Courting an Autumn Hoyden (Diamonds of London #12)

Chapter One

Bosworth Hall

North Bedfordshire County, England

Captain Laurence Danbury raked the fingers of one hand through his hair, stopped short of ripping out some of the strands as he glanced over the paperwork his solicitor showed him.

Bloody, bloody hell.

“What is left over after I settle all of my father’s delinquent invoices, unpaid taxes, and his gambling debts?” His father, who left this mortal coil three months before, was never one to turn down the lure of gambling, whoring, and whatever other vices he could indulge in.

The older man frowned. He tapped a figure at the end of a long row of numbers. “Truthfully, you’ll have naught but a few farthings.”

At least the answer was honest. “Ah, so then my pockets are to let and beyond.” The feeling of wanting to cast up his accounts grew strong, but there was nothing he could do about the situation.

“Thank you, Mr. Collins. I appreciate the time and effort this obviously took. No doubt my father neglected the books just like he did everything else.”

“There is that, but I’m glad you have chosen to take responsibility for the estate. Your father never cared for that.”

“My father didn’t care about many things. Er, rather he didn’t care for the things that mattered most in life.”

Honestly, it was a good thing his mother had died in childbirth years ago when he was a boy of ten; she would have been devastated to learn of what had happened to the title and even the estate.

She’d adored the grounds and the roses she tended.

Though his mother had perished, the baby she’d brought into the world had survived.

Unfortunately, his baby sister had been sent away by his father to be adopted by relatives on his mother’s side of the family because his father didn’t wish to raise a baby alone.

In truth, Laurence had only lived with his sister for perhaps a month.

Where his father hadn’t wished to give the infant a name, Laurence had felt a connection with her, so he’d called her Lucy, for he’d always liked the sound of the word.

In retrospect, he had been surprised his reprobate father hadn’t sold the girl for coin.

That wasn’t to say there’d been any shred of decency or goodness in his sire; there hadn’t.

At least, not for a long time. Hell, he’d just achieved his thirty-fourth birthday not long ago, had come home to celebrate that fact, but his father had chosen to leave this mortal coil near that date.

Once more, his father had managed to spoil something. And now there wasn’t coin left over from squaring up the debts to perhaps mount an effort to look for his sister.

Mr. Collins softly cleared his throat, recalling Laurence from his thoughts. “If you could sign the contract, Lord Wendlesham? This is the final piece of paperwork needed to complete the sale of the manor house and the acreage.”

“Yes, of course.” After serving his country for the past eight years in the military, having nothing to his name was a slap in the face.

Where was the security? Where was the gratitude?

Once again, annoyance as well as bitterness went through his person for his deceased father.

“I can’t believe my childhood home will soon pass out of my family. ”

The family which he was the last of with the exception of his missing sister.

“Such things happen, I’m afraid, and more than you’d like to think.” The solicitor stood out of the way so Laurence could put his signature on the line indicated. “Taxes alone have proved problematic for many.”

“I can just imagine.” Since he’d been away from England during the war, he wasn’t home to help his father manage the estate. Clearly, the man had no business acumen nor the wherewithal to learn.

God, this was truly a dismal time. Where he should have been accepting the challenge of putting his own stamp onto the estate and how to run it, he was, instead, selling the whole of it to someone else.

What was the point of being the newly minted Baron of Wendlesham if there was nothing to back up the title?

He now had no home, no coin, and nothing to recommend him should he wish to do the pretty in society and attract a wife.

I’m worth only a few farthings. How embarrassing.

“Thank you for your patience during this transition, my lord.” Mr. Collins took up the sheaf of papers then carefully put them into a leather folio. “What will you do next?”

“I hadn’t given thought to it.” Laurence shrugged. “After this, I’ll talk to the servants. It’s only right that I make some sort of speech since my father largely ignored them. Hell, I can’t believe they stayed on as long as they did, especially without being paid these past several months.”

“They are a loyal lot, but they deserve better.”

“I agree.” He held out a hand to the solicitor. “Thank you for taking care of all this for me. I had no idea where to start.”

Mr. Collins nodded as he shook Laurence’s hand. “I wish you luck in whatever you’ll do going forward. It can’t be easy having your life suddenly upended like this.”

“It was disconcerting, I’ll admit.” With a sigh, he glanced around the study for one of the last times. “Well, safe travels returning to London.”

“Thank you.” The solicitor exited the room, leaving Laurence alone with his thoughts as the carriage-style clock on the desk softly chimed the noon hour. “Well, I shouldn’t put off this last bit.” He’d asked that the servants be assembled in the servants’ hall at noon.

After that, he would truly be alone.

Of course, it didn’t take long to join the staff in the servants’ hall.

Or rather, the staff that were left, for some of them had left for other, paying, prospects over the years.

It felt as if there was a weight sitting in the pit of his stomach, for this was truly the end of an era, the dissolving of everything he’d ever known.

“I appreciate all that you have done for my parents over the years, and then for my father while things continued to decline with his finances,” he began, for everyone involved was well aware of the situation.

One by one, he made eye contact with the matronly cook, the petite, slim housekeeper, the tall butler with the hawkish nose, a couple of maids, a couple of footmen, and finally his valet.

“It pains me to say that the sale of the manor as well as the grounds has been completed this morning, but it pains me even more knowing you’ll all be let go.

” His voice broke, for this wasn’t how he thought he’d live life at this stage.

“I’m sorry that there has been no coin to pay your wages.

I have always prided myself on paying my debts promptly and presenting myself respectfully throughout the years. ”

The housekeeper dabbed at her weepy eyes with a handkerchief. “You are certainly nothing like your father, Captain, and that is a good thing. Always remember that.”

“Hear, hear,” the butler said as he scratched at the thinning dark hair on his head. “We would never paint you with the same brush as him. You have potential. The baron… gave up when Lady Wendlesham died.”

“While that is lovely to know, I rather think my father was a reprobate before that.” Though his mother hadn’t told him such in the letters she wrote to him while he was away in the military, he had become skilled at reading between the lines at what she didn’t say.

“Everything changed when my mother died; I don’t blame my father for that. For the rest? Yes, I do.”

She nodded. “What will you do, Captain?”

“I don’t know, quite honestly. I’ll make do, I suppose.

” With a sigh, he rubbed a hand along the side of his face.

“If I manage to land on my feet after this, I shall write to each of you and ask you back. Whether that be somewhere in the country or in London, I can’t fathom, but for now, I’m afraid I’m indigent with pockets to let and no home. ”

How humiliating.

Fortner, his valet, cleared his throat. “If it’s all the same to you, my lord, I would like to stay with you. Wherever you go, we’ll go together, same as when we were in the war.”

“Damn, but I appreciate that.” Laurence shook his head.

He’d met Fortner midway through his second commission when the younger man fell under his command and he’d saved his life from enemy fire.

“However, since I have no idea what I’ll do to keep myself alive, I can’t ask you to take that same chance. It’s not fair to you, my friend.”

The blond man nodded. “You will keep in touch? Let me know where you’ve landed?”

“I will, and that is a promise.” Again, he met all their gazes. “Since I won’t have a direction for a bit, write to me here.” He looked at the butler. “Tell the new owners I’ll drop by for my mail once a month until I’m settled.”

The older man acknowledged the request with an inclined chin. “I will, of course.”

Then Laurence dug a few keys from his waistcoat pocket. He gave them to the butler. “Keys to the master’s suite. These are for the new owner. They should arrive sometime tomorrow afternoon.”

“I’m make certain they are put into his keeping, my lord.”

“Thank you.” Dear God, the maids were both crying, and the housekeeper clutched the cook’s arm as they both gazed at him with tear-filled eyes.

“You have all been the best servants a man could have asked for. I’m sorry things are ending like this for us all.

Sometimes life throws challenges into our paths, but I suppose that will only make us find our strength. ”

The footmen tried hard to maintain a stiff upper lip while the butler’s expression suggested someone had died rather than the manor being sold.

There was nothing more to say, truly. “Well, I will let you return to your duties.” He’d only spent three years with these people, but they were the only family he had. “And do remember me fondly as I will you.”

By the time he left the servants’ hall, it felt as if a hole had torn through his chest.

October 14, 1819

Kempston

Bedfordshire, England

Why the hell is it so hot?