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Authors: Camille Elliot
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Prelude for a Lord
ZONDERVAN
Prelude to a Lord
Copyright © 2014 by Camy Tang
ePub Edition © May 2014: ISBN 978-0-310-41280-9
Requests for information should be addressed to:
Zondervan, 3900 Sparks Dr. SE,
Grand Rapids, Michigan 49546
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Elliot, Camille.
Prelude for a Lord / Camille Elliot.
pages cm
ISBN 978-0-310-32035-7
1. Christian fiction. I. Title.
PS3605.L4425P74 2014
813'.6—dc23
2014018868
All Scripture quotations are taken from the King James Bible.
Any Internet addresses (websites, blogs, etc.) and telephone numbers in this book are offered as a resource. They are not intended in any way to be or imply an endorsement by Zondervan, nor does Zondervan vouch for the content of these sites and numbers for the life of this book.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or any other—except for brief quotations in printed reviews, without the prior permission of the publisher.
Publisher’s Note: This novel is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either products of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously. All characters are fictional, and any similarity to people living or dead is purely coincidental.
Cover design: Laura Klynstra
Cover photography: Richard Jenkins
Interior design: Lori Lynch
14 15 16 17 18 19 20 / RRD / 20 19 18 17 16 15 14 13 12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
To Sue Brower, for your vision in suggesting this book and our shared love of all things Regency.
CONTENTS
Lady Alethea (al-EE-thea) Sutherton,
daughter of the seventh Earl of Trittonstone. Alethea’s brother inherited upon her father’s death, becoming the eighth Earl of Trittonstone, but he died only a few years later, and Alethea’s cousin,
Wilfred Sutherton
, inherited the title and became the ninth Earl of Trittonstone. Alethea’s mother died when she was very young, but her neighbor, Lady Arkright, loved Alethea like a daughter. Her closest friend is her half sister, Lucy. Contrary to the strictures of proper English society, Alethea has learned to play the violin, although she also plays the harp and pianoforte.
Miss Lucy Purcell,
illegitimate daughter of Alethea’s father. Before Lucy was born, her mother married a sailor who gave Lucy his name. He died in the war. However, everyone in Alethea’s village knew Lucy was the by-blow of the seventh Earl of Trittonstone. After the death of her mother, Lucy went to Bath to work as a maid, and she rose to become a lady’s maid. Her employer is Mrs. Ramsland.
Mrs. Ebena Garen,
Alethea’s aunt. Ebena was the younger sister to Alethea’s paternal grandmother, Darla. Ebena and Darla’s father was Baron Winterscomb. Darla married the sixth Earl of Trittonstone, while Ebena married Mr. Tar Garen, a younger son of the Earl of Danners.
Margaret Garen,
twelve-year-old niece of Aunt Ebena’s late husband.
Lady Arkright,
(deceased) Calandra was an Italian woman trained in music in the Ospedale della Pietà under the composer Vivaldi. It was in Italy that she met and married her husband, Sir William Arkright, and they lived nearby in Trittonstone Park, Alethea’s home. They had no children. When Calandra died, she bequeathed her violin to Alethea.
Bayard Terralton, Baron Dommick,
known as “Bay” to his close friends and family. Lord Dommick only recently inherited the title when his father passed away, about seventeen months before the story opens. (When his father was alive, Lord Dommick was known as Mr. Terralton.) He plays the violin and flute.
Miss Clare Terralton,
Bay’s younger sister. Clare is about to make her debut in London in the coming spring.
Lady Morrish,
Bay’s mother. She had been Lady Dommick until a few months before the story opens, when she married Sir Hermes Morrish.
Sir Hermes Morrish,
knighted several years ago and married Bay’s mother after the death of Bay’s father. His nephew is Mr. Morrish.
The Quartet,
(Lord Dommick, Lord Ravenhurst, Lord Ian Wynnman, and Captain David Enlow) four noblemen extraordinarily accomplished in music performance and composition who have been friends since they were in school together. After they graduated university, they performed for private concerts in London and became quite popular due to their wealth, handsome faces, and musical talent (in that order). Then Bay and David bought their commissions and became officers under Wellesley on the Iberian Peninsula, battling Napoleon Bonaparte.
Captain David Enlow,
third son of the Viscount Enlow. He has one sister and two older brothers. He saved Bay’s life at the Battle of Corunna and helped him back to England. After a few months, he returned to the Peninsula to continue fighting against the French. He plays the pianoforte and the flute.
Arion Mercaren, Marquess of Ravenhurst,
known as “Raven” to his close friends, inherited his father’s title when he was very young. He has two sisters, one of whom married the Earl of Windmarch. During the summer after Bay returned from Corunna, Raven took his friend to Ravenhurst Castle to recover. He plays the violoncello and pianoforte.
Lord Ian Wynnman,
second son of the Marquess of Crallworth. His older brother is the Viscount Dinswell, and he has a younger sister. He plays the pianoforte and violin.
October, 1809
Trittonstone Park, Somerset, England
L
ady Alethea Sutherton sank onto a thin-cushioned chair in the dark, dreary drawing room opposite her cousin and his wife. “Would you care for tea?” Alethea asked, which struck her as odd since her cousin now owned this house, and the master arriving at his new home could hardly be considered a visitor.
Wilfred, the new Earl of Trittonstone, frowned at the threadbare carpet. Alethea was about to mention how her father and brother had never spared the funds to refurbish the home when Wilfred slapped his hands on his knees and said, “No sense putting it off. Alethea, you have a week to pack up your things.”
It was the same sensation as when she was twelve, riding her horse through the woods. She’d arrogantly thought that as she knew every tree and twig, she’d be perfectly safe if she sped up to something faster than a walk. A low-hanging branch had thwacked her in the throat, dislodging her from her horse. She’d landed hard on her back, so in addition to her throat constricting, she hadn’t been able to make her lungs draw in air. She felt that way now.
“Good gracious, Wilfred, she’s going to faint.” But rather than assisting her, Mona leaned away from Alethea as if unconsciousness were contagious. “I told you to introduce the topic with more circumspection.”
“She should have expected it,” Wilfred groused. “It’s my house now, after all.”
Alethea managed to gasp in a breath. Yes, she had half expected Wilfred to arrange for her to leave, but she hadn’t thought she’d only have a week to pack and say good-bye to her childhood home. “Where . . . where will I go?”
Wilfred’s wrinkled brow cleared. “Is that all that’s worrying you? You’ll stay with Aunt Ebena in Bath. You remember Aunt Ebena, don’t you?”
For Alethea, her brother’s funeral had been a blur of faces, but she did remember Aunt Ebena—tall and thin, with a pinched mouth, a gigantic beak nose, and chestnut hair streaked with ash. “She wants me to stay with her?”
“I didn’t ask,” Wilfred said. “But she’ll do what I say, now that I’m the head of the family. Especially if I sweeten the deal with some money for your upkeep. Ebena’s always looking a little shabby.”
Alethea realized her cousin was against her like an icy north wind. A gust blew her down, and once she got her feet under her again, another gust knocked her over once more. She wanted to leave the drawing room, but she didn’t think her legs would support her. “I’ve lived here in the country all my life,” she said faintly.
Mona gave a lusty sigh. “Now, don’t be melodramatic, Alethea. You had your season in London, after all.” Mona’s nasally voice had an edge to it since her family hadn’t been wealthy enough to sponsor a season for her.
Alethea swallowed the metallic taste in her mouth. The majority of her time in London had been abject pain and humiliation, on
account of her height and lack of social skills. And Trittonstone Park had been her haven from her father and brother.
But her father and brother were gone. She didn’t need a haven anymore.
And the last few years, with neighbors who avoided her because they thought she was odd, and with the two people closest to her heart gone, she had been fighting the bleakness of her life alone, the suspicion that there was something fundamentally wrong with her, the fear that the way her family had treated her was the way she would always be treated. Perhaps now was the time to find a new community. And hadn’t Wilfred said . . .
“Aunt Ebena lives in Bath?” Alethea asked.
“Of course. Isn’t that what I said?” Wilfred frowned.
Mona looked at her shrewdly. “Do you have an acquaintance in Bath?”