Rescuing the Countess_Sweet and Clean Regency Romance Read online

  His Majesty’s Hounds - Book 13

  Sweet and Clean Regency Romance

  Rescuing the Countess

  Arietta Richmond

  Dreamstone Publishing © 2018

  www.dreamstonepublishing.com

  Copyright © 2018 Dreamstone Publishing and Arietta Richmond

  All rights reserved.

  No parts of this work may be copied without the author’s permission.

  ISBN-13: 978-1-925499-92-6

  Disclaimer

  This story is a work of fiction.

  Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination and are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to events, locales, or actual persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  Some actual historical events and locations of the period may be referenced in passing.

  Books by Arietta Richmond

  His Majesty’s Hounds

  Claiming the Heart of a Duke

  Intriguing the Viscount

  Giving a Heart of Lace

  Being Lady Harriet’s Hero

  Enchanting the Duke

  Redeeming the Marquess

  Finding the Duke’s Heir

  Winning the Merchant Earl

  Healing Lord Barton

  Kissing the Duke of Hearts

  Loving the Bitter Baron

  Falling for the Earl

  Rescuing the Countess

  Betting on a Lady’s Heart (coming soon)

  Attracting the Spymaster (coming soon)

  Restoring the Earl’s Honour (coming soon)

  A Duke’s Daughters – The Elbury Bouquet

  A Spinster for a Spy (Lily) (coming soon)

  A Vixen for a Viscount (Hyacinth) (coming soon)

  A Bluestocking for a Baron (Rose) (coming soon)

  A Diamond for a Duke (Camellia) (coming soon)

  A Minx for a Merchant (Primrose) (coming soon)

  An Enchantress for an Earl (Violet) (coming soon)

  A Maiden for a Marquess (Iris) (coming soon)

  A Heart for an Heir (Thorne) (coming soon)

  The Derbyshire Set

  A Gift of Love (Prequel short story)

  A Devil’s Bargain (Prequel short story - coming soon)

  The Earl’s Unexpected Bride

  The Captain’s Compromised Heiress

  The Viscount’s Unsuitable Affair

  The Derbyshire Set, Omnibus Edition, Volume 1

  (contains the first three books in a single volume.)

  The Count’s Impetuous Seduction

  The Rake’s Unlikely Redemption

  The Marquess’ Scandalous Mistress

  The Derbyshire Set, Omnibus Edition, Volume 2

  (contains the second three books in a single volume.)

  A Remembered Face (Bonus short story – coming soon)

  The Marchioness’ Second Chance (coming soon)

  A Viscount’s Reluctant Passion (coming soon)

  Lady Theodora’s Christmas Wish

  The Duke’s Improper Love (coming soon)

  Other Books

  The Scottish Governess (coming soon)

  The Earl’s Reluctant Fiancée (coming soon)

  The Crew of the Seadragon’s Soul Series,

  (coming soon - a set of 10 linked novels)

  Dedication

  For everyone who had the grace to be patient while this book, and every other book that I have written, was coming into existence, who provided cups of tea, and food, when the writing would not let me go, and endured countless times being asked for opinions.

  For the readers who inspire me to continue writing, by buying my books! Especially for those of you who have taken the time to email me, or to leave reviews, and tell me what you love about these books, and what you’d like to see more of – thank you – I’m listening, I promise to write more about your favourite characters.

  For my growing team of beta readers and advance reviewers – it’s thanks to you that others can enjoy these books in the best presentation possible!

  And for all the writers of Regency Historical Romance, whose books I read, who inspired me to write in this fascinating period.

  Table of Contents

  Rescuing the Countess

  Dedication

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Epilogue

  About the Author

  Here is your preview of Betting on a Lady’s Heart

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Books in the ‘His Majesty’s Hounds’ Series

  Books in ‘The Derbyshire Set’

  Regency Collections with Other Authors

  Other Books from Dreamstone Publishing

  Chapter One

  Charles Barrington, Viscount Wareham, watched as Lady Maria Loughbridge was wed to Lord Edmund Wollstonefort, the Earl of Granville. It was, they were saying, the wedding of the Season, even though it was the first wedding that Season. Maria looked beautiful, as always. He did not think it possible for her to look anything other than beautiful.

  Once, when he had been younger, and foolish, he had looked at Maria, and thought that he would, one day, marry her. Then he had grown old enough to understand that the place of a third son in the world, even the third son of a Duke, was nothing – certainly not high enough for Viscount Chester to consider him as a suitor for his daughter. Nothing had ever been said – he had simply come to understand how the world worked. But he had never stopped seeing Maria as beautiful – beyond the surface beauty that everyone focused on.

  He looked away, staring at the stone floor of the church, letting the words of the ceremony, binding her irrevocably to another man, wash over him.

  He would find someone else to marry he was sure, for now that his father and Richard, his eldest brother, were dead and Hunter was Duke, he was no longer considering the church as a career. He did not, yet, really know what he would do. When the ceremony ended, he left the church with everyone else, and slipped through the crowd, into the streets. He would not attend the wedding breakfast – for he found little in the day to celebrate. For the first time since Martin’s death three years before, drinking himself senseless in a tavern seemed like a good option.

  ~~~~~

  “How dare you countermand my orders to my servants! You will not do so again, do you understand?”

  Constance Wollstonefort, the Dowager Countess of Granville, spoke sharply, her tone scathing, as she glared at her daughter-in-law. Maria repressed a sigh, for that would only draw more of the woman’s wrath, and looked sideways to her husband, hoping that he might defend her. He said nothing, as she had come to expect. She sadly acknowledged that he would never stand up to his mother.

  “Yes, my Lady. I will endeavour to remember that instruction.”

  It was as close as she could go to rebellion. The woman would make her life miserable, no matter what she said. Whilst the first few months of her marriage had been pleasant, if less romantic than she had hoped, as soon as they had removed from London, to Myniard House, the Earl’s estate in Wiltshire, things had changed for the worse.

  Lady Granville had made it instantly obvious that no woman could ever have been good e
nough for her son, and that Maria fell far short of her standards in every way. Since then, Maria’s life had been miserable. Her only relief was to go walking in the grounds of Myniard Park, spending as long away from the house as she could. The one advantage to her mother-in-law’s attitude was that the woman expected nothing of her – in fact, she forbade Maria from having any influence in the household at all. Which left Maria with her time to herself, and no duties to fulfil, beyond those performed in her husband’s bedchamber, on the occasions when he chose to call her there.

  Some days, as she sat under the towering oak trees by the stream, she allowed herself to dream, to wonder what life would have been like, if she had married a different man. It was not that she disliked Edmund – he was kind, and genuinely cared for her. But he did not love her, and she did not love him. It was a cold kind of marriage, the exact opposite of the kind of thing that young girls dream of.

  Her mother and father had been so happy when she had received the offer of marriage from Edmund. So proud of her, for marrying well. And she, good, obedient daughter that she had always been, had done as they said, and agreed to marry him. How foolishly innocent she had been.

  She knew that dreaming now was pointless – she was married, and that was that. Perhaps, if she was lucky, Edmund would give her a child – with a child, she could spend all her love and energy there, and feel better in the world for it. But it had been months now, and she had not quickened, so, perhaps, it would not happen. The life that stretched before her seemed impossibly grey and miserable.

  As always, as she returned from sitting by the stream, she collected herbs and medicinal plants, depositing them at the little gardener’s cottage which she had claimed as her sanctuary, before going back to the house. At least that was one useful thing she could do. Tomorrow, she would hang them to dry, and consider what other plants she needed to gather before winter.

  At dinner, she simply sat, watching her husband eat, finding her own appetite lacking. Edmund was a substantial man, whose hair was unfortunately thinning early, and there was no grace about him. Despite her determination not to think of ‘might-have-beens’, her mind would insist on comparing him to the young men she had known – her neighbours in childhood, the Barringtons, had three boys, all of whom had grown into fine looking men. If only Edmund looked more like that! She pushed aside the foolish wish, and forced herself to eat.

  Lady Granville glared at her across the table, as if even her table manners were inadequate, and Maria wished herself invisible. There was not a day that passed when the woman did not find something about her to criticise. For Maria, who had been the golden child of her family, always beautiful, always praised, life at Myniard House had been the rudest awakening to the cruelty of the world possible.

  In the end, she could not eat, and, pleading a megrim, took herself to her room. Once she had locked the door, like so many other nights, she cried herself to sleep.

  Chapter Two

  Edmund Wollstonefort, Earl of Granville, sat on his horse, staring at the building in front of him. It was far more rundown than he had expected. He sighed, an unpleasant, yet unavoidable thought coming to him.

  It had to be intentional. Ever since his return to Myniard House with Maria, after their wedding, he had been seeing a side of his mother that he had never seen before. He had tried to ignore it, to deny the truth of what he saw, but he could no longer delude himself that way.

  Since his father’s death, his mother had been a never-failing support, giving him the strength to deal with his responsibilities as Earl, whilst he dealt with his grief, and then the rest of life. Once his grief was past, it had seemed reasonable to leave her to continue managing his estates, via Edwards, their rather long-suffering estate manager. He had seen no fault in anything that she had done, had never questioned her, as he never had throughout his childhood. But now… he had to face the fact that he may have been misguided in doing so.

  For he could no longer deny the evidence of his own eyes and ears. His mother’s treatment of Maria was harsh, and inappropriate. And his own failure to prevent that treatment was the biggest failure of his life. Which was why he was sitting here, today, staring at the dilapidated state of the Dower House.

  It had once been beautiful. He remembered it, from when he had been a very small boy, and his grandmother had lived in it. It was well located, with an excellent view to the hills, and surrounded by what had once been a lovely garden. But the state of it now… the gardens were overrun with the wild growth of flowers and weeds that comes from years of neglect. The building itself had some broken windows, a collapsed section of roof, and at least one wall where the mortar was all but gone from between the stones.

  It had to be intentional. His mother had ensured that every other building on his estates was in the best of repair, down to the last cow byre. For this to be as it was, there was only one possible explanation. She had specifically directed that it not be cared for.

  And the logical conclusion to be drawn from that, was that she had done so to make it impossible for her to ever live there, to ensure that she remained in the main house, where she could continue to direct every aspect of his life. What had seemed an excellent arrangement to him, as a young man who cared more for hunting and drinking than for the tedium of estate management, no longer seemed so good. Now, as an older man, with a lovely new wife, the arrangement was constricting, embarrassing and painful. And all his own fault.

  He sighed again, glaring at the building as if to make it magically repair itself.

  Of course, nothing happened, except the small sound of a stone falling, as if the Dower House, to spite him, had chosen to crumble faster.

  “Damn you! I will not allow it. I will repair the place, even if it means that I must learn far more of estate work than I ever wished to.”

  His voice echoed from the stones, and he felt foolish, talking to the old house, as if it could hear. But he had meant the words. He would see it repaired, and he would, somehow, find the courage, and the words, to cause his mother to move into it, to live. He would have some peace, a chance to make Maria happy, a chance to discover what he was, as a man, not as a child. It was both a frightening and a thrilling prospect.

  He sat a little longer, considering how best to start, then, satisfied that he had at least the beginnings of a plan, he gathered up his reins, and turned the horse to ride across the wide expanse of his Park, and eventually back to Myniard House.

  ~~~~~

  “He’s gone.”

  “Thank the Lord for that! My old knees be just about done in by all this crouching here.”

  “I thought we’d both be done in when you shifted and made that stone fall! What were you thinking man?”

  “My knees – there’s only so much pain a man can take!”

  “Well – don’t ever do that again. Suffer – it’s better than risking our lives!”

  “Now, now Jack, no need t’be nasty!”

  “Nothin’ nasty about it. Just the truth. Now, haul yerself up and let’s get these boxes tucked away proper.”

  The two men rose from where they had crouched below a broken bay window of the Dower House, and moved across the faded glory of the parlour to a stack of crates which stood against one wall.

  “Where d’ye think these should best go, Bob?”

  “The cellar – s’nothin’ in these what’ll suffer from the damp down there.”

  “Right. Let’s be about it.”

  They were silent a while, as they moved the crates from the parlour down into the deepest cellars, where they joined an impressive pile of other boxes, crates, chests, and an eclectic mix of other items. When the last one was moved, they stood, and went back up to the kitchens, where they had a stash of food laid by. They settled to eat.

  “What about what his Lordship said, whilst he was sittin’ there? What if he does start to fix this place up? What’ll we do?”

  “I don’t rightly know. We need this place, and the old tower on
silly old Lady Fremont’s place. She’s not a worry – only cares about the stars – doesn’t notice what’s under her own feet. But this place – all the goods we’ve got here won’t fit in the tower cellars. And most of it needs to sit awhile before we can sell it, so’s people forget about what we took.”

  “It’ll have to be left as it is for now – surely he won’t do anything fast. We need to be back down towards London two days from now, with the rest of the gang. There’ll be rich pickings on the roads soon – some of the wealthy are already starting to leave London for the summer, even though its only spring – the ones who’ve already snagged husbands for their daughters, I’d expect. We won’t be back here until we’ve got more that needs to be stored.”

  “But if he does do something?”

  “Then we’ll have to find a way to… discourage… him, maybe even incapacitate him for a while, until we can get it all moved somewhere else. I wouldn’t worry though. He’s never been one to bestir himself for anything much, except to hunt, and the Dowager wants nothin’ to do with this place. So, it should be safe enough.”

  “True words, true words. We’ll worry about it, if it happens, and not before.”

  ~~~~~

  Maria sat in the old gardener’s cottage, sorting herbs, and tying them into bundles to hang to dry. Spring was wonderful, because it gave her much to do, as everything grew and flowered. Having something to do, which was useful, and required her to be out of the house for long periods of time, was a welcome relief, and soothed her. She dreaded the end of each day, when she had no choice but to return to Myniard House, clean the earth and pollen from her hands, and dress for dinner.

  She dreamed of a day when the Dowager Countess would be elsewhere – anywhere, so long as she wasn’t here. The idea of a time when she might actually be mistress of her own house, when the servants might dare to obey her, when her husband might care for her, and defend her, was like a child’s fairy tale, so far was it from her daily life.