katherine and her son, if the Frenchman, Claude Gameau, kept his word and released her on payment of the ransom. &n...
With windows on two sides, the room was filled with light. When she entered she took a deep breath, surprised that the air in Gwen’s sanctum was still thick with the familiar spicy odours of herbs and roots and fungi. Peering around, she half-expected to find her stepmother pounding away with her...
At the entrance to the great hall, she halted, suddenly aware of the pounding of her heart. When her eyes focused on Captain Fitzgerald standing near the door, staring out on to the veranda, everyone else faded into the background. An odd, melting sensation came over her, a sensation that somehow...
His visage was grim. He was worried. He was also furious. The thought of her wandering unprotected at the height of the storm beyond the sheltering walls of the Grange turned his blood cold. Shrugging into his cloak and clamping a hat on his head, he went to the stable to saddle his horse and was...
Generally, the reactions came from those neighbours near at hand who could not believe that the illustrious master of Stonegrave Hall had taken Betty Lewis’s daughter under his wing, and her just a slip of a girl. It was indecent, some said, a young girl alone in the house with a relative strange...
There was a self-assurance about him which was unmarred by arrogance. It inspired her confidence and she relented. ‘You have my word that I shall not speak of what I overheard. I have my own reasons for remaining silent.’ He nodded, satisfied. ‘That is all that I shall say...
At the outset, Julius had said he did not care to surround the ceremony with any pomp. This suited Beatrice perfectly, for she did not want to attract further attention to herself. She was numb to the world about her as she stepped through the high, main portal of St George’s Church in Hanover Sq...
The information she was given by one fisherman was unexpected. It would seem there was only one man who could help her—Tobias Searle. Rowena felt her hopes rise. It would seem the whole of Cornwall had heard of the exploits of Tobias Searle. By all accounts he was the scourge of every pirate and ...