was news to Meredith. The shock of discovering that Aunt Delilah had been married to someone other than her uncle was shocking enough to make Meredith stop crying.
“Yes, my dear, your uncle Joseph was my second husband. My first husband was Peter Martin, and he died of a terrible fever about five years after we married. It was after he passed away that I came to New York with my cousin Laura. It was supposed to be a fun visit to cheer me up, but I never expected to meet someone like Joseph Remington.”
Meredith listened to this chapter of her aunt’s life with rapt attention.
Delilah continued her story. “I fell head over heels in love with him. I never even felt that way about my first husband, and I gave up everything to be with him. My family, my friends, and England. I stayed in America to marry him. Joseph promised me the world and riches beyond my wildest dreams, and I believed him. But after years of being left alone while he and your father went off chasing their oil fields, I’m finally finished with waiting. Now that Joseph is gone and I have nothing left here in New York, returning home to England is my only recourse. I have my two children’s futures to think of. And your future as well, Meredith. I promised your dear mother, before she died, that I would take care of you.”
At those words, Meredith felt tears well again. Thinking of her mother still tended to make her weepy, even though ten years had passed.
Delilah sniffed too. “We simply cannot remain in New York with no place to live, but I certainly don’t intend to live on my sister Lavinia’s charity for the rest of my life. We both need to marry well and secure our futures. We need a fresh start and a change of scenery.”
Delilah took a deep breath and waved her hand at everything in the room. “It will do us both a world of good to leave all this behind.”
A long silence followed. Meredith was lost in the many thoughts that filled her head about their current situation.
“You do see that I’m right, don’t you, my dear?” she asked softly.
It was all too much to take in. She would have to marry. Meredith supposed finding a husband was her only option after all. Marriage would provide security and safety in a hostile world. All girls married at some point, and at twenty years of age, it certainly wasn’t unusual to assume that Meredith would too. It was time. Marriage wouldn’t be the end of the world.
Just the end of her world.
“When do we leave, Auntie?” Meredith managed to choke her question out between her tears.
“In five days.”
Wiping her eyes with her aunt’s lace handkerchief, Meredith sniffed and straightened her spine.
If her aunt could be so pragmatic and brave about this, then certainly Meredith could as well. She had to be courageous, like the heroine in a novel.
Yes, that was it!
What if she regarded it all as a great adventure? Or what if she tried looking at it from a different perspective and viewed it all through the eyes of a writer? She would have new experiences to write about now, sailing across the Atlantic Ocean and visiting another country. Surely that couldn’t be so terrible? She had never been anywhere before. In fact, she’d spent her entire life in New York City.
Yes. A change would do them both good. And surely, she would be able to find a good man to marry. A kind and loving man whom she could love and be happy with.
Meredith gave her aunt a resolute smile and nodded her head. “Then I had better start packing. We have a lot to do before we go.”
Delilah nodded in appreciation and returned the smile. Meredith’s heart suddenly raced at the thought of such an adventurous change.
A new chapter in her life was about to begin.
2
A Man of His Word
Spring, 1895
London
“Hell, you look like something the cat dragged in!”
Phillip Sinclair ignored his younger brother’s more than likely accurate assessment of his current appearance, but he ran his hand across his dark hair in an attempt to smooth it down a bit just the same. He was not proud of how he looked at the moment. With his head pounding relentlessly, he slowly made his way to the sideboard to fill his plate with some much-needed sustenance. A hot breakfast of sausages and eggs would do the trick quite nicely.
“Were you out all night again?” Simon questioned with a slight note of amazement in his voice.
“Does it look like I’ve been home?” Phillip answered sardonically, taking a seat at the long dining room table. He truly was starving. “Coffee would be just the ticket, please,” he said to the liveried footman who hovered nearby. Then he picked up his fork and dug into a fat, juicy sausage.
“You just got home, didn’t you? You’re still wearing the clothes you had on last night.” Simon shook his head in disbelief, his blue eyes tinged with something akin to disapproval. “You could have at least had the decency to change your clothes before Mother happened to see you.”
“Has she left for the bookshop already then?” Phillip managed to ask between ravenous bites.
“Yes,” Simon muttered.
Relief flooded him; Phillip had risked the chance of seeing his mother this morning, but his hunger had won out. He had no desire to spar with his mother again, for his younger brother was right. He hadn’t been home last night.
Usually after staying out all night, Phillip made the effort to change his clothes and wash up to make himself respectable before coming down to join his family for breakfast. Phillip had some standards after all. Besides, he rarely stayed out until after sunrise. Recently, however, his very late nights out seemed to be growing more and more frequent.
And last night . . .
Well, last night had been something else! He barely knew where to start.
It had all begun innocently enough, playing cards with the fellows after Lord Shelley’s ball. Then one thing led to another, and he’d ended up at Lady Katherine Vickers’s townhouse for a very exclusive after-hours party. He had been under the impression that she had ended things between them the week before, but then Katherine made it quite clear that she wanted to be with him last night.
What healthy man could refuse the desires of a beautiful and seductive woman?
Not Phillip Sinclair, the Earl of Waverly!
But now all he wanted to do was eat some breakfast and then retire to the solitude of his bedroom, where he could sleep in peace for at least eight blissful hours before he would rise and get ready for this evening’s adventures, which would surely include another visit with the lusciously tempting Lady Katherine.
“Mother was looking for you, and you’re quite fortunate that you missed her,” Simon remarked. “She would have given you hell for coming to breakfast looking like that, not to mention staying out all night again.”
Phillip avoided his brother’s eyes and the censure
