Ashes of Pride

by Tracy Cooper-Posey

  He couldn’t speak. There were no words to describe the hot, hard mass sitting in his chest, or the wordless horror in his mind.

  Lisa Grace rested her hand on his chest. It was a light touch, yet he flinched. “Tobias is so good to me, Peter. He has made such a difference in my life. I want him in all my life. Do you see?”

  He shook his head. “No,” he said flatly. “I do not see. This is…it is beyond reckless, Lisa Grace, even for you. I do not approve and I resent you have made me a party to such a dangerous secret. I do not give my blessing. I cannot.”

  He got his feet moving.

  “Peter!” Lisa Grace called after him. Her voice broke.

  He didn’t stop. He did not dare.

  TRAVERS CLEARED HIS THROAT, FORCING Neil to let Blanche go, sit up and tug his jacket back into place.

  “There is a gentleman to see you, Master Williams,” Travers said. “I’ve put him in the library.”

  Neil sighed. “It’s damn inconsiderate of Cian to be on his honeymoon,” he complained. “Every time someone hangs on the bell, I have to drop everything and speak to them.”

  “Because your life is so busy, right now,” Blanche replied, with a small smile. The question about what Neil might do with his life lingered, still. He found it immensely satisfying to discuss the issue with Blanche on the few occasions when they could meet. If sharing his thoughts with his fiancé did unman him, then a great many men would benefit from the emasculation. There was a peace in sharing everything with her—it was the peace he had been looking for all along, but he had not known it even existed.

  He touched Blanche’s upturned nose. “I resent the interruptions because they take me away from you.” He watched, delighted, as her cheeks flushed and she grew flustered.

  “Actually, sir,” Travers said, “the gentleman asked for you by name.”

  “Who is it?”

  “The Right Honorable Mr. Edward Cardwell,” Travers intoned.

  Neil shot to his feet. “Cardwell is here?”

  Blanche jumped to hers, too. “You left him in the library?” she added, horror tinging her voice.

  “Sir?” Travers asked, uncertainty in his voice.

  Neil patted the butler’s arm. “Never mind, Travers. You weren’t to know.”

  “Who is he, sir?” Travers asked, sounding distressed. “I would know the degree of my error.”

  “He is the Secretary of State for War, Travers,” Blanche informed him.

  Neil picked up her hand. “Come with me,” he suggested. “Cardwell has touched both our lives. You should meet him.”

  “Yes, I would like that.” Blanche walked with him through the big house, to the library at the front of it.

  Edward Cardwell was a tall, slender man of sixty, with wheat colored hair which shone faintly pink in the sun streaming through the window. He had a large hooked nose and bushy mutton-chop sideburns.

  He bowed over Blanche’s hand without hesitation. “Mrs. Joshua Seymour?” he clarified after Neil’s introduction. “Widow of the late Lieutenant Colonel—I apologize, I mean the late Lieutenant Seymour of the Fifth Northumberland Fusiliers.”

  “A fact I would prefer to forget as swiftly as possible,” Blanche replied. “I am engaged to Mr. Williams, now.”

  “Ah!” Cardwell looked from Blanche to Neil. “The events at Fenham are what brings me here. It would seem appropriate Mrs. Seymour be part of the discussion. I have just returned from interviewing Colonel Hill, Williams. He urged me to do so, and I must say that now I have heard the details of your return to Fenham, I can understand why he insisted upon it.”

  Neil rubbed the back of his neck. “I’d like to think I’ve put that behind me, too,” he admitted.

  “I should hope not,” Cardwell said fervently. “You are the perfect example of why the military must be reformed. It is why I am here. I want to prevail upon you to use your experience to help me make the changes the army desperately needs.”

  “Help…?” Neil asked.

  Cardwell nodded enthusiastically. “It’s all very well for me to rail on at generals about changing the way they’ve been doing things for generations. I’m not a military man and don’t speak or think as they do. Worse,” and he smiled, “I am a politician and suspect before I open my mouth. You, on the other hand, have survived what the army can hand a career man. You are a walking example of why things must change and you can explain it to them.”

  “Are the reforms not law, now?” Blanche said, her tone puzzled. “The bill was passed in the House of Lords some time ago.”

  “In 1870, yes,” Cardwell said. “I am impressed, Mrs. Seymour. Did your experience in Northumbria interest you in this matter?”

  “It did,” Blanche admitted.

  “The law was passed, yes,” Cardwell said. “The changes themselves are slow to be adopted. Particularly the practice of purchasing promotions…ah, I can see by your faces you both agree with me on this one.”

  “How could we not?” Neil said. “If officers were promoted on merit, then Lord Cardigan could not have spent forty thousand pounds on his commission and led the charge of the Light Brigade at Balaklava. Over six hundred men lost their lives in that charge. It was abominable and it should never have happened—” He made himself stop. The heat and the pressure to vent his frustration was the same as he had felt when Jasper had prodded him into talking, at Northallerton. “I apologize,” he told Cardwell. “Speaking ill about other officers is not the done thing.”

  “In this case, I would encourage the practice,” Cardwell told him. “Cardigan was incompetent, and that is exactly why I wish you to help me make the generals see the sense of the reforms. Without their connivance, the reforms will remain pages in the legislative journal.”

  Neil thought of the way Colonel Hill had delayed and extended the processing of his formal release from the army, then had managed to arrange it almost overnight, when so moved to it. “It is the commanding officers you must also convince,” he told Cardwell. “They are the men who will make change happen, if they believe in it.”

  “Then you will help me?” Cardwell asked.

  “Oh, Neil, say yes!” Blanche urged him. “It is exactly the sort of meaningful work you have been looking for.”

  Neil gave a small laugh. “It would be my great honor, sir.”

  Cardwell looked pleased. “Good. Very good. Although, you will have to come to London. That is where the politicians are, after all. After Christmas, shall we say? Here is my card. Report to me at Westminster Palace in the new year. I will have a series of meetings and appointments set up for you by then…I warn you, you will be run off your feet, Williams!”

  Neil held up his hand. “Only, you must keep July clear, sir.”

  “July? Why…oh, a wedding and a honeymoon. Of course.” He smiled at Blanche. “My congratulations to the two of you,” he told her. “I hope I am invited to the wedding? Well, I must be off. The last train to London leaves that little station in an hour. The station master is holding my luggage. Thank you once again, Major Williams. You will make such a difference, I am sure.”

  Travers shut the library door behind Cardwell and saw the man out, while Neil settled himself on the edge of the big desk. He held his hand out to Blanche. She took it with a small smile and moved closer to him. Her face was radiant. “Neil, this is wonderful! You really will make such a difference. Think of all the men in the military, who are pulled around by the old ways, like you were. You could change that.”

  Neil kissed her temple. “I knew you would understand,” he said softly. “That is exactly who I was thinking of. That is why I said yes.”

  Blanche rested her hand on his chest. The light touch never failed to make his heart stir. “You have found your place,” she added softly.

  “More than that,” he assured her. “After the gather, I will go to London.”

  “Oh, to sell the white house?” Her smile faded. “It is such a pity, really. I loved that house. Catrin and Annalies a
nd I would hide in the attic and talk for hours and hours, especially when there were thunderstorms.”

  “That is why I am going to London,” Neil said. “I won’t sell the house. I’ll write to Cian, although I know he will agree with this. Would you like to live there, Blanche? On Park Lane? You deserve a grand house, one befitting a lady, with staff to clean and cook for you.”

  Her cheeks turned pink. “If it is for you, Neil, I would be happy to clean my fingers to the bone and burn every one of them on a hot stove. Only, oh, I do love that house!”

  He kissed her and pulled her against him, to feel her softness and warmth. “Then it is yours, my love.”

  She wound her arms around his neck, her eyes sparkling as she looked up at him. “I cannot think of what I might have done to deserve you, Neil, yet I am so very glad you came into my life.”

  He rested his head against hers and let out a deep, slow sigh. “Peace,” he breathed. “I found it only because of you.”

  ______________________

  The next book in the Scandalous Scions series.

  Risk of Ruin, Book 11, Scandalous Scions

  Now she belongs to another, he realizes too late that he wants her.

  Lady Annalies is the daughter of the Earl of Innesford, but rejects society. Instead, she embraces the Bohemian art world, and lives in secret with her patron and lover, Tobias. The only person who knows the truth is her cousin, Peter, who furiously resents the burden of knowing how she courts disaster for the entire family.

  When sales of her paintings diminish, putting her in financial straits, Annalies turns to Peter for help, as he has always helped her in the past. Peter grasps the chance to involve himself in her life, to head off the catastrophe she flirts with every day. The entanglements increase when he realizes it is not merely the risk of ruin which draws him to her.

  ___

  I am overwhelmed by how much I have enjoyed this series so far. It was not superficial fluff as I thought it might be when I began. Cooper-Posey books have touched on so many universal themes.

  Get your copy of Risk of Ruin now

  https://tracycooperposey.com/risk-of-ruin

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  Acknowledgements

  Dina Bushrod, Audrey Cienki, Hes. H., Kathi Soniat, Kathy Zisek -- thanks so much, guys!

  About the Author

  Tracy Cooper-Posey is a #1 Best Selling Author. She writes romantic suspense, historical, paranormal and science fiction romance. She has published over 100 novels since 1999, been nominated for five CAPAs including Favourite Author, and won the Emma Darcy Award.

  She turned to indie publishing in 2011. Her indie titles have been nominated four times for Book Of The Year. Tracy won the award in 2012, and a SFR Galaxy Award in 2016 for “Most Intriguing Philosophical/Social Science Questions in Galaxybuilding” She has been a national magazine editor and for a decade she taught romance writing at MacEwan University.

  She is addicted to Irish Breakfast tea and chocolate, sometimes taken together. In her spare time she enjoys history, Sherlock Holmes, science fiction and ignoring her treadmill. An Australian Canadian, she lives in Edmonton, Canada with her husband, a former professional wrestler, where she moved in 1996 after meeting him on-line.

  Other books by Tracy Cooper-Posey

  For reviews, excerpts, and more about each title, visit Tracy’s site and click on the cover you are interested in: http://tracycooperposey.com/books-by-thumbnail/

  Scandalous Scions

  (Historical Romance Series – Spin off)

  Rose of Ebony

  Soul of Sin

  Valor of Love

  Marriage of Lies

  Scandalous Scions One (Boxed Set)

  Mask of Nobility

  Law of Attraction

  Veil of Honor

  Scandalous Scions Two (Boxed Set)

  Season of Denial

  Rules of Engagement

  Degree of Solitude

  Ashes of Pride

  Risk of Ruin

  Year of Folly

  Queen of Hearts

  Once and Future Hearts

  (Ancient Historical Romance—Arthurian)

  Born of No Man

  Dragon Kin

  Pendragon Rises

  War Duke of Britain

  High King of Britain

  Battle of Mount Badon

  Abduction of Guenivere

  Downfall of Cornwall

  Vengeance of Arthur

  Grace of Lancelot

  The Grail and Glory

  Camlann

  Kiss Across Time Series

  (Paranormal Time Travel)

  Kiss Across Time

  Kiss Across Swords

  Time Kissed Moments

  Kiss Across Chains

  Kiss Across Time Box One (Boxed Set)

  Kiss Across Deserts

  Kiss Across Kingdoms

  Time and Tyra Again

  Kiss Across Seas

  Kiss Across Time Box Two (Boxed Set)

  Kiss Across Worlds

  Time and Remembrance

  Kiss Across Tomorrow

  More Time Kissed Moments

  Kiss Across Blades

  Kiss Across Chaos

  Kiss Across The Universe

  Even More Time Kissed Moments

  Kiss Across Forever

  Project Kobra

  (Romantic Spy Thrillers)

  Hunting The Kobra

  Inside Man

  Vistaria Has Fallen

  Vistaria Has Fallen

  Prisoner of War

  Hostage Crisis

  Freedom Fighters

  Casualties of War

  V-Day

  Romantic Thrillers Series

  Fatal Wild Child

  Dead Again

  Dead Double

  Terror Stash

  Thrilling Affair (Boxed Set)

  Beloved Bloody Time Series

  (Paranormal Futuristic Time Travel)

  Bannockburn Binding

  Wait

  Byzantine Heartbreak

  Viennese Agreement

  Romani Armada

  Spartan Resistance

  Celtic Crossing

  Beloved Bloody Time Series Boxed Set

  Scandalous Sirens

  (Historical Romance Series)

  Forbidden

  Dangerous Beauty

  Perilous Princess

  Go-get-‘em Women

  (Short Romantic Suspense Series)

  The Royal Talisman

  Delly’s Last Night

  Vivian’s Return

  Ningaloo Nights

  Blood Knot Series

  (Urban Fantasy Paranormal Series)

  Blood Knot

  Southampton Swindle

  Broken Promise

  Vale

  Amor Meus

  Blood Stone

  Blood Unleashed

  Blood Drive

  Blood Revealed

  Blood Ascendant

  The Sherlock Holmes Series

  (Romantic Suspense/Mystery)

  Chronicles of the Lost Years

  The Case of the Reluctant Agent

  Sherlock Boxed In

  The Kine Prophecies

  (Epi
c Norse Fantasy Romance)

  The Branded Rose Prophecy

  The Stonebrood Saga

  (Gargoyle Paranormal Series)

  Carson’s Night

  Beauty’s Beasts

  Harvest of Holidays

  Unbearable

  Sabrina’s Clan

  Pay The Ferryman

  Hearts of Stone (Boxed Set)

  Destiny’s Trinities

  (Urban Fantasy Romance Series)

  Beth’s Acceptance

  Mia’s Return

  Sera’s Gift

  The First Trinity

  Cora’s Secret

  Zoe’s Blockade

  Octavia’s War

  The Second Trinity

  Terra’s Victory

  Destiny’s Trinities (Boxed Set)

  Interspace Origins

  (Science Fiction Romance Series)

  Faring Soul

  Varkan Rise

  Cat and Company

  Interspace Origins (Boxed Set)

  Short Paranormals

  Solstice Surrender

  Eva’s Last Dance

  Three Taps, Then….

  The Well of Rnomath

  Jewells of Tomorrow

  (Historical Romantic Suspense)

  Diana By The Moon

  Heart of Vengeance

  The Endurance

  (Science Fiction Romance Series)

  5,001

  Greyson’s Doom

  Yesterday’s Legacy

  Promissory Note

  Quiver and Crave