by Henke, Shirl
For a man who had never been given love by his parents, Derrick had learned exceedingly well how to be a loving father. Perhaps part of that was because of the letter the servants had found stuffed in the back of a drawer in Annabella's city house while packing up her effects. It was written to his son by the old earl just before he died.
When word of Lynden's imminent death reached Lord Castlereagh, the Foreign Secretary had told the earl the truth about his son's gallant sacrifice. The old man had begged Derrick's forgiveness and told him how very proud he was of his second son, how much he wished that he, not Leighton, would inherit the title. And, most important of all, the old earl told his son that he loved him. His only mistake had been entrusting the poignant letter to his daughter-in-law, asking Bella to give it to Derrick when he returned.
As Beth looked down into his eyes, he studied her expression, reaching up and touching her cheek softly. “You seem suddenly subdued, puss. Sad thoughts on such a joyous day?”
She smiled. “No brown study at all, my love. I was remembering when you read your father's letter for the first time, how overjoyed you were. I believe it made you the wonderful father you are.”
“Not so, m'lady. You made me the wonderful father I am—if indeed I am so wonderful. If not for you, puss, I would have made one of those horrible dynastic matches such as my father did, with equally disastrous results.”
“All because of your sense of duty?”
“As a very wise woman once told me, ‘Bugger my duty!’ ”
They burst into laughter as the fire crackled its merry defiance at the icy wind howling outside Lynden Hall. In two weeks' time they would be off to Naples to spend the rest of the winter while Derrick looked after their children and Beth painted.
About the Author
SHIRL HENKE lives in St. Louis, where she enjoys gardening in her yard and greenhouse, cooking holiday dinners for her family and listening to jazz. In addition to helping brainstorm and research her books, her husband Jim is “lion tamer” for their two wild young tomcats, Pewter and Sooty, geniuses at pillage and destruction.
Shirl has been a RITA finalist twice, and has won three Career Achievement Awards, an Industry Award and three Reviewer’s Choice Awards from Romantic Times
“I wrote my first twenty-two novels in longhand with a ballpoint pen—it’s hard to get good quills these days,” she says. Dragged into the twenty-first century by her son Matt, a telecommunication specialist, Shirl now uses two of those “devil machines.” Another troglodyte bites the dust. Please visit her at www.shirlhenke.com.
Table of Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Epilogue
About the Author
