Read Online One Sinful Night by Kaitlin O'Riley - Free Book Online

if one could call a drafty, damp, rambling, run-down limestone mess with nothing comfortable or stylish to recommend it a proper manor house. Susana did her best to repair the place and make it more respectable, but Joseph was tightfisted with funds and happy with the place just as it was. An unpretentious man who liked his life uncomplicated, Joseph enjoyed his liquor too much and was more than content with his thoroughbred racehorses. His simple mind could not comprehend how his wife could want for anything more in life and her constant misery irritated him.
    And miserable she certainly was.
    Susana submitted to his husbandly demands until she produced a son and heir, at which point she considered herself finished with Joseph and focused all her attention on her adorable baby boy. She hired the best English tutors for her son, determined to raise a proper English gentleman even if they were only in Galway. And what an exceptional child Aidan was! Handsome and bright, ambitious and charming. Traits he obviously inherited from her side of the family and not the Kavanaughs, heaven knew!
    Good fortune finally smiled on her when her husband broke his neck and died from a fall from one of his racehorses when Aidan was eighteen. Dropping dead was the one and only favor he ever granted her in all their marriage. Then all the money was hers, to do with as she wished. Regrettably, she could not sell the Irish property since it was entailed to Aidan, but she immediately made plans to return to England and buy a fine, new house of her own.
    However, the greatest stroke of luck of all occurred at the end of the summer that Joseph obligingly broke his neck. They received word that Joseph’s uncle, the Earl of Whitlock, died along with his wife and only son in a tragic fire at an inn outside London. That sudden and strange twist of fate made Aidan the new Earl of Whitlock. It was a most unexpected but fantastic change of events. Aidan inherited the title, the lands, and the considerable fortune of the earldom. Finally, Susana could leave Ireland and return to London in high style. And as the mother of an earl, no less!
    That miracle couldn’t have happened at a more opportune time either. For she needed to get Aidan as far away from the enticing Vivienne Montgomery as quickly as she could. It proved to be a difficult situation because Aidan was determined to marry the girl, in spite of the fact that Vivienne Montgomery would, undoubtedly, ruin his life. But Susana managed to turn the tables and finally allow Aidan to see Vivienne’s true character revealed in the light of day.
    Everything had worked out to her advantage and she and Aidan made a splendid new life for themselves in England, taking up residence in their grand country estate, Whitlock Hall, and their elegant new townhouse in London.
    If only she had managed to secure his marriage to Helene Winston before they came to Bingham Hall, everything would be perfectly settled. Instead Vivienne Montgomery’s presence threatened her plans for Aidan once again. The looks her son cast in that girl’s direction during supper worried her. No, it did not bode well for anyone that the Irish witch had returned. Something had to be done.
    As the card game drew to a close, Susana laid down her winning hand with a triumphant look.
    â€œYou win again! That’s twice today you’ve beaten me, Susana!” Lady Downey cried in exasperation.
    Susana glanced up to see Vivienne Montgomery, the very object of her thoughts, standing next to their card table. Lady Helene had joined them as well.
    â€œExcuse me, Aunt Jane, but George and Gregory would like to know if it would be all right for them to teach us a new parlor game,” Vivienne asked politely. Susana noted that the girl had lost her Irish accent. Clever baggage.
    Lady Bingham responded with a knowing look, glancing in the direction of the twins, who were attempting to appear innocent and failing utterly.