Gervaise stepped forward.
“Father, I am so pleased to see you happy – and you also, Jane. May your days be filled with joy from now on.”
Nicholas and Jane both embraced him, and Jane’s eyes filled with tears. They turned, and a cloud of thrown flower petals greeted them, from the townspeople. Laughing, they went to the carriage, which would take them to Windemere Towers for the wedding breakfast. Jane made no attempt to brush the petals from her hair or dress.
Gervaise watched them as they stepped up into the carriage, and felt an odd sense of relief – until that moment, he had not realised how much he had struggled with the change in his father, after his mother’s death. Now, seeing his father again the happy, caring man he had been, Gervaise found his own peace with the world. His mother was gone, but Jane was a woman that Clara would have loved, a woman worthy of his father. If only he might, himself, one day be blessed with the kind of love that his father had found.
THE END
I hope that you enjoyed
‘Falling for the Earl’
You’ll find a taste of the next book in the series,
‘Rescuing the Countess’,
just after the ‘About the Author’ section of this book.
About the Author
Arietta Richmond has been a compulsive reader and writer all her life. Whilst her reading has covered an enormous range of topics, history has always fascinated her, and historical novels have been amongst her favourite reading.
She has written a wide range of work, from business articles and other non-fiction works (published under a pen name) but fiction has always been a major part of her life. Now, her Regency Historical Romance books are finally being released. The Derbyshire Set is comprised of 10 novels (7 released so far). The ‘His Majesty’s Hounds’ series is comprised of 16 novels, with the twelfth having just been released.
She also has a standalone longer novel shortly to be released, and two other series of novels in development.
She lives in Australia, and when not reading or writing, likes to travel, and to see in person the places where history happened.
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Here is your preview of
Rescuing the
Countess
His Majesty’s Hounds – Book 13
Sweet and Clean Regency Romance
Arietta Richmond
Chapter One
Charles Barrington, Viscount Wareham, watched as Lady Maria Loughbridge was wed to Lord Edmund Wollstonefort, the Earl of Granville. It was, they were saying, the wedding of the Season, even though it was the first wedding that Season. Maria looked beautiful, as always. He did not think it possible for her to look anything other than beautiful.
Once, when he had been younger, and foolish, he had looked at Maria, and thought that he would, one day, marry her. Then he had grown old enough to understand that the place of a third son in the world, even the third son of a Duke, was nothing – certainly not high enough for Viscount Chester to consider him as a suitor for his daughter. Nothing had ever been said – he had simply come to understand how the world worked. But he had never stopped seeing Maria as beautiful – beyond the surface beauty that everyone focused on.
He looked away, staring at the stone floor of the church, letting the words of the ceremony, binding her irrevocably to another man, wash over him.
He would find someone else to marry, he was sure, for, now that his father and Richard, his eldest brother were dead and gone, and Hunter was Duke, he was no longer considering the church as a career. He did not, yet, really know what he would do. When the ceremony ended, he left the church with everyone else, and slipped through the crowd, into the streets. He would not attend the wedding breakfast – for he found little in the day to celebrate. For the first time since Martin’s death two years before, drinking himself senseless in a tavern seemed like a good option.
~~~~~
“How dare you countermand my orders to my servants! You will not do so again, do you understand?”
Lady Constance Wollstonefort, the Dowager Countess of Granville, spoke sharply, her tone scathing, as she glared at her daughter-in-law. Maria repressed a sigh, for that would only draw more of the woman’s wrath, and looked sideways to her husband, hoping that he might defend her. He said nothing, as she had come to expect. She sadly acknowledged that he would never stand up to his mother.
“Yes, my Lady. I will endeavour to remember that instruction.”
It was as close as she could go to rebellion. The woman would make her life miserable, no matter what she said. Whilst the first few months of her marriage had been pleasant, if less romantic than she had hoped, as soon as they had removed from London, to Myniard House, the Earl’s estate in Wiltshire, things had changed for the worse.
Lady Granville had made it instantly obvious that no woman could ever have been good enough for her son, and that Maria fell far short of her standards in every way. Since then, Maria’s life had been miserable. Her only relief was to go walking in the grounds of Myniard Park, spending as long away from the house as she could. The one advantage to her mother-in-law’s attitude was that the woman expected nothing of her – in fact, she forbade Maria from having any influence in the household at all. Which left Maria with her time to herself, and no duties to fulfil, beyond those performed in her husband’s bedchamber, on the occasions when he chose to call her there.
Some days, as she sat under the towering oak trees by the stream, she allowed herself to dream, to wonder what life would have been like, if she had married a different man. It was not that she disliked Edmund – he was kind, and genuinely cared for her. But he did not love her, and she did not love him. It was a cold kind of marriage, the exact opposite of the kind of thing that young girls dream of.
Her mother and father had been so happy when she had received the offer of marriage from Edmund. So proud of her, for marrying well. And she, good, obedient daughter that she had always been, had done as they said, and agreed to marry him. How foolishly innocent she had been.
She knew that dreaming now was pointless – she was married, and that was that. Perhaps, if she was lucky, Edmund would give her a child – with a child, she could spend all her love and energy there, and feel better in the world for it. But it had been months now, and she had not quickened, so, perhaps, it would not happen. The life that stretched before her seemed impossibly grey and miserable.
As always, as she returned from sitting by the stream, she collected herbs and medicinal plants, depositing them at the little gardener’s cottage which she had claimed as her sanctuary, before going back to the house. At least that was one useful thing she could do. Tomorrow, she would hang them to dry, and consider what other plants she needed to gather before winter.
At dinner, she simply sat, watching her husband eat, finding her own appetite lacking. Edmund was a substantial man, whose hair was unfortunately thinning early, and there was no grace about him. Despite her determination not to think of ‘might-have-beens’, her mind would insist on comparing him to the young men she had known – her neighbours in childhood, the Barringtons, had three boys, all of whom had grown into fine looking men. If only Edmund looked more like that! She pushed aside the foolish wish, and forced herself to eat.
Lady Granville glared at her across the table, as if even her table manners were inadequate, and Maria wished herself invisible. There was not a day that passed when the woman did not f
ind something about her to criticise. For Maria, who had been the golden child of her family, always beautiful, always praised, life at Myniard House had been the rudest awakening to the cruelty of the world possible.
In the end, she could not eat, and, pleading a megrim, took herself to her room. Once she had locked the door, like so many other nights, she cried herself to sleep.
Get
“Rescuing the Countess”
as soon as it’s released – go to http://www.ariettarichmond.com
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Books in the ‘His Majesty’s Hounds’ Series
Claiming the Heart of a Duke
Intriguing the Viscount
Giving a Heart of Lace
Being Lady Harriet’s Hero
Enchanting the Duke
Redeeming the Marquess
Finding the Duke’s Heir
Winning the Merchant Earl
Healing Lord Barton
Kissing the Duke of Hearts
Loving the Bitter Baron
Rescuing the Countess (coming soon)
Betting on a Lady’s Heart (coming soon)
Attracting the Spymaster (coming soon)
Restoring the Earl’s Honour (coming soon)
Books in ‘The Derbyshire Set’
The Earl’s Unexpected Bride
The Captain’s Compromised Heiress
The Viscount’s Unsuitable Affair
The Count’s Impetuous Seduction
The Rake’s Unlikely Redemption
The Marquess’ Scandalous Mistress
The Marchioness’ Second Chance (Coming Soon!)
Lady Theodora’s Christmas Wish
The Derbyshire Set Omnibus Edition Vol. 1 (the first three books all in one)
The Derbyshire Set Omnibus Edition Vol. 2 (the second three books all in one)
Available at all good book stores and for ebook readers too!
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Falling for the Earl: Sweet and Clean Regency Romance (His Majesty's Hounds Book 12) Page 9
