The Secret Life of a Lady (The Queen's Deadly Damsels) by Darcy McGuire

Author:Darcy McGuire [McGuire, Darcy]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Boldwood Books
Published: 2024-06-14T00:00:00+00:00

Hannah dressed carefully for the mid-morning activities. They would be riding horses to a picturesque valley next to a river. The household staff would already be there, preparing a picnic for the party.

If Hannah ever wondered what outfit she would die in, now she knew. A borrowed riding habit from Ivy Cavendale’s middle sister. Hannah was terrified of horses, and they loathed her. Every. Single. One.

‘Miss, if you keep twitching your leg like that, I’ll never finish. Please, could you sit still?’ Poor Betty had to re-twist Hannah’s hair for the third time. Hannah’s frantic leg shaking threatened to exceed the limits of her maid’s extensive patience.

‘You have always been remarkably silly when it comes to horses.’ Philippa sat on Hannah’s bed, slapping a riding switch against her leather boots. She eschewed the respectable riding habit for a pair of split skirts, fitted vest, and tailored greatcoat. On any other woman, it would cause a scandal, but Philippa made the entire ensemble look quite dashing. She finished the outfit with a tall riding hat.

‘Unlike certain duchesses, I was never given the opportunity to learn as a girl.’ Hannah heard the sharpness in her tone. She hated feeling inadequate and sitting astride a horse, she wasn’t just insufficient. She was woefully inept.

‘Yes, and despite many attempts from a certain duchess to provide lessons, you never took the opportunity to learn as a young woman. So, this is what you get.’ Philippa thwacked the riding crop against her boot again.

‘Thank you so very much for your empathy.’ Hannah ignored the precarious dip of her stomach.

‘You’re welcome. Now, did you learn anything from snooping in Lord Cavendale’s study?’

Hannah would not blush. She refused to be embarrassed. She wouldn’t think about her encounter with Killian in the study.

‘You’ve gone quite flushed. What happened?’ Philippa stood from the bed and narrowed her gaze.

Bloody hell!

‘Nothing happened. Well, I was interrupted by Lord Cavendale, his son, and Lord Killian.’

‘Really? Interesting. What exactly were they meeting about?’

For once, Hannah didn’t want to share all her information with Philippa. Alfred Cavendale blamed Killian for his brother’s death. And for some reason, Killian seemed to agree. She hadn’t seen their faces, but she heard the accusation in Alfred’s words and the shame in Killian’s response. For reasons she refused to examine, she didn’t want to share Killian’s disgrace with Philippa.

Hearing the undisguised hatred in Alfred’s voice as he hurled insults at Killian made her hope Alfred was the killer. She wanted an excuse to hurt him. What kind of woman wanted to hurt a grieving brother? Most probably a very bad woman.

Hannah forced her thoughts back to the conversation with Philippa. ‘Lord Killian was speaking about Patrick, the youngest Cavendale son. Apparently, Lieutenant General Killian was Patrick’s commanding officer and was there when he died. Alfred was incredibly rude about the whole situation. It’s all rather complicated. It seems Alfred always held his brother in high esteem. He even joined some secret society when Patrick entered the military. Lord Cavendale did his best to make up for Alfred’s ungentlemanly conduct toward Killian.

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