The Virtuous Ward (Sweet Deception Regency #5)
Read The Virtuous Ward (Sweet Deception Regency #5) Online
Authors: Karla Darcy
Table of Contents
THE VIRTUOUS WARD
BY
KARLA DARCY
Presented By:
Glades Publishing
Readers love Karla Darcy
"Fans of Downton Abbey and Jane Austen (without zombies) will adore this book. Karla Darcy makes us remember why we lose sense and sensibility for a sexy Regency hero and captures the era with a glorious and colorful voice!"
Roxanne St. Claire, New York Times Bestselling Autho
r
"Karla Darcy weaves one fabulous Regency Romance after another. Wise, witty and wonderful. Move over Jane for another Darcy you will love!"
Mary Alice Monroe, NY Times author of Beach House Memories
"… creates a particularly attractive heroine to captivate both the hero and the reader alike. Darcy is winning a large readership with her diverting novels in this most competitive genre."
Romantic Times
"A funny entertaining story. Her writing flows and her knowledge of the time period is evident."
Rendezvous Magazine
"Karla hooks readers and carries them along to a wonderfully satisfying ending."
"I simply couldn't put the book down. This emotionally intense love story will grip readers' attention."
"…writing is graceful and witty, plotting is clever, added to this are two characters who will charm and delight you."
"Darcy is winning a large readership with her diverting novels in this most competitive genre."
"…. weaves her magic spell once more in this intricately plotted gem of a book."
The Virtuous Ward
is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
Copyright 2012 Karla Darcy
All Rights Reserved
Published by: Glades Publishing
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Published by: Glades Publishing
http://www.GladesPublishing.com
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eISBN:
978-0-9857614-4-8
Original cover design by: Tara O’Shea
Cover Photos: © Raisa Kanareva | Dreamstime.com
© George Mayer | Dreamstime.com
Also by KARLA DARCY
The Masked Heart
The Marriage Wager
The Scandalous Ward
The Five Kisses (a novella)
DEDICATION
For Dave
For all the times you’ve been there for us.
Chapter One
"You mean you've kept the girl a prisoner for eleven years?" Devereaux Cathcart's raised voice indicated his astonishment as he stared across the room at his host. "Really, Max. Even for you that is a tawdry admission."
Lord Maxwell Kampford picked an invisible speck of lint from his black velvet sleeve. His dark head was bent as though he were engrossed in the task but the tension in his body belied that charade. Max brushed the nap of the sleeve then nodded as if satisfied and lifted his green eyes to his friend. "I have not held the girl prisoner, Dev. I am her guardian and I have done my best to keep Miss Fraser safe from the corrupting influences of society."
"Cut line, old son." Dev raised his snifter of brandy and waved it in Max's direction. "Perhaps you'd care to pull my other leg."
Max glowered at Devereaux. The man was sprawled in a high back chair, one leg dangling over the arm and swinging back and forth as though wafted by some gentle breeze. The shock of white hair above dark eyebrows was always surprising in a man in his early thirties. At twenty Dev's hair had begun to show signs of premature aging much to the amusement of his friends who referred to him thereafter as the Grey Fox.
Max had been pleased when Dev had arrived at Edgeworth and they had spent a long evening reminiscing about their salad days, but as his oldest friend, Dev was far too perceptive by half. Max's frown began to crumble and a sheepish expression crossed his face.
"Perhaps you're right. I was trying to put a good face on my behavior." Max pulled at his earlobe as he threw himself into the companion chair across from Dev.
"I had forgotten you even had a ward," Dev mentioned in some chagrin.
"To be blunt, so had I," Max muttered, his voice barely audible at such a bald admission.
Max shifted under the condemning glare of his friend. If he had been hoping for some sympathy he was well out. And in truth he could find little to excuse in his own behavior.
"Her parents died eleven years ago. I was a youth and little used to children," Max said, aware of the defensive note that crept into his voice. "The Frasers had been friends of my parents for years. I myself had never met them. Both Frasers were killed in a carriage accident just after my own parents died. My father had been named as guardian to their daughter and as his heir the guardianship had devolved to me. At the tender age of twenty-one I was appalled to discover I was responsible for the social, physical and financial welfare of a ten year old girl."
"What was she like?"
"When I saw Miss Fraser at the time of her parents' funeral, she was a gawky thing. A thoroughly unprepossessing child."
"Most girls are at ten. No bosom and little bottom," Dev commented.
"The child was blessed with few charms and an impossible name. I cannot believe anyone would name a child Endurance. Endurance Fraser."
For the first time since Max began telling him about his ward, Dev's face lightened at the look of consternation on his friend's face. "Can I trust she was nothing like her name?"
"Little hope of that, old chap. Nervous sort of child, ever darting about like a hound that's lost the scent. Had a tendency to knock things over every time she moved. The day of the funeral she tripped on the hem of her dress and broke a vase when she waved her hand. Seemed all arms and legs, a white face and an unruly wealth of bright red hair."
"Sounds charming, Max. No wonder you took her to your heart."
The biting sarcasm had little effect on Max whose eyes were fixed on a spot above the Adam's fireplace. In his mind he could see the girl clearly and when he spoke his voice was soft with remembrance.
"The child had enormous eyes which stared at me without blinking. They were the clearest blue. Dark, like a Scottish lake. Endurance stood in front of the desk as I told her what provisions had been made for her. No tears. No emotion. Just stared at me. An unnatural attitude to be sure." Max stood up and reached for the snifter of brandy on the mantel. He took a sip, staring down into the amber liquor. "I told her I was sorry about her parents and she nodded but otherwise showed no change in expression. I asked her if she had any questions and she said no. She whirled around, knocked over a table and left the room."
"Did she show to better advantage the next time?" Dev asked.
"That was the only time I have seen Endurance Fraser," Max answered.
"Devil you say!"
"What was I to do? I was twenty-one and a bachelor. Hardly the proper household to bring a child into. There was no other family to take her. I was already guardian to my eleven-year-old brother and he was off at school. I did what I could for the girl. I provided a safe, secure environment for her. Educated her. Even sent her presents at Christmas time."
"What on earth did you send the child, knowing her so little?"
"Books," Max mumbled, ignoring the snort of derision from his companion.
"Self-improvement books, I have little doubt." The words apparently hit the mark for Max winced and Dev smiled his mouth tight.
"Believe me, Dev, I thought I was doing my best for the girl. I will admit I was ill prepared to take on the responsibility of the child. At the time of the funeral, I set everything in train with my business manager, including the sending of Christmas presents." Then in a burst of honesty, "I thought to arrange the chit's life so that I would not be bothered with further details. Since everything ran so well the first year, I let my business manager deal with it. Eventually I forgot all about her."
Silence filled the room except for the soft crackle of the fire. It was not an easy silence, condemnation hung between the two friends. Dev stared at Max whom he had known since they were boys in school together.
At thirty-two, Max appeared cynical, arrogant and uncaring. Beneath the elegant black velvet jacket his body was well muscled. He had the tall, lean appearance of his father and he moved with the grace and balance of an athlete. His mother had bestowed the wavy chestnut hair which was slicked away from his broad forehead. Dev missed the mischievous sparkle in Max's green eyes that used to lighten his somber childish face. The jaded stare through which he viewed the world now held little of the original glint. Max had seen too much to find the world amusing. His eyes were shaded, giving little evidence of his true feelings, but Dev knew him well and sensed vulnerability behind the icy gaze.
For a moment Dev wondered about the orphan, Endurance Fraser. He could not imagine how the child had turned out. She would be twenty-one now. A woman grown. For eleven years she had been kept in virtual seclusion on an isolated estate in the north of England with no one but the servants for companions. Annoyance at his friend's neglect, forced him to speak in a chill voice. "And by what miracle have you been reminded of the existence of the girl?"
Max's eyes flicked to Dev's face and he nodded once as though accepting the condemnation he saw there. "My business manager came to me yesterday and asked me what arrangements I had made for the girl's come out."
"And?"
"Devil take it, Dev! No need to come that toffee-nosed tone with me. Your life has hardly been such a model of exemplary behavior."