Once Tempted
Chapter One
London,1812
How was your trip to the solicitor, my lady?" Carlyle asked as he helped his mistress, the Marchioness of Bradstone, down from her carriage.
"Wretched!" she complained. "The incompetent man says there is nothing we can do. Nothing in the least. He is certain that next month the House of Lords will pronounce Robert dead and allow the title to revert to the Crown."
Carlyle shook his head. "I feared as much, madame."
Her ladyship fluttered her handkerchief. "A month, Carlyle! A month!" she wailed. "Where will I live? Where will I go? Everything that matters is entailed with the estate."
Where will we all go? Carlyle would have liked to add to her lament. The Bradstone staff had just as much at stake as their mistress in the Parnell family keeping the title -- their livelihoods depended upon it as well.
Lady Bradstone drew her handkerchief to her nose and sniffed. "If only my dearest boy would come home and prevent all this. Surely he must know the fits and tremblings his ... read full excerpt from: Once Tempted ebook
