A Christmas Betrothal (The Mercer's House Book 6) by Mary Kingswood

Author:Mary Kingswood [Kingswood, Mary]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Sutors Publishing
Published: 2023-09-14T16:00:00+00:00

16: A Visit To Kelshaw House

Michael stood, shocked and motionless, watching Margarita go. Her brisk steps and a sharp turn in the path soon took her out of sight. With a long sigh, Michael retreated to the bench again, head in hands.

Margarita with child… forced to marry… losing the child… and he, all unknowing, thinking she had abandoned him. Margarita alone… he could not bear to think of her going through all that alone, her husband hustled to the altar and then rushing away to India, leaving her to survive as best she could. And it was all his fault, because of that one magical night. If he had resisted… but when had he ever been able to resist her? To wake and find her bending over him, kissing him… how could any man have resisted such temptation? It had been her own choice, after all. She had come to him that night.

There was only one bright spot in the whole sorry story, and it was a small one but it brought Michael a little comfort — his poor Margarita had been forced to find a husband. His dark imaginings had led him to suppose that she had calmly left his side and then, within weeks, fallen so deep in love that she had plunged into marriage with a stranger. Now he saw that it was not so. The marriage had been no sudden romantic affair, but a pragmatic matter of scratching around with some urgency for someone — anyone — prepared to take her. And even if she had some affection for this man, still she had married largely from necessity. For him, too, it was perhaps not a union of the heart, and that was why he had gone to India, leaving her alone.

But she must never be alone again. She must not return to Carlisle… where was Carlisle, anyway? Practically in Scotland, he thought. So far away…

Before long, the cold began to seep into his bones, and he set off for home, back to the west gate, across the road and onto the drive of Chadwell Manor.

Two carriages were waiting outside the front door. One was being loaded with boxes under the watchful eyes of the valet and lady’s maid, preparing to take Letitia and Charles to the home of Charles’s nephew, the new Marquess of Barrowford. Michael’s sister Patricia was just rushing out of the house to the other.

“Off to your orphanage, sis?” Michael said genially. He liked Patricia. At least she was quiet, unlike Letitia, and now that she had unlimited supplies of babies to care for at her orphanage, she was blissfully happy.

Now she beamed at him. “Oh, yes! I could not really spare the time away for the ball, but Mama insisted.”

“At least your babies keep you busy, eh?”

“Oh, yes. Very busy.”

“Better than sitting at home with your embroidery,” he said, persevering.

“Oh, yes.”

Embroidery… that triggered a memory. “Where do you get the thread for embroidery… the good sort?”

“Silks? I have no idea. Mine all came in a box.

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