Read Online Lord Melvedere's Ghost by Rebecca King - Free Book Online

pick
up on what people were thinking, even though at times he wished he
had not.
    “ We are still knee deep in French spies, smugglers and now a
Star Elite traitor,” Jamie grumbled, shaking his head at the rutted
path toward matrimony that lay before him. It was the last position
he wanted to be in, but there was little he could do about it now.
If he was honest, he had been more disturbed than he had expected
to be when Cecily’s father had refused to accept his offer for her
hand, and had ordered him out of the house. While ordinarily he
would have been tugging at his collar and heading off down the
garden path as fast as his feet could carry him, for some reason,
Cecily, had continued to plague his thoughts and his dreams each
and every day since.
    She had
no protector and, if his suspicions were correct, had no father to
provide for her now. As a result, her options were severely
limited. He couldn’t and wouldn’t sit back and allow her to go to a
poor house where she would, undoubtedly, spend the rest of her
days. Although their father had a fortune, and home of his own,
Jamie wasn’t sure what would happen to it if he was a traitor.
Would Cecily and Portia get the proceeds if the home and fortune
were dismantled? Or had their spiteful and parsimonious father
bequeathed it to some distant relative to spite his daughters?
Jamie suspected it was the latter.
    Jamie
had no doubt that Archie would ensure that Portia was more than
adequately cared for, and would have no compunction against doing
the same for a homeless and penniless Cecily if it came to it, but
Jamie didn’t want Archie to be the one to care for her. Archie was
a great fellow. One of his best friends, but Cecily was someone
Jamie wanted to be the one to care for. It didn’t make sense
because it wasn’t like Jamie at all. He wasn’t a ‘caring’ kind of
person. He carried out his job, did what he had to do and left, not
looking back or thinking about the things, or people, that he left
behind.
    They
pulled into the coaching yard moments later where Jonathan left
Jamie to quietly debate his future while he untied the extra
horses. A few words with the ostler, and a coin or two, was all it
took before he resumed his position on the box seat and waited for
Jonathan to return.
    Cecily
jumped when the carriage door was yanked open, and a small basket
of food plopped at her feet along with a flagon of ale. She caught
the wink from Jonathan before the door slammed closed and the
carriage trundled onward. Her stomach actually ached from the lack
of food and she hungrily dug in, wondering if the bread, pie,
cheese and fruit in the basket were all for her. Shaking her head,
she decided she didn’t really care.

 
    CHAPTER FOUR

    It was a
long and arduous journey to Melvedere. They took many circuitous
routes, doubling back several times to make sure they weren’t
followed or likely to be intercepted.
    It was
only a couple of hours before dawn by the time they did arrive at
the small parish of Melvedere. It was a small, yet rather quaint
village with a higgledy-piggledy mish-mash of houses of varying
indefinable ages. Grand two storey houses broke up the rows small
single storey workers cottages that were mixed in with various
shops, a church, the vicarage and village green.
    As soon
as Jamie turned onto the main street, he felt a sense of homecoming
that was so wonderful he was suddenly impatient to get home. He had
missed the place far more than he had ever expected to. Usually he
was glad to see Melvedere because he was tired, or hungry. Tonight,
or rather this morning, he was glad to see the place for entirely
different reasons. Reasons he daren’t think over too
deeply.
    They
hadn’t heard anything from Cecily since Jonathan had given her the
food and drink hours earlier. In fact, he couldn’t be entirely sure
she was still in the carriage, she was so quiet. Jonathan was fast
asleep beside him, bundled into the warmth of his thick