Regency Surrender: Infamous Reputations: The Chaperon's Seduction / Temptation of a Governess

She did not regret taking Ellen to live with her and she would devote herself now to looking after her. But later, when Ellen was married and she could look to her own happiness, what then? Perhaps she should marry again. Sir Evelyn had proved himself a kind and considerate husband but Phyllida knew that only the deepest love would make her give up her independence now, and ladies who had reached the advanced age of four-and-twenty did not readily fall in love, did they? The question hovered and impatiently she closed her mind to it. The future must look after itself. She was comfortably situated and had sufficient funds to do whatever she wished.

Such as wandering around ruined castles all alone?

Yes, she told herself firmly, and set off to prove it was possible.

* * *

The area adjoining the gatehouse was now a farmyard so Phyllida made her way in the opposite direction, where trees and bushes obscured what was left of the thick curtain wall. Stones from the ancient building were scattered around, making the ground uneven and she gathered up her voluminous skirts to avoid snagging them on the rampant vegetation.

‘Exploring, Lady Phyllida?’

Richard Arrandale was coming towards her. She quickly dropped her skirts, but not before she was sure he had glimpsed her stockings and half-boots.

And what of it? No doubt he has seen scores of ladies’ ankles in his career.

She told him, ‘I wanted, if I could, to discover something of the size of the castle.’

‘It is quite extensive. Here, take my hand and let me help you over these stones. We may find the path a little easier further on.’

‘Perhaps I should be getting back. Ellen—’

‘Miss Tatham is safely under the eye of the Wakefields,’ he replied. ‘And Fullingham has taken himself off to smoke a cigar.’ He said solemnly, ‘You are at liberty to enjoy yourself, Lady Phyllida.’

Tentatively she put out her hand. As his fingers closed around her glove she felt his thumb moving over the soft leather. The slow sensual strokes made her want to purr and she had to struggle to ignore it. He led her on through the ruins, pointing out portions of carved stone amongst the rubble and the outline of walls that were now no more than ridges in the ground.

‘You are very well informed, Mr Arrandale.’ She cast a suspicious look up at him. ‘When Lady Wakefield told you of this excursion you gave the impression you had not been here before.’

‘Did I?’

She stopped. His expression was innocent enough but there was laughter in his eyes. She said severely, ‘You know very well you did.’

He laughed.

‘Very well, I admit it. My great-aunt brought me here several times when I was younger. I explored the ruins then.’

‘Oh? Did all your family visit here?’

‘Good God, no. My father would have thought this place beneath him. He and my mother were too busy enjoying themselves in town to bother with their children.’

She tried to ignore the bitterness in his response.

‘Did your brother come here too?’

‘No. By the time I visited here Wolf was at Oxford, causing mayhem.’

‘Ah.’ She smiled. ‘The Scandalous Arrandales.’

‘Quite. However, unlike me, he wasn’t sent down. He saved his disgrace for something far more serious.’

He looked so grim that she could not prevent herself from squeezing his hand.

‘I am very sorry.’

‘You need not be.’

He spoke roughly and she knew he wanted to pull away from her. It was an almost imperceptible movement but she was aware of it and immediately she released him. He took a couple of paces towards one of the low stretches of wall rising up through the grass and rested one booted foot upon the stones.

He said with feigned carelessness, ‘It gives one a certain...standing, don’t you know, to have a murderer for a brother. I attracted all the choicest spirits at Oxford, most of ’em older, all of them ripe for mischief. I did not last a year before they kicked me out.’

‘Why, what did you do?’ The question was voiced before she could prevent it.

‘Gambling, drinking. Women. Then I moved on to London, where I found even more of the same pleasures to be enjoyed.’ His mouth twisted. ‘After all, I had to maintain the family reputation. Although I stopped short of murder.’

Her heart went out to him.

‘I do not believe the Arrandales are as black as they are painted. As for your brother—it was a long time ago but I know the whispers, the rumours, continue.’ She tried to smile. ‘They are probably much worse than what actually happened.’

‘I doubt it.’

‘Would you like to tell me?’

She spoke the words softly and wondered if he had heard them for he ignored her, idly swiping at a thistle with his riding crop. Phyllida waited and eventually her patient silence was rewarded.

‘I am no better informed than you about how my sister-in-law died. I was spending that winter with my great-aunt at Shrewton and my parents decided it would be best if I remained in ignorance of what had happened. Of course that state of affairs could not last, Sophia’s acquaintances soon informed her of the situation and she took me back to Arrandale but by then it was too late. Florence, my sister-in-law, had been dead three months and my brother was gone.’

He turned and began to stroll on. She fell in beside him.

‘How did she die?’

‘Fell down the stairs. Florence was pregnant at the time and the fall brought on the birth. The child survived but Florence died that night. Everyone thought Wolf had killed her. Oh, the death was recorded as an accident, my father saw to that. After all he’d had plenty of practice covering up his own transgressions.’ His lip curled. ‘I come from a family of wrongdoers, Lady Phyllida. My family history is littered with murder, abduction and thievery, the stories of Farleigh Castle pale in comparison. Wolf was merely following the family tradition.’

She shook her head, but did not contradict him, merely asked what had happened to his brother.

‘My father sent Wolf abroad immediately after the tragedy. Then Florence’s parents demanded the return of a diamond necklace. It was a family treasure, apparently, to be passed to the heir, in this case Florence’s twin, but she had borrowed it for her wedding and had kept it to wear on grand occasions. Only it wasn’t there. It would seem that Wolf took it to pay his way abroad.’

‘And do you believe that?’

His scornful glance scorched her.

‘Does it matter what I believe? My father refused to talk of it. I was sent back to Shrewton Lodge with a tutor to finish my schooling, then I was packed off to Oxford and by the following spring my parents were dead. Officially it was scarlet fever, there had been a particularly bad outbreak at Arrandale, but I think it was more likely the shame of it all that overcame them, at least for my mother.’

‘Or the heartbreak,’ she murmured sadly, thinking of how the tragedy must have ripped apart the family. ‘What happened to the baby?’

‘It was a girl. When my parents died she was sent to live with a distant cousin, the Earl of Davenport.’ A wry smile broke through for a moment. ‘Another Arrandale, but James is as sober as the rest of us are dissolute and he was thought the best guardian for the girl. He has a daughter of the same age, so it was deemed the best thing to do with the child.’

‘And Wolfgang? Where is your brother now?’

He spread his hands. ‘We never heard from him again. I made enquiries, hired men to search for him, sent letters.’ A muscle worked in his jaw. ‘It may be that he did not want to be found. Or he may well have been drowned on the crossing to France, there were some exceptionally vicious storms that winter.’