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Chapter One

Martin Cambden Willesden, fifth Earl of Merton, strode purposefully along the first-floor corridor of the Her his striking features would have warned any who knew hi the men of the 7th Hussars had been that if any emotion showed on Major Willesden’s face the portents were bad And, thought ex-Major Willesden savagely, I’ve every right to feel furious

Recalled from pleasant exile in the Baha loomy London to face an uphill battle to extricate the fa state they had, apparently unaided, tumbled into Matthews, the elder, of Matthews and Sons, his and his fae was in need of attention and would not, in its present state, ht that was all part of the old land without delay He should have recalled Matthews’ habit of understaterey eyes deepened The Here was in even worse case than the invest

As he paced the length of the corridor, the crisp clack of boot-heels penetrated his reverie In a state bordering on shock, Martin stopped and stared down There were no runners! Just bare wooden boards and, to his critical eye, they were not even well-polished

Slowly, his grey gaze lifted to take in the so wallpaper fras A pervasive chill inhabited the gloom

His fro black, the Earl of Merton swore—and added yet another ite iain, let alone reside for more than a day, the place would have to be done up Downstairs was bad enough— but this! Description failed him

Setting aside his aggravation, Martin resuer Countess’s rooo, he had postponed the inevitablewith the probleeration But the critical decisions had been rasp

Despite such success, his hopes for the co intervieere less than certain Curiosity brushed shoulders with a lingering wariness he had not thought he still possessed

His er Countess of Merton, had terrorised her household for as long as Martin could recall The only ones apparently immune from her domination had been his father and himself His father she had excused He had not been so favoured

He halted outside the plain wooden door that gave access to the Dowager’s apartments Despite all that lay between them, she was his mother A mother he had not seen for thirteen years and who woman with no room in her heart for him How much of the blame for the decay of his ancestral acres could be laid at her door? The question puzzled hiood few questions, including how she would deal with hi him

Recognising the instinctive squaring of his shoulders as his habit when about to enter his colonel’s domain, Martin’s lips twitched Without more ado, he raised a fist to the plain panels and knocked Hearing a clear instruction to enter, he opened the door and complied

He paused just beyond the threshold, his hand on the doorknob and, with a practised air of languid ease, scanned the room What he saered some of his questions

The tall, upright figure in the chair before the as reyer, perhaps, but still retaining that calht of the gnarled and twisted hands resting, useless, in her lap and the peculiar rigidity of her pose that alerted him to the truth They had told him she kept to her room, a victim of rheumatism He had interpreted that as a fashionable response to a relatively minor ailment Now, reality stared him in the face His mother was an invalid, bound to her chair

Pity stabbed him, sharp and fresh He re with the best of thehty as ever—and more defensive than he had ever seen the his mother would accept from him

Despite the real shock, his face remained impassive Unhurriedly, he closed the door and strolled into the rooe the round-eyed stare of the only other occupant of the large chamber—his eldest brother’s relict, Melissa

Catherine Willesden sat in her high-backed chair and watched her third son approach, her features as i, powerful fraht fell on his features as he drew nearer Her sharp eyes were quick to detect the hardness behind the elegance, a ruthless determination, a hedonism ill-concealed by the veneer of polite h to recognise

Then he was before her To her horror, he reached for her hand She would have stopped him if she’d been able but the words stuck in her throat, trapped by her pride Warers Her surprise amped beneath a sudden rush of emotions as Martin’s dark head bent and she felt his lips brush her wrinkled skin Gently, he replaced her hand in her lap and dutifully kissed her cheek

‘Mama’

The single word, uttered in a gravelly voice deeper than she recalled, jolted Lady Catherine to reality She blinked rapidly Her heart was beating faster Ridiculous! She fixed her son with a frown, struggling to infuse an arctic bleakness into her grey eyes The slight sested that he ell aware he had thrown her off balance But she was determined to keep this black sheep firht no further scandal upon the family

‘I believe, sir, that I sent instructions that you were to attend land?’

Entirely unperturbed by his lare, Martin strolled to the e in polite surprise ‘Didn’t my secretary write to you?’

Indignation flared in Lady Catherine’s pale eyes ‘If you are referring to a note froup the reins of his inheritance and would call on me at his earliest convenience, I received it, sirrah! What I want to knohat theof it is And why, once you finally arrived, it took you an entire day to remember the way to my rooms!’

Observing the un his mother’s austere features, Martin resisted the temptation to remind her of his title He had not expected to enjoy this discussion, but, soer seemed as remote nor as truly hostile as he recalled Perhaps it was her infirmity that made her appear more human? ‘Suffice it to say that the Merton affairs were in a so one booted foot on th