‘So you’ve no need to fear I shall fall foul of Fensham, especially as I didn’t take one step on Blackwood land. If anything, she seemed quite matter-of-fact as she said, Yet nothing in her expression betrayed the fact that she had nowhere near fully recovered from his death. They had always been wondrous close more so after he had become infirm and had come to rely upon her for so much. Whenever Isabel thought of her late father she experienced, still, an acute sense of loss, even now, after almost two years.
As you quite rightly pointed out, he wrote his account before he suffered that first seizure.’ ‘Well, I, for one, never doubted the truth of Papa’s version of events. He couldn’t have done, now could he, if what the old master set down on paper be true? And I would far rather believe the old master, ‘cause there were nought wrong with him at the time of writing.’ After all, what had he to fear if he told the truth about the happenings on that terrible night?’ Which I find most revealing in the circumstances. ‘What’s more, young Toby told me, this very morn as it happens, there’s been no sign of Master Guy Fensham these past two weeks. ‘No, I don’t suppose he was pleased.’ Not appearing in the least concerned, Isabel collected a sharp knife from a drawer and then promptly set herself the task of preparing the rabbits for the stew-pot.
Heard tell he weren’t best pleased back along, when them there high-and-mighty legal folk came up from Lunnon, asking questions about the night of the murders, and he discovered it were you had stirred things up again after all these years.’ ‘You’ve never been a’wandering over Blackwood land again? I’ve warned you time and again that there steward up at the Manor will have you placed afore the magistrate, given half a chance. ‘Oh, Lord, miss!’ Bessie exclaimed, as she watched her young mistress deposit the gun and the fruits of her labours down upon the kitchen table. She had been out and about since first light, and so might reasonably have expected a more enthusiastic welcome than the decidedly reproachful glance her ever-loyal housekeeper-cum-confidante cast her. Miss Isabel Mortimer’s return to her farmhouse-style home coincided with the long-case clock’s chiming the hour of eleven. When not pounding away at the keys of her computer, she likes to relax in her garden, which she has opened to the public on more than one occasion in aid of the village church funds.ĭid you know that some of these novelsare also available as eBooks?Visit The Viscount’s Scandalous Return She lived for a time in Scotland, but now makes her home in the West Country, with two cats, her two sons, and a husband who has a wonderful and very necessary sense of humour. And she didn’t doubt for a second a damnably dangerous one, to boot, to any female weak enough not to resist his charm! Was she mad even to consider remaining with him a moment longer?ĪNNE ASHLEY was born and educated in Leicester. He really was a most attractive and engaging gentleman when he chose to be. Was he always so observant? Had she not witnessed it with her own eyes she would never have supposed for a moment that those icy-blue orbs could dance with wicked amusement.
‘So, what were you thinking about a few minutes ago that brought such a troubled expression to your face?’ Which just went to substantiate her belief that his lordship was not the black-hearted demon he had sometimes been painted. She was more amazed than anything else that Beau had taken such an instant liking to someone. ‘Ha! I’m not so very sure he would!’ Isabel returned, quite without rancour. ‘And if, for any reason, I should experience an overwhelming desire to lay violent hands upon you, I’m sure your trusty hound would come to your rescue.’ ‘You are in no danger, I assure you,’ he continued. I trust you are not concerned about being in here alone with me? ‘Something appears to be troubling you, Miss Mortimer. It’s lucky that Miss Isabel Mortimer, now heart-stoppingly beautiful, has a penchant for sleuthing… Together they must find the real culprit – while battling an ever-growing attraction… It was the testimony of a girl he’d never met that saved him from the gallows…Nine years later Sebastian can return – but the notorious Viscount has unfinished business. WILL HE TARNISH HERS? Viscount Blackwood left home amidst a blaze of scandal, accused of killing his father and brother.