www.millsandboon.co.uk

       To Vee Leighton for her insight and encouragement throughout the writing of this book.

      Author Note

      The background for this book was suggested some time ago by a visit to Cromford Mill in Derbyshire: it presented a fascinating and often disturbing insight into England’s industrial past. On the one hand the mills represented progress, on the other privation and hardship for people made redundant by machines. As the Luddite element sought to protect their livelihoods, looms, mills and mill-owners came under attack. Draconian penalties were imposed by a government already made jittery by the years of revolution in France. At the same time large profits awaited those unscrupulous enough to use the resulting conflict for their own ends. This last became an important element of the story’s sub-plot.

      Unusually, the hero came to my mind first. Marcus Edenbridge is an unwilling protagonist who is haunted by the past, overtaken by events beyond his control, forced to take on a role he didn’t choose in a place he didn’t want to be, and caught up in a dangerous web of intrigue. No pressure, then. Just to keep him on his toes I introduced him to Claire, a disturbingly attractive heroine with a secret of her own.

       Chapter One

      ‘Gartside! Alight here for Gartside!’

      The guard’s voice roused Claire from her doze. Feeling startled and disorientated, she looked about her and realised that the coach had stopped. She had no recollection of the last ten miles of the journey to Yorkshire and had no idea what hour it might be. At a guess it was some time in the midafternoon. Her cramped limbs felt as though they had been travelling for ever, though in reality it was three days. For more reasons than one it would be a relief to escape from the lumbering vehicle. Further reflection was denied her as the door opened.

      ‘This is where you get down, miss.’

      She nodded and, under the curious eyes of the remaining passengers, retrieved her valise and descended onto the street in front of a small and lowly inn.

      ‘Can you tell me how far it is to Helmshaw?’ she asked. ‘And in which direction it lies?’

      The guard jerked his head toward the far end of the street. ‘Five miles. That way.’

      ‘Thank you.’

      After a grunted acknowledgement he closed the door of the coach and climbed back onto the box. Then the driver cracked his whip and the coach moved forwards. Watching it depart, Claire swallowed hard, for with it went every connection with her past life. Involuntarily her hand tightened round the handle of her bag. The latter contained all her worldly possessions, or all she had been able to carry when she left, apart from the last few shillings in her reticule. The rest of her small stock of money had been spent on the coach fare and the necessary board and lodging on her journey. Her last meal had been a frugal breakfast at dawn and she was hungry now, but the inn looked dingy and unprepossessing and she felt loath to enter it. Instead she hefted the valise and set off along the street in the direction the guard had indicated earlier.

      It soon became clear that Gartside was not much of a place, being essentially a long street with houses on either side, and a few small shops. As she walked she received curious stares from the passers-by but no one spoke. A few ragged children watched from an open doorway. A little way ahead a small group of men loitered outside a tavern. Uncomfortably aware of being a stranger Claire hurried on, wanting to be gone. She hoped that Helmshaw would prove more congenial, but a five-mile walk lay between her and it. Massing clouds threatened rain. Would it hold off until she reached her destination? And when she got there, what would be her welcome? She hadn’t set eyes on Ellen Greystoke in seven years, and nor had there been any correspondence between them apart from that one letter, written to her aunt’s dictation, not long after Claire had removed there. Seven years. Would her old governess remember her? Would she still be at the same address? What if Miss Greystoke had moved on? Claire shivered, unwilling to contemplate the possibility. She had nowhere else to go, no money and no immediate prospect of earning any. Moreover, there was always the chance that her uncle would discover where she had gone.

      For the past three days it had been her constant dread. Each time a faster vehicle had passed the public coach her heart lurched lest it should be he. Every feeling shrank from the scene that must surely follow, for he would not hesitate to compel her return. After that she would be lost. She had no illusions about her ability to resist her uncle’s will: those had been beaten out of her long since. His maxim was: Spare the rod and spoil the child, a policy he had upheld with the utmost rigour. He would have her submission all right, and would use any means to get it.

      At the thought of what that submission meant her stomach churned. Within the week she would become Lady Mortimer, married against her will to a man old enough to be her father, a portly, balding baronet with a lascivious gaze that made her flesh crawl. The memory of his proposal was still horribly vivid. She had been left alone with him, an occurrence that had set warning bells ringing immediately. Her aunt and uncle were usually sticklers for propriety. After a few minutes of stilted conversation Sir Charles had seized her hand, declaring his passion in the most ardent terms. Repelled by the words and the feel of his hot, damp palms she had tried to break free, only to find herself tipped backwards onto the sofa cushions. Claire swallowed hard. Almost she could still feel his paunch pressing her down, could smell the oily sweetness of hair pomade and fetid breath on her face as he tried to kiss her. Somehow she had got a hand free and struck him. Taken aback he had slackened his hold, allowing her to struggle free of that noxious embrace