Pregnant on the Earl's Doorstep by Sophie Pembroke

Author:Sophie Pembroke
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2019-04-05T12:38:13+00:00

* * *

‘Tell me.’

She’d said it as if it were nothing at all—a story round a campfire. As if there should be marshmallows. As if it wasn’t generations of secrets he was letting out.

Why should he tell her? Why not just lie? Make up a slightly awkward childhood filled with minor issues and small hurts? Pretend, the way every member of his family had for hundreds of years, that they were upstanding, respectable people?

But then he met her steady green gaze and knew that he would tell her everything.

What was this hold she had over him? It was as if her goodness, her determination to do the right thing, was lashing him to her morals.

Because he wanted so badly to be more like her. To have less of the Bryce blood and darkness in him.

Because he wanted to believe that he could give that to Daisy and Ryan. Make their future brighter than their family’s past.

But only if he told the truth now.

‘My family...the Bryce family...they’ve held land and power and influence here for hundreds and hundreds of years. And their reputation has always been...impeccable. No scandal, no mistresses, no illegitimate children.’

Heather winced at that one—understandably.

‘No financial difficulties, not even a servant dismissed under suspicious circumstances. Even more recently there’s never been a photo of any Bryce falling out of a taxi, drunk at a nightclub, and no Bryce woman has ever worn the wrong thing to a royal wedding. Bryce men fought in all the wars like they were supposed to. Bryce women dutifully gave an heir and a spare to every generation. The family here at Lengroth Castle are purer than pure, whiter than white—the pinnacle of what the aristocracy should be. Looked up to throughout the land.’

‘And we need to keep it that way, son,’ his father had always told him.

Even now Cal knew he was living the Bryce legacy—keeping Heather here, where she couldn’t let on about what his brother had done. Keeping the scandal close so it couldn’t get out.

Although, now he knew about her mother, he knew for certain that she’d never tell. She’d never want to bring another scandal down on herself—or her father. And the illegitimate child of an earl who had died under what even Cal now had to admit were suspicious circumstances...that would definitely count as a scandal.

He looked over at her, another wave of guilt crashing over him as he thought about what Ross had done to her. If nothing else, he’d upended her life. And Cal hadn’t exactly helped with that, either, forcing her to stay here at Lengroth for the summer.

Heather, meanwhile, looked sympathetic but confused. ‘I can see how that level of perfection would be—’

‘No,’ he interrupted, anger flaring that she should believe it even for a moment. She’d met Ross, after all. She knew more of the truth than most. ‘The problem is that it’s all a pack of lies.’

‘Oh.’ Heather gave him a small smile. ‘I’ll admit I was wondering where Ross fitted into that picture.

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