Page 4 of Pursued Beyond Treachery
For the next eight years he’d never failed to bring her a treat or some other trinket whenever he was home from Harrow or later Cambridge, and she’d adored him for it. But when he’d returned from his tour of the continent two years ago, somethinghad changed. He’d grown more reserved and a bit distant. It perplexed her.
As did her altered view of him. Something had changed between them in the year and a half they’d been apart, a shift she worried was more the imaginations of her fanciful mind than founded in actual fact.
John had still been attentive to her family, as was evidenced by the amount of time and effort he’d spent these last two weeks entertaining her siblings or bringing baskets of food from his kitchens. But he no longer spent time solely with her. And when they were together, he seemed to guard his words like a treasure he feared would run out.
Three taps from the knocker on the front door interrupted her father and brother’s quiet conversation.
“I suppose that must be Lord Newhurst now.” Her father rose to his feet. Before he made it to the door, the housekeeper ushered John in.
His hair had darkened since his youth to a very distinct yellow. The shoulders and arms that had once been thin had filled out, but still held a slender and athletic appearance. She and Terrance rose to greet their guest.
When John’s blue eyes flicked to her, she gave a soft smile. He did not. Instead he clasped his hands behind his back and shuffled from one foot to the other.
“Newhurst.” Her father reached out his hand and the man took it. “Could you come with me to the study? I have some business to discuss with you.”
John nodded.
“Terrance, you too. It is time you start learning the ways of the estate.”
Her brother glanced at her before following the other men. It was strange seeing him take on such a grown-up role, but with his education at Harrow complete this was the next logical step.
With the click of the door behind the men, Susannah sunk back into her chair. Alone.
It was unfair, really. She had been alone when Aunt Guthrie had arrived and she was alone again now. The click of the infernal clock mocked her as if to say, “Alone, alone, always alone.”
She shot to her feet, picked up the clock, and stopped its small pendulum from swinging. For hours the piece of wood and gears had stood silent after her mother’s death, but with the dawning of the day her beloved mama was buried, the clocks had been started again.
It was too soon. Far too soon.
Susannah needed more time. More time in silence, more time to grieve… more time with her mother. But time had been stolen from her. From all of them.
Chapter 1
November 1811, Maidstone, Kent, England
Lord Johnathan Newhurst entered the Waylands’ home and handed his hat to Mrs. Stone. The routine was familiar. He’d been coming to Wayland Lodge most of his adult life, but the visits had become far more regular after Mrs. Wayland’s passing. How much comfort he brought the family these last six months, he did not know, but he liked to think they drew as much enjoyment at his coming as he did from being there.
Michael appeared at the top of the stairs and, spying him, bolted down, nearly falling in the process. “Lord Newhurst,” he called out. “Are you come to play with us?”
At the bottom of the stairs, he flung his arms about John’s legs almost toppling him with the force of his little body.
“Whoa there, careful.”
“Do have a care, Michael,” Andrew said from the top of the stairs, then slowly descended as a man of one and twenty might rather than a boy of only ten. He’d become so serious these last few months that John hardly recognized him.
“Have you heard?” Michael asked untangling himself from John’s legs and hopping from one foot to the other.
“Heard what?” Johnathan smiled at the boy's exuberance.
“Nan is going to London so she can get a husband.”
John’s smile faltered.
“You were supposed to let Susannah tell him herself, Michael.” Andrew frowned.
Susannah was going to London? But how, when, why? He supposed he knew the why, but what reason should she have to go in search of a husband so soon? His chest tightened.
“Where is your sister?”
