The Dowager Countess (The Saga of Wolfbridge Manor Book 2) Read online

  “Oh Daniel,” said Adalyn, her eyes stinging with tears for him.

  “We argued, of course. I presented her with the evidence of her embezzlement. I called it that, right to her face. She screamed at me and grabbed a walking stick, pushing me backward toward the door, beating me with it as I tried to defend myself.”

  “Dear God.”

  “I ended up outside the house at the top of the marble staircase. It’s a tall one, there are many steps, since the foyer is actually above the ground floor.”

  “I understand. Not a good place to fight off a woman with a walking cane who wants to hurt you.”

  “So true, love. So true. I swear I did not lay a hand on her, Adalyn. All I did was hold up my arm in an attempt to ward off her blows.” He stopped.

  “Tell me, love. Tell me what happened?”

  “She lost her balance. Slipped on the damp marble. She fell, Adalyn. She fell from top to bottom of those stairs and she screamed all the way down.” He all but sobbed. “I still hear that sound in my nightmares.”

  Adalyn moved then, putting her arms around him and holding him close. “Finish the tale, Daniel? Please?”

  He nodded. “She landed in a heap, broken, bleeding. My father finally appeared, drunk as could be, looked at her and then looked at me. ‘Killed another one, have you?’ he said. Those were his exact words.”

  Adalyn was speechless.

  “She was not dead, though, and the butler—who was bright enough to keep his wits about him, sent for the physician. She had a broken arm, but the worst damage was to her head. She suffered some kind of terrible injury to her brain.”

  Adalyn squeezed her eyes closed against the visions battering her eyelids.

  “She has lain semi-conscious ever since, slurring a few words now and again, but unable to care for herself. Once that information was revealed to my father—that she’d never be a wife to him again—he threw me out of his house forever. Banned me from Nordean. Renounced me, declaring he had no son.”

  “And you left?” she asked gently.

  “Yes. I walked away and I never saw him again.”

  “Will you go back, do you think? Try to make amends with him?”

  He was silent for a few long moments. “He died last month.”

  “Daniel, oh God, Daniel.” She was over him, holding him, kissing him as he said those final words.

  “I have you, Adalyn. You are my life now. That past, those people…sometimes it’s as if it was a nightmare from which I have now awoken.” He kissed her back. “But I wanted you to know the worst of it, since it has changed my situation.”

  She released him, and lay back down beside him, her mind whirring. “You are now the owner of Nordean.”

  “Yes.”

  “Mr Dawson?”

  “Once a year we exchanged brief notes, never telling a soul. He is the one who told me that my father had passed away.”

  “What shall you do now, love?” Adalyn asked. “What lies ahead and how can I help?”

  “I’m not sure of the first, but for the second? Just love me, Adalyn.”

  “I already do, Daniel. More than you’ll ever know.”

  *~~*~~*

  The late autumn sun hadn’t made much of an appearance over Kilham Abbey, a sturdy, unimaginative assemblage of bricks and mortar, and what little sun there was didn’t improve the facade. It was sometimes regarded as the district’s eyesore, even though the property itself was the source of income for more than a few of the surrounding villages and farms.

  The former Earl of Kilham had tried his best to add a touch or two of whimsical interest, but on the whole, his efforts had gone unnoticed. After his first wife died, leaving him with a young son, the Earl’s focus was on raising—and spoiling—his child, not maintaining the Abbey.

  The Dower House, situated at least ten miles from the Abbey itself, had been completely neglected once the late Earl’s mama passed away. A small allowance was budgeted for its sole occupant, a Mrs Ashe, whose chequered life had included a period of residence at Kilham as mistress to the late Earl. Other than her, the house had lain dormant, untended and showing signs of rotting away.

  Until this day.

  A small cart pulled up to the front door and the driver jumped from the seat to rap smartly on the peeling door, his greatcoat and hat marking him as a person of some importance.

  “Open up,” he shouted, rapping again with the end of his whip.

  At last it creaked open and a woman’s face appeared. “’Ooo are yer an’ what yer want?”

  “I’m the Earl of Kilham, woman, and I want you to open the damned door.”

  “Yer don’t look like ‘im. Too young.”

  With a breath of anger, the man glared at her. “I am the new Earl. My father has passed away, and I now own this building along with everything else at Kilham Abbey. If you want to continue to reside here, best open this door right this minute.”

  Grumbling, the woman did so, and the young Earl turned back to the cart. “Well?” He shot a glance at the other occupant. “What are you waiting for? Get down and bring your bag with you. I haven’t got all day.”

  Thus addressed, a slender woman clambered down from the cart and dragged her portmanteau from behind the seat. She struggled, since it contained all her worldly goods, including a couple of books. But she managed to get a firm grip on the handle and worked it free of the cart, letting it drop to the ground. She glanced up, but all she received was a frown.

  It took some moments, but she finally arrived on the front doorstep, dragging the case behind her, and with a sarcastic curl to her lips. “Thank you for your help, Ernest.”

  He narrowed his eyes. “You will address me as Your Grace.”

  She straightened. “I am your stepmother. I shall address you by name. And in case you’d forgotten, you are an Earl not a Duke. The correct appellation for those outside the family is my Lord.”

  He sneered at her. “Since you’re now outside the family, a mere penniless Dowager—which is the same as being a nobody—you had best remember your own words.”

  “What’s this then? She livin’ ‘ere?” Mrs Ashe frowned. “Ho no. I don’t want none ‘o that.”

  “What you want, woman, is of no matter. What I say is what will be done. This…this woman will now reside here, in the Dower House, as is proper for the widow of the late Earl.”

  “You seen the state o’ this place?” Mrs Ashe opened the door wider. It was dark, smelled of damp and there were noticeable cobwebs dangling from a few beams.

  “I couldn’t care less,” said the Earl. “She matters not one whit. As a matter of fact, neither do you.” He turned away and walked back down to the cart. “From this moment on, both of you have ceased to exist as far as I’m concerned. I shall not visit, nor answer any messages you might think to send. To the Kilham estate, along with the residents of Kilham Abbey, you are nobody. Live or die. I don’t care.”

  He mounted the driver’s bench once more and gathered the reins in his hand. “I never liked you,” he said to the Dowager Countess. “My father married beneath him; pickings from the gutter. I hated his taking you for a wife because I know you trapped him into marriage, and I hated that you changed everything. You took him away from me. If you thought you’d get the Kilham money and estate when he died, you underestimated me. He left you without a penny. You’re nothing now. And nothing you’ll stay for the rest of your life. Which I trust will be a short one.”

  He clicked up the horse and drove away, disappearing down the lane that led back to the Abbey, leaving two women watching as he left.

  “Man-milliner.” The old woman spat after him. “Dunno ‘ow ‘is father sired ‘im.” She shot a look at the young woman standing in the doorway. “Ain’t got much. Yer goin’ ter find it rough, and I ain’t callin’ yer my Lady. Yer ain’t fancy no more an’ yer better get used ter it.”

  Dragging all she owned behind her, Lady Gwyneth, Dowager Countess of Kilham, stepped into the dark an
d murky shadows of her new home, wondering if this was, in fact, where she would die.

  Chapter Two

  Adalyn looked up at the brilliant blue sky as she walked back to Wolfbridge Manor from Mrs Barnsley’s cottage. Her wedding was scarcely a week away, the Christmas celebrations would come right after that—and then she and her new husband would leave Wolfbridge for their new home.

  “Isn’t a beautiful morning?” Giles fell into step beside her.

  “I couldn’t ask for better,” she smiled, tucking her arm into his.

  “You are content, my Lady?”

  She chuckled at the question and the formality. He was, and always would be, her dear Giles. He would give her to her husband at her wedding. And yet, still he persisted in referring to her as my Lady. Except when he was concerned enough to forget her title.

  “I never imagined I would be this happy, Giles. And it’s all thanks to you.”

  He shook his head. “We make our own happiness. I did my duty to Wolfbridge, and you found your heart here. I think we are both well pleased with the outcome.”

  “I cannot argue with you on that point,” she agreed. “You do know that leaving is going to be very hard for us, Giles. Daniel and I have such strongly rooted attachments here. To the people of Wolfbridge, to you, to Jeremy, Evan and Trick…and to the Manor itself.”

  He gazed ahead, looking at the manor house as she spoke. “It does that, doesn’t it? A silent but inevitable lure.” He turned to her. “You and Daniel. You are decided then? You will go north?”

  She nodded. “We have little choice. Now that Daniel has come into his inheritance—and that was by default, as you know.”

  “When you’re the only heir left, there is no other legal way to resolve the estate. I understand.” He shrugged. “I’m happy for you both that you will have a home to make your own.” He paused. “But there is still the matter of his stepmother…”

  “I’m very aware of that.” Adalyn sighed. “Living with permanent invalid isn’t something I’d imagined facing, to be honest. But we’ll know more once we get there. Daniel tells me he’s been in communication with people he knows at Nordean Swale. One is his stepmother’s doctor.”

  “That must be useful?”

  “It is. At least I think it is. Mrs Fitzroy did suffer extensive damage to her skull and her brain. She possesses some awareness of her surroundings, but is bedridden for the most part. She cannot speak well; just enough to communicate if she is in pain. She has a nurse, and the doctor checks on her regularly…more often if she displays any concerning symptoms.”

  Giles touched the hand tucked around his arm. “Not an easy situation. But I’m confident that with your care and Daniel’s administration of Nordean Swale, the two of you will be able to cope with it.”

  “I hope so.” She took a breath. “We’re going to look at the trip from here to Nordean as our honeymoon.”

  “An excellent notion, my dear. Both you and Daniel are bound to enjoy a few days alone together, I’m sure.”

  She shot him a quick grin. “We’ll make the best use of our time. We’d better, because once we arrive, I have a feeling there’ll be many tasks ahead of us.”

  “My Lady, you have the courage and the heart to take on and conquer all such challenges. And with Daniel at your side…well, I wager you both will be invincible.”

  “I hope you’re right,” she said…then stopped walking as a carriage she didn’t recognise pulled up to the front of Wolfbridge Manor.

  She did, however, recognise the man who leaped out and turned to look her. “Trick…oh Trick…”

  Dropping Giles’s arm, she ran pell-mell toward him, leaping into his arms as he stretched them wide. Their hug was rib cracking, and she found her feet dangling above the ground.

  “Adalyn, my darling…” Trick kissed her soundly. “What’s this I hear about you wedding another? Daniel? Where is he? Let me spear him through his traitorous guts…”

  She laughed, a happy trill that made everyone smile, including the woman getting out of the carriage.

  Putting her down, Trick turned and held out his hand. “Jane, love. Come see who’s here to welcome us.”

  Adalyn blinked at Jane’s smile as she looked at Trick. And then saw that emotion mirrored in Trick’s gaze.

  “Oh,” she said, choking down her feelings. “Oh Trick. Jane. You…you…”

  Jane curtseyed. “My Lady.” She raised her head, her hair now arranged to hide most of the scars she carried on one side of her face. “Yes.” Worry crept into her gaze. “Forgive us, but some things cannot be…controlled or directed…”

  “And the heart is one of them,” finished Adalyn. “Oh yes, I know.” She closed the distance between them and hugged Jane hard, then kissed her lightly on either cheek. “Welcome to the Wolfbridge family.”

  “I told you,” laughed Trick. “She was anxious you’d be angry.”

  “How could I be?” Adalyn turned to Giles. “Did you know they were returning?”

  “I knew they finally presented the statements you’d provided to the court last week. And once that was done, it was only a matter of days before they released Trick.”

  “And no charges have been laid?”

  “None, my Lady,” answered Trick. “Although the mystery of Sir Amery Fairhurst’s death remains unresolved.” He frowned and Jane moved closer to his side. “That is something I’d like to see brought to a conclusion.”

  “As would we all,” she nodded. “But for now, you’re here, and that’s all that matters.” She grinned. “And in time for my wedding.”

  “I admit I heard a few rumours about such a thing. I didn’t believe it, of course,” teased Trick. “And when they said it was Daniel? Well, I thought of writing Giles to make sure you’d not been over-imbibing the brandy.”

  She punched him lightly in the shoulder. “Silly.”

  He and Jane stood together, and in the brilliant light they did indeed make a splendid couple. Adalyn’s heart thudded, and she blinked back the tears that stung her eyes. She had chosen her gentleman, but she still loved them all, and now one belonged to another. She wouldn’t say anything, but it was a tiny blow, nonetheless.

  Trick was thin, and needed to get back to his former self, since months in a cell did nothing for one’s health. His face was still gaunt, although some good meals would soon take care of that. Overall, he was the same, and the tall shapely woman at his side seemed to radiate her love for him.

  That, thought Adalyn, would be the making of Trick, and at that moment her heart settled. He was happy, and she would ask no more than that for any of her gentlemen. In truth, soon none of them would be hers anymore.

  Except Daniel. And he was more than enough.

  “Oh.” A thought crossed her mind. “Jane, you can’t live here.” She turned to Giles. “Can she? Or will she have to go back to Mrs Barnsley’s?”

  “I’ve had a few thoughts on that matter,” he said mildly.

  Adalyn’s lips twitched and she looked back at the couple in front of her. “That means he’s got everything worked out to his satisfaction. I’m finally learning to interpret his cryptic utterances.”

  Jane choked down a giggle, as Trick rolled his eyes. “Daniel is going to have his hands full,” he sighed.

  “Let’s go in, say hullo to the others, and then Giles can tell us exactly what he’s arranged.”

  The man in question straightened his shoulders. “An excellent idea, Lady Adalyn. Although I think you give me far too much credit. I’m not prescient, you know.”

  “You’re being modest,” she answered with a knowing look. “You have the future mapped out down to the last dotted I and crossed T. Don’t try to deny it.”

  “I wouldn’t dream of it.” He shook his head and headed toward the Wolfbridge door. “Trick, you’d better see to your bag…if you want to come in, or head over to the stable first? We’ve kept your room clean and ready for your return.”

  Adalyn saw the emotions flood
ing Trick’s eyes and he looked away, hiding them as best he could. “Thank you, Giles. Yes, I think we’d like to do that first. I would like to settle back there for a few moments. Change my clothes. All that sort of thing.”

  Giles nodded. “We’ll see you in the parlour as soon as you’re ready, dear Trick. Jane.” She hugged Jane once more. “I am so happy for you both.”

  “Thank you, my Lady,” Jane smiled back. “As are we for you.”

  Adalyn walked beside Giles, and the two of them entered Wolfbridge, crossing the hall and heading toward the parlour. As they did so, Jeremy emerged from the stairs and hurried to them. “I heard a carriage,” he said.

  “You did indeed,” smiled Adalyn. “And you’ll never guess who it was…”

  *~~*~~*

  Daniel smiled as he saw Jeremy, Evan and Trick together for the first time in far too long. He hurried over, slapped them all on the back, and then surrendered to the urge to hug them all for good measure.

  “Ho, now,” Jeremy held up his hands, laughing. “Let us not sink to that level. Goodness. The ladies will be wanting hugs too.”

  Jane and Adalyn were sitting on one side of the parlour, enjoying tea and conversation, and watching as the gentlemen gathered by the window, chatting, laughing and clearly happy to be united once more.

  “A lovely sight,” sighed Jane.

  “Indeed, yes,” answered Adalyn. “I almost hate to break it up by letting Daniel take me away.” That feeling had grown as she’d watched his entrance into the room.

  “I understand, my Lady,” said Jane, practically. “But there will always be a bond between them, I believe, no matter how far apart they may roam.”

  Adalyn tipped her head on one side and surveyed the other woman. “That is a very astute observation, Jane. I think you’re right. And I will admit it’s a comforting thought.”