Chapter 1

One Month Later, Wyndhill Park, Hampshire, England

* * *

Lucian Sinclair, the Earl of Garretson took a deep breath and watched the guests mingle on the terrace of Wyndhill Park. Beside him were his brother, Xavier, and Lady Olivia Westbrook, soon to be wed. The guests were here for them and Lucian could not wait for everyone to be gone.

Two days. He would only need to endure for two days, he reminded himself as he fought the urge to escape to someplace quieter and where he could be alone. In fact, the folly by the lake would be particularly inviting since few knew of its existence.

He did not like large groups of people, especially in his home, yet it could not be avoided as he was hosting the wedding celebration. The couple were to wed tomorrow by Special License followed by a wedding supper. Thankfully, no ball was planned, just a gathering in the evening to visit, or play games, or whatever it was the guests wanted to do. As this was a wedding and not a house party, Lucian expected every last one of the guests to vacate the estate the following morning.

Of all his brothers, Lucian was certain that Xavier would be the last to wed, if he married at all. Instead, he was the first. With any luck, Xavier’s soon-to-be wife would deliver a son within the year, thus relieving Lucian from the duty of taking part in the Season next year. If that came to be, Lucian would happily sign over ownership of Harwood Hall, an unentailed estate located in Sussex, as he had promised last autumn.

Missing from the guests were Lady Olivia’s three closest friends whom she and her twin, Victoria, had made when they attended the Wiggons’ School for Elegant Young Ladies. Two were in other countries and could not be here, but they weren’t the friends who concerned him. It was the one who resided in England—Miss Eliza Weston—and Lucian had tried to prepare himself for their eventual encounter, though he hoped that she stayed away. It was because of her that Lucian had nearly found himself betrothed. Not that he had wanted to wed Eliza, but because they had nearly been caught in a compromising situation that would have altered his life.

Lucian pushed the memory from his mind and was thankful that the woman had not been his wife these past nine years.

“Olivia!”

Lucian turned to see who was calling out to his brother’s betrothed and groaned.

Had his thoughts conjured the most difficult woman in England? If so, it certainly had not been his intention.

“What is she doing here?” Lucian demanded.

“I invited her to the wedding,” Olivia answered.

“She is forbidden from setting foot on Wyndhill Park,” Lucian reminded her but knew that he would not be able to have Eliza removed.

“A rule you put in place, what, ten years ago when she was barely out of the schoolroom,” Xavier reminded him.

“Almost ten and she had been eighteen.”

“She also belongs at my wedding,” Olivia insisted.

Miss Eliza Weston was desire and temptation, aggravation and irritation, wrapped up in one exquisite package, and a menace to them all. Or at least a danger to him, and only because he could not have her and she’d be impossible to tame.

He had been flummoxed for the slightest moment when she had stepped onto the terrace, just as he was almost every time he saw her in London, which was thankfully rare. Coppery red curls framed her face and the remainder of her hair was tied up behind her head, though some still brushed her shoulder. Her grey eyes glinted silver, which was a sure sign that she was up to mischief. However, it wasn’t just her hair and eyes that Lucian noticed but the ice blue gown with a scooped bodice that hugged her breasts.

Desirable but also a troublemaker, Lucian reminded himself, as she weaved her way through the gathered crowd.

“It is so good to see you again, Lord Garretson,” Eliza greeted him with a bright smile.

“I am so happy you could make it.” Olivia held out her hands to Eliza as her friend drew close.

“Of course I would be here,” Eliza proclaimed. “You are marrying one of the Sinclairs that I actually do like.” She grinned at Lucian.

“You are to confine yourself to the manor and formal gardens and terrace, Miss Weston,” Lucian insisted. “No going off to places you do not belong.”

“I would not dream of trespassing,” Eliza answered as her eyes glinted with silver.

Blast! He would have to keep an eye on her. Despite her assurance, Lucian did not trust her.

“Excuse us for a moment.” Xavier tugged Olivia’s arm and pulled her away.

Lucian could not believe that he had been left alone with Eliza of all people.

“How have you been, Lord Garretson? I have not seen nor heard anything of you since last autumn when we both visited at your sister’s home.”

He had been able to avoid her then, except for dinner, and he would avoid her these next two days as well. “I am well. Thank you.” He was not going to engage Miss Weston in conversation any further than was polite and necessary.

“It is good of you to host the wedding celebration.”

“He is my brother.”

“Olivia’s brother could have hosted the event,” she pointed out.

“Marriages usually take place where the groom resides. It is where the banns are to be cried.”

“Yet, it seems to pain you to host.”

He stared into her eyes. “It pains me to have so many guests underfoot, especially those who would normally be banned.”

Eliza smiled. “If you are referring to me, I am not staying here, but elsewhere.”

Thank goodness for that. At least he would not need to worry about stumbling across her when it was least expected.

“Have you taken rooms in town?”

Her grin widened. “No. I have taken Greenhaven Cottage for the summer.”

“You what?” Lucian nearly yelled.

“I said that I have taken Greenhaven Cottage for the summer. We are to be neighbors.”

Bloody hell! This was far worse than two days of her being in his home. Who knew what trouble she would get up to, or what headaches she would cause over the next few months?

Worse, the object of his desire would be living right next door.

“I have needed to be away from London and as I was traveling to Hampshire, it seemed the ideal place to holiday for the summer,” Eliza explained. She had anticipated Garretson’s shock and irritation, which is why she wanted to be the one to tell him.

“I am certain that there are several properties that would serve you well and are available for let,” Garretson ground out.

“Not as delightful as Greenhaven Cottage, I assure you.”

“Who is with you?” He then brightened. “Has Oliver returned from New Orleans? I would not mind him living next door.”

“Oliver is still in America and I doubt he will return for a very long time, if ever,” she answered. “My servants are with me, and they are all I need.”

He gaped at her. “A miss should not travel the country or reside in a home without a chaperone or someone to protect her.”

“Chastisement does not suit you, Lord Garretson, and you know it has no effect on me.” If anything, it made her want to shock him even more.

Eliza had also heard much of the same from her father and older brothers until they finally gave in. After all, she was all of seven and twenty, and no longer a naive miss. Innocent, yes, but wise and no longer foolish.

One day she would make Garretson lose control and abandon all that he believed was respectable. She nearly had once, long ago.

In his opinion, he was all that was proper and she was nearly all that was not. He had rules, she shunned many of them. Sadly, it was the very reason why they would never suit.

“I am perfectly capable of taking care of myself, Lord Garretson. What I cannot do, a servant can see to, and if necessary, Saul, my manservant who used to frequent Gentleman Jackson’s, is quite large and well able to protect me if the need should arise.”

“Misses without chaperones tend to land in trouble,” he ground out.

“One can only hope.” Eliza grinned.

His blue eyes widened as he sucked in a breath through his nose. Eliza had forgotten how enjoyable it was simply vexing Garretson.

It had not always been that way. At one time, she had been quite infatuated with him and he had ruined her for any other man.

Perhaps that was an exaggeration but in the nearly ten years since she had kissed him, and Garretson kissed her back, she’d not found any gentleman that caused even the slightest hitch in her pulse, though there were many who were far more pleasant to be around.

“Just make certain the mischief you get up to does not occur on my estate,” he ground out.

“No more swimming in your lake,” she teased quietly. Not that she had meant to go swimming that day. She had simply lost her footing and when she surfaced found Garretson in the process of removing his boots, his suitcoat already discarded, as he prepared to go in after her. It had not been necessary for him to do so and she managed to remove herself from the water without his assistance.

“I do believe there is a small pond on the property you have leased if you wish to swim.”

“I will keep that in mind,” she murmured with a smile. “I also promise that after the wedding festivities are over, you will not even know that I am anywhere near Wyndhill Park.” So long as she was not caught trespassing, that is.

“If you will excuse me. I have other guests.” He turned on his heel and marched away.

Why did such a handsome gentleman have to be so disagreeable? It was quite disappointing.

It had been at her brother’s urging that Eliza took a house in the country. He wouldn’t have if Saul hadn’t gone to Isaac when yet another cryptic missive was received. He considered them threats and while Eliza found them disturbing, she did not believe actual harm would come to her person. Saul and her brother thought differently. Therefore, she and Isaac had looked for properties where she could holiday during the summer months. When she suggested Greenhaven Cottage, Isaac immediately approved because Garretson was the neighbor and could offer protection if needed. He then leased it in his own name so that there was no record as to where Eliza had disappeared. As Isaac would soon be gone from London for the summer, anyone who knew of the leasing would assume he was at Greenhaven Cottage. As she and her siblings were estranged from their parents, no one would think it odd that he hadn’t returned to the family estate.

Eliza certainly did not anticipate the need for protection from Garretson, nor would she dare ask for it, but the location gave Isaac peace, and it was exactly where Eliza needed to be for her own purpose. Not that she had any interest in the Earl of Garretson any longer, but the location was convenient so that she could thoroughly search his estate. Garretson had kept her from doing so the only other time she had visited and she had been hoping for the perfect opportunity to return.

All information that she had been able to discover over the years had not swayed her from her belief that the mummy and other stolen valuables were hidden away somewhere at Wyndhill Park. Not that Garretson had taken the items, but someone had and Eliza was determined to finally find the mummy and this time she would not be caught until she had completed her task.

“You watch Garretson in a manner that I am not certain if you wish to kiss him or kick him.”

Kiss him was her automatic reaction, which Eliza would never admit to her friend, Lady Victoria Westbrook, or anyone else for that matter.

“I simply find pleasure in irritating him.”

“As you have done these past nine years.”

“One must take enjoyment where they can.” Eliza chuckled.

“How did you end up at Wyndhill Park all those years ago?” Victoria asked. “You never did tell us. Nor did you tell us why you were never allowed to return.” She leaned in close. “Is it because he nearly ruined you?” Mischief twinkled in Victoria’s eyes.

Eliza’s face burned and she quickly glanced around to make certain that none of the guests had heard her friend’s whispered question. “It is not important.”

Only Olivia and Victoria knew of that encounter because they would never tell another soul.

The moment that Eliza had laid eyes on the Earl of Garretson, she had been smitten. After she had fallen into the lake and witnessed how he had looked into her eyes and then at her body, his blue eyes darkening, she had taken a risk and kissed him.

She knew that he had enjoyed the kiss as much as she, and it hadn’t simply been a kiss because he had pulled her close, so close that only their clothing kept their skin from touching as his hands roamed up and down her back, his heated kisses devouring and her first real taste of passion. Then he had set her aside and rejected her.

Somehow that rejection had hurt twice as much as when her parents kept forgetting to bring her home from school. Nobody liked to be forgotten or set aside. But at least she still had her four dearest friends, even if they did not see each other as often as they wished.