Harlequin Historical September 2015 - Box Set 1 of 2: Marriage Made in Shame\Tarnished, Tempted and Tamed\Forbidden to the Duke\Winter's Camp by Sophia James

Author:Sophia James
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Harlequin Historical
Publisher: Harlequin

Chapter Eighteen

‘Please calm yourself, Mama,’ Fiona whispered.

She sent a glance over a shoulder to where the Duke of Thornley had diplomatically withdrawn to allow mother and daughter to digest his solemnly imparted news that Cecil Ratcliff was a bigamist, amongst other things.

Maude scrunched her wet handkerchief in her fist. ‘The cheating swine! To do something so vile and immoral to an innocent woman is beyond bearing!’ She scrubbed again at her bloodshot eyes.

‘Yes, I know, Mama,’ Fiona soothed. ‘But you are not his legal wife after all—you said you regretted marrying him so perhaps it is not all bad.’

‘I have allowed a man—an odious individual at that—to take intimate privileges only given under vows to a husband,’ Maude spluttered in a voice of suffocated outrage.

Fiona drew her mother towards a chair and made her sit down, then shot a look at the fellow hovering by the window with his hands clasped behind his back.

Earlier that afternoon, mother and daughter had been drinking their tea and discussing where to head on departing the Pig and Whistle, when the duke’s servant had turned up with a message for Maude. Thankfully it contained just an urgent summons to Thornley Heights. Had it been any more explicit Fiona knew her mother might have swooned dead away in the tavern’s saloon bar, then even more people would know that, unbelievably, the scandal surrounding the Chapman women had just deepened.

The letter had intrigued both mother and daughter and they’d agreed that they should accept the invitation and go straight away to see His Grace. So they’d packed up their things with Rose’s help, then all ridden in the coach provided by the duke to solve the mystery.

Obliquely, Fiona had been glad to have a distraction to prevent her constantly thinking about Luke. Had he been injured in the confrontation with Collins? Had he sensibly decided to avoid danger and return to London after all? But the most pressing uncertainty was where to go to find him.

At the Pig and Whistle she’d been mulling over ways to tell her mother that she’d fallen in love and was prepared to follow Luke Wolfson to the ends of the earth if need be. She’d now need to bite her tongue on that secret a while longer; it would be too cruel to add to her mother’s anguish when Maude was already on the point of hysterics.

Fiona glanced up as the drawing-room door opened and a young woman entered. Having approached the duke for a brief conversation, the petite brunette then hurried over to Fiona and Maude.

‘Papa has allowed me to come and speak to you, Miss Chapman. I’m so very sad to hear of your troubles.’ Joan cast a sympathetic look on Maude’s bowed head.

‘You must be Joan Thornley.’ Fiona straightened from her crouching position close to her mother’s chair.

‘I am... Oh, sorry to be rude—I should have introduced myself straight away.’ Joan held out her hands and warmly clasped Fiona’s fingers. Following a quick glance at Fiona’s mother, still propping her contorted features in her hands, Joan drew Fiona aside.

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