The Master of Stonegrave Hall

by Helen Dickson

  Laurence’s jaw hardened. ‘Not without my consent, you won’t. So you can forget the idea of finding work. Damn it, Victoria, you are eighteen years old and alone in the world. You need looking after.’

  With superhuman effort, she took control of her rampaging ire. Lifting her chin, she looked straight into his enigmatic eyes and said, ‘I am not a child. I am more than capable of looking after myself.’

  ‘I won’t allow it!’ he barked, relinquishing his perch on the desk to confront her.

  She drew herself up before him and her eyes blazed with golden copper. ‘How dare you raise your voice to me, ordering me about as though I am yours to direct, just as though you have a perfect right to do so?’

  She did her best to hold in the resentment she felt, to be as dignified as a lady of his class would be, but it was difficult and her expression was icy. He had been very kind, but, if he had not brought her mother to the Hall, she could have managed perfectly well without him. And now she must extricate herself from the Rockford snare. She had set herself a demanding task, and in the midst of loss she knew she must find the strength to put aside her grief and fix her sights firmly on the future.

  Something swelled up in her, a powerful surge of emotions to which she had no alternative but to give full rein. It was as if she had suddenly become someone else, someone bigger and much stronger than her own small self.

  ‘So,’ he said coldly, moving closer, his face working with the strength of his emotions which were in danger of getting the better of him. ‘Are you going to abandon this nonsense and settle down to—’

  ‘Nonsense!’ she flared. ‘What are you talking about?’

  ‘This notion you have of being a teacher,’ he said. With the patience of a teacher discussing an absurd rhetorical issue with an inferior student, he said mildly, ‘If not, would you care to tell me how you intend to accomplish that?’

  His infuriating calm made Victoria long to kick him on the shin. ‘I have already told you. I will not repeat myself. And who do you think you are, laying down the law and telling me what I can and cannot do? I am a grown woman and I am quite capable of running my own life without you interfering.’

  His face whitened, the rush of furious blood under his skin ebbing away at the implication of her statement. He seemed to tower over her. ‘Interfering? Is that how you interpret what I have done?’

  ‘No, of course not,’ she replied, instantly regretting her choice of word. ‘But whatever commitment you felt you had to my mother, it ended when she died.’

  ‘Not quite. I promised her that you would be provided for. I think your mother would be best pleased if you were to set your sights on being a lady instead of a teacher.’

  ‘That is where you are wrong. She always encouraged me in my ambition. I am not a lady and never will be. My father was a schoolteacher and I suppose he managed to gather a sheen of gentility about him, and at least I am perfectly able to hold my own in what is called polite society. But I would like to realise my dream to become a teacher. I, not you, will be the one to determine my future. You have no power over me.’

  ‘I think you will find that I have,’ he said on a softer note. ‘You see, Victoria, just two days before she died, your mother made me your legal guardian until you reach the age of twenty-one.’

  Victoria became still. The atmosphere was charged with something she did not like. It was a tension that had a sharp needle piercing it. One that she feared could hurt her, though she was not sure why.

  Chapter Five

  ‘So that’s what all this is about. From the very beginning I knew there was something amiss in all of this—something didn’t make sense. Now I know why. But eighteen is rather old to be someone’s ward, don’t you think?’

  ‘Not at all. In most families young ladies are either under the control of parents or guardians until they reach an age or until they marry.’

  ‘Which, if I understand correctly, is to be my lot.’

  ‘It was your mother’s wish that I should see you betrothed to a man of means and consequence, and I promise you that, with my connections, we won’t have a problem finding one of those.’

  Victoria’s expression was one of disdain. ‘The whole scheme sounds mercenary and cold to me.’

  Laurence shook his head, his next words practical. ‘You’re a female and you have to wed some time, you know that—all women must wed. You’re not going to meet anyone eligible cooped up here, so at the appropriate time I shall take you to London. And I’m not suggesting we accept an offer from just anyone. I’ll choose someone you can develop a lasting affection for, and then,’ he promised, ‘if you wish, I’ll bargain for a long engagement on the basis of your youth. No respectable man would want to rush a girl who has just turned eighteen into matrimony before she was ready for it. That is what your mother wanted,’ he warned her when she looked as if she was going to argue.

  Sheltered though she’d been, Victoria knew he was not being unreasonable about expecting her to wed. He was only pointing out to her that it was her duty to marry in accordance with her mother’s wishes. In this case, as her guardian he was in charge of making the selection and she resented it bitterly.

  ‘I shall provide a respectable dowry,’ he went on. ‘Without that you will be at a disadvantage no matter how desirable you may be.’

  The absurdity of that scenario was not lost on Victoria. ‘But why should you provide a dowry for me? That is something only a father can do. You’re not my father. Why did my mother do this? For what reason?’

  ‘Because she knew she wouldn’t be here to take care of you. It worried her a great deal that you would be alone in the world. She wanted the best for you.’

  Tears of outrage stung her eyes. ‘And she considered making you my guardian the best?’

  ‘No matter how distasteful you find it, that is the way things are.’

  Her face became one of furious indignation. ‘You can go to the devil, Laurence Rockford, and take your idea of protecting me with you. I can look after myself. I don’t need anyone and I certainly don’t need you. Just because you took care of my mother, don’t think you own me.’

  ‘I don’t, but since she made you my ward, I have a right to say what you will and will not do.’ His voice was mocking and his eyes gleamed sardonically though he was still white-lipped with anger. He gazed at the tempestuous beauty standing before him, her eyes flashing like angry jewels, her breasts rising and falling with suppressed fury, and his anger gave way to a reluctant admiration for her courage in standing her ground.

  ‘You will make Stonegrave Hall your home.’ His voice was very serious. ‘You know that now, don’t you, Victoria?’ It was not a question but an order.

  ‘I do?’ Slowly she raised her eyes to look into his face, a face that was at last ready to smile with satisfaction, for it seemed to him she was willing to allow him to do this for her. Laurence Rockford was a wealthy man. She would live in luxury in this house—but at what cost to herself?

  All her future plans were to disappear. The tragedy of the loss, the pain of it, went deep into her soul and was almost too much to be borne. The hopes and dreams that had driven her on since childhood were to dissolve like the morning mist.

  ‘I am to give up my ambitions, then? You are taking it for granted that I must give up what I have always wanted and come and live with you in this fine house, is that it?’ Her voice was expressionless, flat and empty.

  ‘And what is wrong with that?’

  ‘Have you any idea what that will do to me?’

  ‘You will find it difficult, I know, but here you will have everything you need.’

  Victoria glowered at him with stubborn, unyielding pride, her chin pert, her hands balled into tight fists by her sides as she tried to conceal the hurt she felt. ‘Am I to have no say in the matter?’

&
nbsp; ‘What is there to say?’

  ‘Plenty. Is your lofty rank supposed to intimidate me?’ she asked, her voice shaking with the force of her anger. ‘Is it your high-handed belief that I will give up my dream? That I will sit at home, your home, and do nothing.’

  With his hands fixed firmly on his hips, Laurence thrust his face close to hers, his eyes glittering with a fire that burned her raw and his eyebrows drawn close, giving him an air of fiendish intensity. ‘There will be many things you can do to occupy your time. While you live in this house—my house—you are under my care. You will do well to remember that and the sooner you accept it the better it will be for us all. You will be accountable to me for your actions. Is that understood?’

  Victoria didn’t even recoil from the fury in his eyes. ‘You can go to blazes, Laurence Rockford, and the sooner the better. Ever since my father died I call no man my superior—and least of all you. I have been accountable to no one for my actions but my parents. Now they are gone I do not intend replacing them with you.’

  ‘Yes, you will. Someone should have taught you some sense and drummed that wilful pride out of you some time ago,’ he said, anger pouring through his veins like acid, his fury making him carelessly cruel. ‘I am not daunted by your defiance.’

  ‘You wouldn’t be daunted by a stampeding herd of elephants,’ she retaliated. ‘I will not sit at home twiddling my thumbs when I could be better employed.’

  ‘You told me you have not been to London. I am to go there shortly. You can accompany me.’

  ‘Suddenly it has lost its appeal.’

  She started to turn away, but his voice stopped her. ‘Where are you going?’

  ‘To my room. To pack.’

  ‘I can appreciate your desire to take charge of your own future, Victoria, but you will not carry out any plans involving your departure from here without my consent. I refuse to give it.’

  Like a cat, Victoria turned and slowly walked back towards him, a feral gleam lighting up her eyes as she faced him, so close that she could feel his hot breath on her face. ‘Tell me, Lord Rockford, does everyone march to your orders?’

  ‘Always.’

  ‘Not me,’ she flung back. ‘I shall match you stride for stride; I won’t answer to you.’

  His eyes turned glacial. ‘Do not address me in that tone. If you flout my authority and do anything else to inconvenience me while you live in my house, I will personally make your life a misery. Is that understood?’

  ‘My life is miserable already. It cannot get any worse. What can you do?’ she scoffed.

  ‘Out of respect for your mother and your sex, I will curb my temper. But if you brazenly defy me, do not depend on my ability to exercise similar restraint. If you want to win my approval, you are going to have to change your attitude and make yourself more agreeable to me. That should be your first concern.’

  Victoria’s ire at his condescending superiority was almost more than she could contain. ‘Why on earth should I want your approval? And as for my attitude, no one else finds it a problem. Perhaps it is your own attitude that is at fault.’

  Laurence glared at her. ‘You are the most outrageous, outspoken and obstinate young woman I have ever met and your behaviour is deplorable. You certainly don’t act like a female who has spent the last five years at a respectable Academy for young ladies. I will not have it, Victoria.’

  Rigid with accumulated pride and rebelliousness, Victoria dominated the situation as much as he. Her eyes were shining assertively, alive with the hidden mysteries of a rare jewel, her breasts rising and falling with suppressed fury as she struggled with the sensation burning in her veins.

  ‘You! This is not about you! You may be the master of Stonegrave Hall, but you are not the sun around which the world revolves. In fact, you are quite the opposite, for you are the most inconsiderate, overbearing, selfish man I have ever known.’

  ‘You needn’t go on. I get the picture,’ he drawled.

  ‘You have no regard for the feelings of others and you are arrogant enough to believe that your rank entitles you to behave that way—’ She broke off and looked away as if attempting to contain her emotions. As well she should, for this torrent of inexplicable criticism was both unjustified and unpardonable, and he was right. Her behaviour was deplorable.

  Laurence opened his mouth to continue giving her a dressing down for her impudence, as he would any other person who spoke to him in the way she had just done, but she spoke before he had the chance to do so.

  ‘I apologise. I should not have said those things.’

  ‘No, you shouldn’t.’

  ‘I spoke in the heat of the moment...’ How she wished she could retract the words.

  Laurence had no intention of letting her off the hook lightly. He moved to take a dominant, indolent stance by the fireplace, one arm braced on the mantelpiece. His jaw was set hard, his eyes intense as he slanted her a look. ‘I don’t know who taught you at that school, but they should have told you that to speak to people like you have just spoken to me is an extremely unpleasant and alienating thing to do. Not to mention the height of rudeness.’

  ‘I have said I am sorry,’ she retorted tightly.

  ‘I heard you. I am a reasonable man, Victoria, and I am perfectly willing to allow you as much freedom as you wish, but that does not mean for you to act brazenly and irresponsibly—and running off to York or anywhere else for that matter would be an exceedingly irresponsible act on your part.’

  Neither of them had seen the door open and Diana, Laurence’s sister-in-law, come striding in. She was taken aback by the quite unexpected heated altercation between these two. She found it hard to believe that Laurence, a man so self-assured and masterful when in the presence of some of the most powerful men in England, had been stripped of his composure and was being baited with such boldness by an eighteen-year-old girl. They were such a combustible combination and it was quite evident that Miss Lewis, who looked magnificent, glorious and indestructible as she faced the master of Stonegrave Hall, had a will every bit as strong and stubborn as Laurence’s own.

  ‘Pay no attention to my ill-tempered brother-in-law,’ she said, casting Laurence a slightly imperious though smiling look in an attempt to ward off further argument, for the air fairly vibrated with tension. She went to him and proffered her cheek for a duty kiss and turned to Victoria, whose face was beetroot red with embarrassment at being caught behaving so very badly. ‘I must express my admiration for your courage. You have my profound sympathy for what you must have endured—having to put up with my dear brother-in-law at Stonegrave Hall alone whilst your mother has been so ill. It cannot have been easy for you.’

  ‘No—but then I’ve found myself in far worse situations than trying to keep on the right side of an irate lord,’ Victoria replied, meeting the eyes of the slender young woman dressed in a fashionable gown of emerald green and matching hat atop her auburn curls.

  Diana laughed, a pleasant, warm sound, which went a long way to relieving the tension in the quiet room.

  ‘Diana! This is an unexpected pleasure,’ Laurence said, relinquishing his stance by the hearth. ‘I take it you have come alone?’

  ‘Yes. Clara was otherwise engaged.’

  ‘And Nathan?’

  ‘He—he’s meeting with an acquaintance in Cranbeck.’

  Knowing perfectly well that his brother was adhering to his promise not to come to the Hall until Victoria had left, Laurence didn’t pursue the subject. ‘Diana, may I present Miss Victoria Lewis—although I believe the two of you have already met.’

  ‘Yes, we have—in Malton. I truly thought my husband had done you a mischief that day. I was so sorry to hear of your loss, Miss Lewis,’ she said, her voice warm with obvious sincerity. ‘I would have been over sooner, but I’ve been visiting friends down the coast and I’ve only ju
st heard.’

  Victoria gave her a hesitant smile. It was hard to believe that this polite young woman was married to the man who had been so rude to her—although it did cross her mind that maybe she had come on behalf of her husband to enquire when she was leaving. ‘Thank you.’

  ‘Why don’t we sit down?’ Diana suggested. ‘Some tea would be nice, Laurence.’

  Laurence rang the bell and in no time at all a maid came in bearing a tray of tea and fancy cakes.

  ‘I do hope your stay at the Hall has been comfortable, Miss Lewis,’ Diana said, leaning forwards and beginning to pour the tea. ‘It must have been a worrying time for you, your mother being so ill. I am sure that now the funeral is over you will be looking to the future.’

  ‘Victoria is to remain here, Diana,’ Laurence informed her quietly. He sat across from them, crossing his long legs in front of him and leaning back in the chair. ‘Mrs Lewis made her my ward. She is to make the Hall her home—although I must tell you that she has her heart set on leaving.’

  Silence exploded in the room. Diana had gone perfectly still, the cup lifted halfway to her mouth. Instead of drinking the tea she put it back on the saucer and placed it on the tray. ‘I see. Does Nathan know about this?’

  ‘No, but he will.’

  ‘Well, if I seem surprised, that’s because I am surprised. I don’t seem to get past the staggering discovery that you are not only a sentimental at heart, Laurence, but also terribly protective as well.’ She looked at Victoria, who was holding her head at a determined angle. ‘You don’t wish to live here, Miss Lewis?’

  ‘My father was a schoolteacher, Mrs Rockford,’ she answered as her dire predicament reclaimed her thoughts. ‘It is my ambition to follow in his footsteps and become a teacher myself.’