A Grosvenor Square Christmas by Shana Galen & Vanessa Kelly & Anna Campbell & Kate Noble

Author:Shana Galen & Vanessa Kelly & Anna Campbell & Kate Noble
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Published: 2013-10-09T21:00:00+00:00

Campion was sitting at the kitchen table, struggling with a pile of mending, when Alice the housemaid came to fetch her, her face alight with curiosity. “You’re wanted upstairs, miss.”

Sighing, Campion put her sewing aside. It was hopeless doing fine work by the light of cheap tallow candles. She refused to blame her clumsiness on the tears stinging her eyes. “Is something wrong?”

Alice spread her hands to convey ignorance. “Hobbs said not to dawdle.”

Hobbs was the haughty butler, with more airs and graces than a blue-blooded debutante. Aunt Ida had hired him to lend consequence when the ton called.

Unfortunately so far, people of rank hadn’t chosen to call upon Mrs. Parnell, undistinguished widow from Croxley in Sussex. Campion’s aunt and cousin had arrived in London fortified with dreams of baronesses taking them about in carriages and wellborn young bucks inundating Fenella with bouquets. Aunt Ida had even hoped Fenella might attract the famous Earl of Ravenglass who sought a wife, so everyone said. Who better than the belle of Croxley?

Sadly Fenella, while pretty enough to grace a country assembly, didn’t sparkle in the capital’s brighter lights. The trains of admirers had never materialized. The peevish belle of Croxley and her disappointed mother planned to return home within the month. Both had taken their failure out on Campion.

She hardly dared to imagine their reactions if they discovered that the despised poor relation had caught Ravenglass’s attention. Although if her aunt knew that her niece was a fallen woman, Campion would be out on her ear with nowhere to go.

As Campion stood, she couldn’t help resting one hand over her stomach, wondering if a child grew there. It would be an irredeemable disaster if she carried Lord Ravenglass’s bastard, but some pathetic, sentimental part of her longed for his baby.

And didn’t that prove that her previously reliable brain dissolved into mush?

She had no money, no friends, no family apart from her heartless aunt. If Aunt Ida banished her, there would be endless shame and nowhere to turn. Even knowing that, Campion couldn’t hate Lachlan for his loss of control. She’d never felt closer to him than in those moments when he’d spilled inside her.

Trying to hide how her hands trembled, Campion untied her apron and tidied her faded merino dress. It should have gone into the rag basket years ago. Perhaps her aunt would grace her with a new dress tomorrow, but she doubted it. Her only Christmas gift would be the long, cold journey back to Sussex and the thankless work of preparing the house for the family’s return.

With heavy tread, Campion climbed the stairs. The grief crushing her heart left her exhausted beyond her usual weariness after being at her aunt’s beck and call.

Tonight’s summons would surely involve some trivial complaint. There was no reason her aunt should have suddenly discovered about Campion’s trysts with Lord Ravenglass. After ten years of Aunt Ida’s carping, Campion had learned that meekness was her only possible response to a scolding. But the spirit of rebellion festered, even while she knew it could do no good.

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