Lorraine Heath - Daughters of Fortune 04 by An Invitation To Seduction

Author:An Invitation To Seduction [Seduction, An Invitation To]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2012-02-05T17:51:05+00:00

s ancestral home, she’d have to see about having a bathhouse built. Although his home did have a bathing room, it didn’t allow for swimming or for more than one person to take advantage of it at the same time as this bathhouse did.

“You said this pool used to be a plunge bath?” Kitty asked. “With cold water?”

“Yes, it was quite popular at the first part of the eighteenth century. Richard paid a fortune to have proper plumbing and hot water piping installed, but it was all well worth it. When his back is troubling him, he’ll spend hours soaking in here.”

Kitty glanced at the stairs, followed the railing up to the door. “Is there any chance he’ll come here tonight?”

“I shouldn’t think so,” Lady Anne said.

Sipping more wine, Kitty couldn’t help but wonder if the possibility of him and the other men arriving unexpectedly was the reason behind their whispering and giggling on their journey there. She was certain Lady Priscilla wouldn’t mind if Freddie appeared.

“About his back,” Kitty began. “I know it’s an old injury. How did he hurt it?” Lady Anne darted a glance at Lady Priscilla, who merely shrugged.

“I suppose there’s no harm in telling her,” Lady Priscilla said.

“I suppose not.” Lady Anne finished off her wine. “You mustn’t ever tell him that I told you. He’s really quite private about it.”

Kitty sat up straighter, the water rippling around her. “I promise. I’m quite good at keeping secrets.”

“It’s not a secret really. It’s simply that he’d prefer to forget everything associated with his injury.” Lady Anne took a deep breath. “It happened when our father died. I was only a child, so I don’t actually remember the particulars except what I’ve been told or overheard when people thought I wasn’t listening. Much whispering was going on immediately afterward and in the years since.”

“How long ago did it happen then?” Kitty asked.

“My goodness, I’ve never been skilled at ciphering, but I know Richard was eighteen. I do remember that. He’s thirty-four now—”

“Sixteen years,” Kitty offered. “That’s a long time to have discomfort.”

“He doesn’t always hurt. Not that he usually tells us when he does, but after a while you begin to notice the signs.”

“Carry on with your tale,” Kitty urged.

“Right. Well, one afternoon he and Father went sailing. They’d had an argument the day before, and from what Mother has told me, they were in the habit of sailing together whenever they fell out of sorts with each other. Apparently working together on the yacht helped to strengthen whatever bonds might have been weakened by their argument. While they were out, a storm came up. I don’t know exactly how it came about, but the crew made it safely to shore in the lifeboat. I can’t imagine how…because the storm sank the yacht. But there you have it. They did. Papa died, and Richard swam to shore dragging Papa along behind him. He refused to leave him to the sea.”

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.