Page 1 of A Bride for the Forbidden Duke
Chapter One
“What on Earth was that?” Veronica Hartley murmured aloud to herself.
Looking wide-eyed into the darkness of her room, her eyes flicked to the window that overlooked the back gardens. She paused, listening out for any other sound.
There.
Another click. A gate.
Her heart raced at the thought of an intruder.
The staff will be aware, she thought to herself, trying to calm herself down.Mrs. Grimbsy will alert someone.
But what if the housekeeper was asleep and not awoken by the noise in another part of the grounds?
Veronica threw back her bed covers and padded over to the window. Shoulder pressed to the wall, she peered out, pushing the curtain back.
“There is somebody there,” she whispered, shocked.
But it stunned her further to recognize the man’s graying auburn hair and thick sideburns. When he turned around, as if sensing her there, Veronica ducked out of view, but there was no mistaking the face of the man who had seen her: Lord Barwicke, already disappearing through a gate in the gardens, the entrance for the cooks to pick up any deliveries.
If she moved now, she might still catch him in the outer part of the garden.
“Why would Lord Barwicke be leaving the house at such an hour?” she whispered to herself.
Next, she fled her room, and on silent feet so as not to disturb her mother, she ran down several flights of stairs to the furthest wing of Grantham House, but it was no use.
The lord was already gone, the gate clicked behind him, and Veronica was left stupefied with many questions.
The clock ticked into the hallways of the house, telling her she needed to go back to bed and forget about the strange occurrence, but it left her unsettled. For why would a lord beleaving their house? She had not even realized her mother had entertained a late-night guest.
And why had he snuck out so suspiciously?
There was not a soul around the house, and with no hope of catching Lord Barwicke, Veronica knew she needed to return to her chambers.
Her bare feet padding on the floor, she crept back up the main staircase, following it around to the next set of stairs which led to her bedroom.
But to her surprise, somebody was at the top of the set of stairs.
The Dowager Countess of Grantham, Judith Grey, stood poised, her hand on the polished handrail. Her chin was lifted, her mouth tight, and perhaps it was a flash of the moonlight outside the window in the hall, but Veronica swore there were tears in her mother’s eyes.
“Mama?”
Judith jolted, the proud set of her shoulders faltering, as she looked down at Veronica. For a moment, it was as if she did not recognize her. It took another moment for Judith’s gaze to be less vacant as Veronica made her way up the staircase.
“Mama?” she asked again. “Is everything all right?”
“Of course, darling,” Judith said, her voice a pitch too high, and her cheeks slightly flushed.
The closer Veronica got, the more she did indeed see tears in her mother’s eyes, and any moment they could fall.
“What are you doing out of your room at such an hour? You have a busy day tomorrow. It is time for you to return to bed, is it not, dear?”
“I know,” she acknowledged. “But… I could have sworn I saw Lord Barwicke in our grounds. I was concerned, and I needed to see if I could catch him in the act. If he has stolen?—”
“Veronica, I would like you to return to your room.”
Her mother’s voice turned sharp with the command, and Veronica stiffened immediately.
