Scandal At Greystone Manor. Mary Nichols
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looked up, startled, and found herself hurtling back ten years. The man beside Mark was unmistakable. The years had dealt kindly with him. He was tall, broad and muscular and dressed to perfection in a brown coat of Bath cloth and fawn buckskins tucked into shining tasselled Hessians. A gold watch chain hung across his creamy brocade waistcoat and a huge diamond sparkled in his cravat. All this she noted before lifting her eyes to look into his face. It was tanned and the only lines were around his hazel eyes, due either to laughter or squinting in the sun. He was regarding her with a look she interpreted as amusement. Was she a comical figure? To be sure, her dress was plain, but her shawl was pretty and the ribbons on her bonnet were new even if the bonnet was not.
‘You remember Miss Cavenhurst, do you not?’ Mark said to him. ‘This is Jane, sister to my fiancée.’
‘Of course I remember,’ Drew said, doffing his hat. ‘How do you do, Miss Cavenhurst?’
‘I am well. And you?’ She had often wondered what it would be like to meet him again and whether the old attraction would still be there. He was an extremely attractive man, to be sure, and a great deal more confident than the man she had sent away, but after ten years, it would have been surprising if she had not found him changed.
‘I am in good health, Miss Cavenhurst, and happy to renew acquaintance with you. It has been some time.’
‘Ten years,’ she murmured and then wished she had not mentioned the time. He would assume she had been counting and dwelling on it, which was the last impression she wished to give him.
‘Yes, and every one of them devoted to the goal of returning one day, having made my fortune.’
‘And have you?’
‘I believe so.’
‘He is a nabob,’ Mark said, laughing. ‘But underneath he is the same Drew Ashton I knew before he went away. He has come to stay with us at Broadacres and be my groomsman.’
‘I thought you already had someone,’ Jane said, turning towards him. He was almost as tall as Drew, but slimmer and his urbane good looks contrasted sharply with the weathered look of his friend.
‘So I did, but he has been called away and when I met Drew in London, the solution to my problem was obvious.’
‘How fortuitous for you.’ She turned back to Drew. ‘So, you came to see how we all go on in Hadlea, Mr Ashton. We are a quiet community, little changes here.’
‘Except we all grow older and wiser,’ he said.
‘That is true, of course.’ Was that some reference to their youth ten years before or was he telling her his old passion had died a natural death, as surely hers must have done?
‘Jane, I need to have a quiet word with you,’ Mark said. ‘Perhaps Drew will excuse us for a moment?’
‘To be sure,’ Drew said. ‘I will amuse myself exploring the village.’ He bowed to Jane. ‘Good day, Miss Cavenhurst. I shall look forward to renewing my acquaintance with the rest of your family while I am here.’
She bowed her head in acknowledgement. ‘Good day, Mr Ashton.’
She watched him stride away, then turned back to Mark. ‘He is much changed and yet he has not changed at all.’
‘Except he is richer,’ Mark said with a laugh.
‘What is it you wanted to speak to me about?’ She did not want to talk about Andrew Ashton. His sudden arrival was something else she had to deal with. Would he mention the past or would it be a closed book? She hoped the latter. She did not want to be reminded of it.
Mark’s smile died and he seemed to be reluctant to go on, which was so unlike him that she wondered what it could be. ‘Jane, I met Lord Bolsover while I was in London. Drew and I had a hand of whist with him and a friend of his at White’s.’
‘Oh, surely you are not a gambling man, Mark? Gambling is an insidious evil.’
‘I only play for amusement now and again and never for high stakes. You play yourself of an evening, do you not?’
‘Yes, when we have company and then for counters, not money. But do go on.’
‘Bolsover is not a man I would normally associate with, but Drew wanted a game.’
‘Mark, you are beating about the bush. You are going to tell me Teddy owes him money, aren’t you?’
‘You know of it?’
‘I am the first person my brother comes to when he is in trouble.’
‘I believe he owes Lord Bolsover a substantial amount—will you tell me how much?’
‘Mark, I know you mean well, but Teddy would not like me to divulge the figure, not even to you. Why do you want to know?’
‘Lord Bolsover is putting it about that Teddy is a welsher and he will have his money by hook or by crook. He even hinted he would have the Manor.’
She gasped. ‘It is not so large an amount, Mark. He cannot do that, can he?’
‘Not while your papa is alive, but when Teddy inherits, that will be a different matter. Isabel will be with me, of course, but I am concerned for you and your mother and Sophie. Can Sir Edward settle the debts?’
She hesitated. To her shame, she had already told one untruth that day and she did not want to tell another, especially to Mark, but he had truly frightened her with his tale that Lord Bolsover had bought up all Teddy’s debts, the full extent of which she did not know.
‘Come, Jane, I am soon to be family and would help if I could. I will not repeat what you tell me.’
‘Whether Papa can or cannot is not to the point, Mark. He simply refuses.’
‘Oh, dear, does he know how deep in Teddy is?’
‘I do not know, Teddy may have told him, but if matters are as bad as you say, Papa would have a struggle to settle, I think. Like everyone he has been badly hit by taxes and poor harvests. I shall do what I can for Teddy with my own money and that may hold his lordship off for a time.’
‘Jane, you cannot do that. Your money is your dowry.’
She gave him a crooked grin. ‘I am never likely to marry, Mark, and we all know it.’
‘Nonsense. You would make someone a splendid wife and I know that you love children. I have seen you with them in the village.’ He laughed suddenly. ‘If I were not already taken, I might offer myself.’
She could not help it, the tears spilled from her eyes. It was so unlike the down-to-earth Jane, he became alarmed. He put his arm about her and pulled her to him, so that her head nestled on his shoulder. ‘I didn’t think that would make you cry, Jane. I beg forgiveness.’
Angry with herself, she pulled away from him. ‘Oh, it wasn’t that. It was...’ She gulped. ‘It was the thought of Teddy’s debts bringing us so low.’ She dried her eyes and managed a laugh. ‘I could cheerfully beat him.’
‘So could I.’
‘Isabel knows nothing of it, so please do not say anything. We mustn’t spoil her wedding. I have no doubt we will come about.’
‘I will escort you home.’
‘No, please don’t. I shall be fine. Go back to Mr Ashton; he is obviously waiting for you.’ She nodded towards Drew, who was idling on the other side of the green.
* * *
It was typical of Jane, to be so unselfish, Mark thought as he rejoined Drew. She always thought of others before herself and that blinkered family of hers took her for granted. Even Isabel, while singing her praises, took advantage of her. As for their brother, he was a scapegrace without an ounce of conscience or good sense and to apply to his sister whenever he was in trouble was the outside of enough. He could pay the debt for them, but