Return of the Long Lost Earl: Historical Regency Romance Mystery Read online

  The Return of the Long Lost Earl

  By

  Kate Carteret

  Copyright : Kate Carteret 2019

  ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

  Published by : Dashing Dandies Publishing

  Cover Design : Melody Simmons

  Editor : Elizabeth Williams Alareon Media LLC

  Chapter One

  “If nothing else, it is perfect weather for a garden party, Geraldine.” Diana Sutcliffe took her friend’s arm and the two began to walk down the winding and pretty path to the camelia garden.

  “Perhaps,” Geraldine laughed. “But it is three days from now and we are in England. We could quite feasibly be pounded with rain or even hailstones by Saturday.”

  “That is a very defeatist sort of attitude. Are you feeling a little low, my dear?” Diana turned to look at Geraldine without breaking her stride.

  Before answering, Geraldine looked over her shoulder. There was not a soul to be seen, save for the gardener, Soames, who was not only clear across the lawns from them, but so deaf that they could have secretly conversed in his presence and he would have been none the wiser.

  Diana Sutcliffe had been Geraldine’s closest confidante since they were children and she understood that she would not get to the bottom of her friend’s low mood until they were well hidden in the camelia garden. She knew that Geraldine could not relax into such conversation if there was even the most miniscule chance of her being overheard by any member of her family or the household servants.

  “I am feeling a little low,” Geraldine said in a quiet voice as the two dropped down onto the little slope which would take them into the heart of the camelias and their favourite stone bench upon which so much private discussion had been shared over the years. “It is the same old reason, I daresay.”

  “Gordon Danvers,” Diana hissed the name in solidarity to her friend; Geraldine did not like the man, so neither would she. “Or should I say His Lordship!”

  “How he revels in the title. It is so inappropriate, Diana, for he behaves in such a grand way in front of Lady Kingsmead, even though she is so recently bereaved.”

  “And it is only the loss of her husband which affords Gordon his new title in the first place. How much Lady Kingsmead must wish she had a son,” Diana said and then sighed. “One who had survived, I mean. Goodness, as if the poor woman has not already suffered enough.”

  “I daresay a mother never recovers from such a loss. Even the passage of time cannot do much to ease it, I am sure,” Geraldine smirked a little wickedly. “Although I do believe some mothers would bear the loss a little easier and be able to continue with their lives as if nothing had ever happened.”

  “Lady Myers is not as bad as all that!” Diana stifled a laugh despite the fact the two women were alone. “I think she would grieve terribly for you, my dear, if you were ever lost to her.”

  “Perhaps,” Geraldine said wistfully. “But I would beg you not to hold your breath whilst you wait for her to show some sign of caring. I cannot guarantee your safety.”

  “Geraldine!” Diana finally laughed. “You are too awful!”

  “I know, but I think you know I am either right, or as close to right as it is possible to be under the circumstances.”

  “At least you are smiling now. Still, something is gnawing on your good spirits, I can see it. Is it the garden party at Kingsmead?”

  “Yes, I suppose it is. I know I have been there so many times over the years, but I cannot help but think that some announcement is on its way and it makes me nervous.”

  “Has your father said something?” Diana seemed suddenly nervous herself.

  “No, but then, when does he? I am hardly consulted on such matters. After all, I was betrothed without my knowledge, why would the matter of my engagement be made plain to me?”

  “Try not to upset yourself.” Diana reached out and took her hand.

  Geraldine’s voice had broken just a little and Diana had noticed. Perhaps Diana was one of the few people who would have noticed it.

  Geraldine fell silent as she tried to get on top of her emotions. Ever since the last Earl of Kingsmead had died, everything in her world had become horribly real. As a young girl, the idea of having to marry Gordon Danvers, the son of her father’s oldest and closest friend, had been so nebulous a concept that it almost did not exist to her. It was as if she had never imagined having to see it through.

  The last Earl of Kingsmead had died without a surviving male heir and Sir Basil Danvers had been the closest living male relative, being the old Earl’s second cousin. But Sir Basil had died quite suddenly on the day the old Earl’s last will and testament had been executed, and so Gordon, young, vain, and utterly without a shred of intelligence, was unexpectedly cannoned into the most powerful position in the county of Hertfordshire.

  “Now that Gordon is the Earl of Kingsmead, I expect my father will be in a hurry to marry me off. After all, he would not want Gordon’s new-found authority to see him change his mind.”

  “Is there any chance of it?” Diana said hopefully. “Your father would not be happy, but at least you would be spared the marriage.”

  “I wish there was a chance, but it seems that Gordon is only too happy to spend the rest of his life with me. You know, I do believe he is simply too lazy to look anywhere else. It suits Gordon to have others tell him what his life holds, and I doubt it will occur to him to go against the determinations of his father and my own. He does not think deeply about anything. He would never work out that he holds some power in the situation.”

  “True.” Diana laughed. “Gordon has never been one to dwell in the contemplative side of life.”

  “Everything just washes over him. I believe that is why he is so painfully insensitive around Lady Kingsmead. He has already introduced her to somebody as the Dowager Countess of Kingsmead, I heard it with my own ears.”

  “Oh, my goodness! How mortifying.” Diana looked shocked but was clearly amused, nonetheless.

  “Lady Kingsmead was very kind about it. I apologised as soon as Gordon was out of earshot, but she said I need not worry, young men are prone to over-excitement. But since I shall be the woman who one day causes her title change to Dowager, I felt terribly responsible.”

  “But Lady Kingsmead likes you, Geraldine, she always has.”

  “And I like her. Of the three families who have been so closely aligned, I always liked Lady Kingsmead the best. She is such a clever woman and she is so dignified. My own parents could certainly learn from her.”

  “And as for the Danvers family!” Diana went on confidentially.

  The two women had always discussed their relations, friends, and acquaintances in detail, usually finding they held people in a similar, if not identical, regard.

  “Did you tell me that Lady Kingsmead has already moved into the Dower House? She is not in the main hall anymore?”

  “Quite so. I think she prefers it. I had tea with her there last week and she seemed quite at home. She told me that the old hall is too big for her now, that the smaller space provides a curious comfort to her.”

  “I know she is in mourning, but do you think she misses her husband?”

  “She says nothing of it, but I doubt she does. Like so many married couples, they always seemed to be so dreadfully mis-matched. I found I never liked the old Earl of Kingsmead, Garrett Lyndon. There was something about him that always made me feel a little afraid, if I am honest. And that relationship with my father seemed such a peculiar one; they were friends, but somehow there was something of a distance between them.”


  “But the families, your own, the Danvers, and the Lyndons, were always such close company. Still, I think I observed myself that the friendship between your father and Sir Basil Danvers was a much closer one somehow. Odd really, given that Sir Basil was the old Earl’s cousin. You would have thought they would have been closer and your father the odd man out.”

  “I used to dread such engagements really, it always felt so forced, so awkward. Still, I was pleased to be in Lady Kingsmead’s company. Like me, she always seemed to be on the edge of things.”

  “I wonder why your father and Sir Basil were so keen that you and Gordon be married one day.”

  “Perhaps the idea amused them. Perhaps they wanted their two families to be joined forever. Really, when my father realised that the boy he had promised me to would actually one day be the Earl of Kingsmead, he must have silently congratulated himself.”

  “Most fathers would. Still, the old Earl must have felt the strain of it all. Imagine losing your son when he is one-and-twenty and knowing it is all too late to have another child.”

  “But that is what I find so sad, Diana. I can imagine him being upset that he no longer had an heir when he ought to have been grieving for the loss of his son. Lady Kingsmead, I am sure, would not have cared a thing about where the estate went, she would have been devastated by such an awful loss.”

  “Mothers generally are.”

  “We have come full circle, Diana, for I am about to hold my own disconnected mother up for inspection once again.” Geraldine laughed; she felt better, if only a little.

  It was such a warm and bright day for early Summer and, as beautiful as the yellow light was on the deep green leaves of the camelias, she found herself wishing it would rain; anything to spoil the dreaded garden party at the Kingsmead estate. For now, however, she would enjoy the unexpected warmth of the day. She closed her eyes to truly experience the sun on her face. How pleased she was that they had not encountered her mother as they made their way out onto the grounds, for she would have insisted that Geraldine take a parasol to stop her skin from browning in the sun.

  Geraldine was in no mood to deny herself so simple a pleasure as sunshine and most certainly did not care if her skin was not as pale and insipid as fashion currently demanded.

  “What on earth are you doing?” Diana said in an amused tone.

  “I am studying the freckles on my nose. They are getting bigger by the moment.” Geraldine had tipped her head back and was cross-eyed as she concentrated hard on trying to see her nose.

  “Well, let us hope that Gordon Danvers has a hitherto unmentioned loathing of young ladies with freckled noses.”

  “We can but dream, my dear,” Geraldine said, straightening up and feeling the strain she had put her eyes under.

  “Maybe you could scare him about the ghost of Kingsmead, just like your brother used to make us scared when we were children.”

  “That would be a fine idea if the whole thing still did not scare me now.” Geraldine straightened the fabric of her gown, which had become a little crumpled in her lap.

  “Although I suppose Gordon is not sensitive enough to see a ghost.”

  “Diana, there is no ghost!” Geraldine objected. “But I admit Gordon would be too blunt to see one if such things existed.”

  “If you do not believe in such things, why does it still frighten you now?” Diana teased.

  “Because Gillespie did a very good job of making it all seem so real back then. Now, if you’re going to tease me, I think it is time to go back into the house and have some tea. My father is out and I daresay my mother has taken to her chamber for a rest, so we shall have the drawing room to ourselves.”

  “Very well,” Diana said, rising to her feet. “Let us have tea and decide how best to tell the frightening story of Betsy Flynn’s ghost to your betrothed.”

  “Oh, how I wish you could come with me to Kingsmead. How much easier you would make it all seem.” Geraldine said and took her friend’s hand as they made their way back to the house.

  Chapter Two

  “I think you must prepare yourself for the fact that Father might announce your engagement tomorrow, Geraldine,” Gillespie Myers said when Geraldine ventured out of the rooms assigned to her at Kingsmead. “You must not look shocked or silly, you see. I would not have told you, but I think you are better forewarned. There will be less chance of you doing or saying something stupid.”

  “So, our father has told you of his plans but not me? It is hardly surprising,” Geraldine said and made to walk past him.

  He snatched her upper arm roughly and held onto her, making her gasp with surprise. Geraldine looked defiantly up into his face and pulled her arm free with a mighty effort. It hurt all the more, but Gillespie was her brother, not her father, and she would not have him bully her too; her father was more than enough.

  “This marriage is important, Geraldine,” He said in a tone that was almost apologetic. “Forgive me, I should not have been so fervent.”

  “No, you should not have.” Geraldine spoke calmly and was careful to maintain eye contact. “I have been aware of my fate for as long as I have been able to understand whole sentences. I do not need you to educate me further, Gillespie. But perhaps I might educate you.” She was angry but hiding it well.

  “Oh?”

  “Yes. I want you to imagine that you have no power in this world. Then I want you to imagine that your father demands you marry a woman of so little attraction to you that your insides tighten painfully every time you think of her. She is not just unattractive to you, you see, but also one of the stupidest people in Creation. But you cannot say no for you have no right to. You have no right to your life, the life that God gave you, because your father has decreed it be so. And then, Gillespie, imagine me, your sister, sneering into your face, pinching your arm, and telling you to behave yourself nicely about the whole thing.”

  “That is not the way the world works, my dear,” he said, although he was greatly subdued.

  “And don’t I know it!” She hissed before walking hastily around him and away.

  Geraldine knew the layout of Kingsmead well; her family had been such regular visitors over the years. Without thinking about it, she began to make her way to the drawing room. Their small party, consisting of Geraldine, her parents, and her brother, had arrived in the middle of the morning and had spent some time settling into their chambers. She knew that tea would be served in the drawing room in an hour’s time, it always was, and so she thought to sit in peace and quiet for a little while before anybody else arrived. However, when she reached the partially open drawing room door, Geraldine could hear voices from within.

  She immediately recognised the forceful, arrogant tones of her father, Lord Roscoe Myers, and hovered outside the door for a moment, not really wanting to go in. When she had been about to gently open the door further still and finally announce her presence, the sound of Gordon Danvers’ voice stopped her in her tracks.

  “Yes, I agree, Lord Myers,” He began, and Geraldine winced; Gordon’s voice was just a little higher than most men’s and it grated on her nerves. “We’ll announce it about halfway through the garden party. That way can we can be sure that all our notable guests will have arrived.”

  “Quite so, Gordon. You are already thinking like an Earl. Good show, good show.” Although her father was always complimentary to Gordon Danvers, Geraldine had often entertained the impression that he did not really like the young man very much.

  Roscoe Myers was a bullish, bear-like man, one who liked quick thinking and plain speaking. Anybody else with Gordon Danvers’ rather indistinct qualities, lack of intelligence, and propensity to laziness, would have been roundly denounced and readily dismissed by her father, she was sure of it. Of course, it was likely his determination that this marriage take place which had made her father so uncommonly tolerant of what she was sure he would see as Gordon’s endless failings.

  “And then we can give some thought t
o the date,” her father continued as Geraldine felt her hands ball into fists by her sides. “It is early Summer now, perhaps the end of Summer or early Autumn at the latest. The county won’t want to get wet when they come to celebrate.”

  Geraldine was so angry she could have kicked the door. Her father wanted to hurry things along now that Gordon had Kingsmead and there was no more to it than that. She knew well that he did not care a thing for the notables of the county, wet or dry, it was just a cajoling tactic to have Gordon agree to things and still think it his own idea. And as for Gordon, as dull as he was, could even he not give her enough respect to let her know of the plan to announce their engagement the following day at the garden party?

  Geraldine felt powerless; just as small, insignificant, and insubstantial as the ghost of Betsy Flynn. Knowing that she could not bear their company just yet, she turned on her heel and made for the morning room. At that time of day, she could be sure it was empty.

  “Oh, Lady Kingsmead, please forgive me,” Geraldine said when she marched into the morning room.

  “Not at all, my dear.” As always, Lady Kingsmead had a warm smile for her.

  The betrothal of Geraldine and Gordon had been widely known for years, and the notion that she would one day usurp Lady Kingsmead as Countess cannot have been lost on the woman. And yet, she had never given any sign of resenting Geraldine Myers for a moment, even though she was set to marry the young man who was so gleefully accepting the title which ought to have been her own son’s.

  “If I had known you were here, I would not have intruded upon your solitude,” she began and could feel her cheeks reddening. “Especially not with such physical force.”

  Her embarrassment had more to do with their new situation than her having burst into the room unannounced.

  “I am pleased that it is you who breaks my solitude,” Lady Kingsmead laughed gently and indicated that Geraldine should sit down. “And I must have surprised you as much as you did me, for I was not intending to come over from the Dower House until it was time for afternoon tea.”