Chapter 1
CHAPTER 1
1816, Five years later
Forde Abbey, Dorset, England
L ydia led her cousin Rajesh and her new cousin-in-law, Benjamin Pedrick, toward the Forde Abbey crypt. She knew the way from years of secretly entering the former monastery. She and Kelsey used it to sneak in and out when they were children. It had been a while since she’d used this tunnel, so she hoped it was still passable. She opened a tomb door that should have had a coffin in it. Instead, it was an entry to the warren that hid beneath the family mausoleum and within Forde Abbey.
Rajesh and Ben went ahead of her, but her whispers guided them until they reached the former monks’ dormitory. Forde Abbey hadn’t been a monastic house in two hundred years, not since the Crown gifted it to the Gwyns, Keith and Kelsey’s maternal family. Their father married into it and inherited the dukedom upon Elise’s father’s death.
As they stepped into the cell, a voice made them all freeze. Rajesh and Ben turned toward it, but Lydia stood like a statue.
“Rajesh, I’d hoped you would come. Maybe I will live to see tomorrow.”
Lydia knew who owned that baritone, and a wave of conflicting emotions crashed over her. Ben’s feelings were obvious as he lunged toward Keith, snarling at the privateer about taking Ben’s wife. That was why they were there. Keith had kidnapped Lydia’s cousin Jemima, who was Ben’s bride. They’d only been married a few hours when Keith landed near Jemma’s family home in Polruan, Cornwall. He’d abducted Jemma after his men beat Ben.
With his family and Jemma’s assembled for their wedding, Ben enlisted Rajesh’s help to travel from Polruan to Lime Regis and find his wife, who was Rajesh’s cousin just like she was Lydia’s. Three maharaja’s daughters married three East India Company men, and each family eventually made their home along the southern coast of England. Rajesh’s, Jemma’s, and Lydia’s mothers were sisters.
From his years at sea, Rajesh already knew Keith, but he never expected the man would kidnap his cousin. Ben was familiar with Keith, having run contraband along the coast for years with his family. Rajesh was not only Lydia and Jemma’s cousin, but he was also Ben’s brother-in-law.
Before either Rajesh or Ben could inflict their rage on Keith, the cell door leading to the corridor slammed open, and Jemma flew into Ben’s arms. He picked her up off her feet as they shared a passionate kiss. Lydia’s attention wasn’t on the reunited couple. She watched Keith just as he watched her.
“MacNeil, explain.” Rajesh pulled his pistol from his lower back. “You knew she’s my cousin.”
“I did. And I know Windsor-Clive set a bounty on their heads. No one in your family could be involved, Raj. At least not at first. He needed to be away from Cornwall before anyone could deal with him. People already suspect you from the last time your families tangled. It would be too obvious if the lackwit disappeared from Polruan or Swain Cove. He was going to have her taken one way or another. I made sure she was safe.”
Zachary Windsor-Clive, the adult son of Rajesh’s wife and Ben’s sister, attempted to assault her the night Rajesh met Charlotte. She employed as a governess to Zachary’s younger half-siblings. It hadn’t gone well for Zachary when he and Ben clashed not long before Ben and Jemma’s wedding. Everyone in the Forde Abbey undercroft knew Zachary wanted revenge for being thwarted several times.
“Where is he?” Ben snarled.
“Three doors down.” Keith lifted iron keys from beside him on the cot upon which he sat. Ben was quick to grab them before kissing Jemma again.
Ben released her, and Rajesh reached to embrace her, drawing her farther away from Keith. Ben instructed Rajesh, “Take her away from here.”
It was Ben’s turn to draw a pistol, checking he’d loaded it. No one doubted it was. Ben hurried from the cell while Rajesh, Jemma, Lydia, and Keith followed. The others didn’t notice how Lydia and Keith observed one another.
“Lady Lydia, I suspected you knew the way in. I suppose my sister showed you.”
“She did.” Lydia notched up her chin, defiance oozing from her.
He’d returned to Forde Abbey and made it his home once more nearly eighteen months before, when he inherited the title from his father. But he’d been away as much as he could during that time, still sailing but limiting most of his voyages to the English Channel instead of across the Atlantic. When he was in residence, salvaging his family’s estate engrossed him. His father left it in shambles and near bankruptcy. It was what drove Keith to remain a privateer. He couldn’t afford to quit.
“Let’s be away from here.” Keith offered his arm as Ben’s voice echoed in the empty dormitory. His curses and threats rang in the air. They took the last step when a shot pierced the air. Lydia tried to twist toward the sound, but Keith steered her out of the former monks’ quarters. It had served as his dungeon many times, but it was somewhere he loathed to linger. It unnerved him how unbothered Lydia appeared within a space that made his skin crawl. It relieved him to step into the library, having found the hidden latch several months after taking up residence again in his ancestral home.
“I still am not satisfied with your explanation.” Rajesh glowered at his friend as Ben and Jemma practically ran to the chamber Jemma occupied for two days before Lydia, Ben, and Rajesh arrived.
“Zachary Windsor-Clive was as much a menace as his father. He would have done unthinkable things to Jemma if he’d found someone else to take her. He already had two other men waiting if I failed. I learned of his plan by chance. I had no time to tell you, and I couldn’t reach Ben or Theo before the bastard intended to strike. The only reason he hired me was because I said I could get him the gunpowder.”
Lydia listened as Keith explained his rationale, and she had to admit she could understand. Rajesh confronted Zachary’s father the previous year about the senior Windsor-Clive’s insistence that Rajesh knew about the smuggled gunpowder Ben’s family made. The English East India Company had a monopoly on saltpeter exported from Bombay. Ben’s older brother, Steven, devised a formula to make saltpeter at their home in Bedruthan Steps. The Windsor-Clives were heavy investors in the East India Company and couldn’t afford for the Company to lose its stronghold. The Cornish and Dorsetine smugglers traded the gunpowder to the English navy and army, who fought Napoleon and the Americans along the west coast near Canada.
“I’m glad the bastard is dead,” Rajesh declared. “For what he planned to do to Jemma and for what he attempted to do to Charlie while she was governess to his brothers and sister. It was Ben’s right, but I wish I’d had a turn before he shot the blighter.”
“I doubt this is done, Raj. They might be gone, but the Company isn’t. They know about the smuggling. I’m certain of it, so they won’t stop as long as you and your family continue to sell gunpowder. They employed Theo and Will too long for them to forgive this. Your father already died for it.” Keith looked at Lydia but continued to speak to Rajesh. “They nearly killed your wife and cousin. They’re watching both your uncles. They’re doing the same to Ben’s family. It’s a tangled web you and Jemma created by marrying a brother and sister, because now you’re doubly connected to the Pedricks. They won’t kill Steven because they want his knowledge. But they will kill whoever gets in the way of their profits. They’re targeting the women. Lady Lydia will be next.”
Lydia watched heat flare in Keith’s eyes as he swept his gaze over her while he spoke. Their gazes locked as he made his last pronouncement. It wasn’t an idea foreign to her. She’d already thought about it several times since learning about Rajesh’s wife, Charlotte, and her encounters with the Windsor-Clives. Charlie was safe, and now so was Jemma. But she wondered when it would be her turn. Zachary wasn’t a stranger to her.
“Lyddie.” Lydia tore her gaze from Keith and looked at her cousin. “I’ll walk you home.”
“I need to do something before I go.” Lydia swiveled on her heel and hurried from the library before either man could stop her. She gathered her skirts and ran up the stairs. She had only one destination in mind. In the early years after Kelsey’s death, she’d been too grief stricken to want to enter her friend’s chamber, but she’d had to pack away the dead girl’s belongings. She hadn’t been back to the chamber since that dreadful day, but she had a dream the previous night. Kelsey appeared often during Lydia’s slumber, but this time, her friend urged her to search the abandoned chamber. She slipped into the room and turned the key in the lock.
She hurried to the armoire and pulled it away from the wall. Empty, it was far easier to move than it had been when Kelsey was alive. It used to take both of them to maneuver it. The enormous piece of furniture scraped along the floor, making Lydia wince at its volume. She hadn’t moved the monster when she’d packed away its contents, so no one had disturbed it in years. As it came away from the wall, something landed on the floor. Lydia looked down and found a book at the armoire’s feet. She stooped as someone jiggled the doorknob. She glanced at the portal before scooping up the book. She flipped it open and immediately recognized Kelsey’s neat script. The date at the top of the page clued Lydia to it being her friend’s diary. She was quick to move the massive wooden piece back into place as Keith knocked and called out to her.
Lydia looked around, knowing she couldn’t smuggle the journal out without Keith seeing it. She was reticent to hand it over until she knew there was nothing in it Kelsey didn’t want her brother to read. She scurried to the bed and tucked it under the mattress before she unlocked the door.
“Yes.” Lydia cocked an eyebrow as though Keith disturbed her in her own chamber.
“Why must you be so defiant when I’m not stopping you from anything?” Keith gazed down at her. His blond hair laid across his shoulders. Coupled with his impressive height and muscular build, he looked more like a Viking than a duke. It was clear how he’d earned his moniker as the Blond Marauder. He looked like he’d come to pillage and plunder—her. The heat returned to his gaze, catching her off guard. A flutter took root in her belly as her skin heated. He was still the most handsome man she’d ever seen, and she’d seen him frequently in the time since he returned to Forde Abbey. But they’d never once spoken before that day.
“I sneaked into your home and now you find me in your sister’s chamber with the door locked. I expect that bothers you.”
“You expect wrong, Lady Lydia.” Keith pressed on the door, but only hard enough for Lydia to know he wished for it to open. He watched as her deep inhale expanded her chest, pressing her breasts against the neckline of her gown. They were far too enticing, just like the rest of her. He’d seen her walking on the beach from his chamber window. He’d watched her on Sundays as her family rode past on their way to church. He’d noticed her in the village when he took his horse to the blacksmith or needed to visit the milliner to sell some of the textiles his ships brought in. He knew she’d seen him, too. He’d recognized her curiosity, since it matched his.
“You’re not bothered that I know secret ways into your home or that I come and go from your sister’s chamber as I please?”
“No. But you aren’t leaving yet.” Keith stepped fully into the chamber and closed the door.
“Rajesh won’t?—”
“He knows I’m up here. And he knows, despite what happened with your cousin, I won’t harm you. There are things even I won’t do, and I most assuredly don’t defile women. What I want to know is why you’re here.”
“I had a dream last night, and it made me miss Kelsey even more. I just wanted to come to where I can feel her spirit.”
“You feel her spirit?” Keith swept his gaze around the room. He’d jested with Jemma when she arrived two days earlier and a draft wafted around their ankles. He’d claimed it might be Margaret Gwyn, his ancestor whose husband was granted a title and the lands by the Crown. Since moving back in, he’d often felt an unsettled presence, but he’d never known what it was. He’d wondered if it was his father’s ghost come to haunt him, but it didn’t feel malevolent enough for the dead duke.
“All the time.” Lydia’s voice lowered, but there was no timidity in it. It was more like reverence. “It feels like she’s still here. I can’t explain it, but it feels like she walks beside me, just like when we were children. As though our shoulders might bump, but she’s never really there.”
“I never imagined it was still so hard for you, that your grief was still so strong.”
“I saw her nearly every day since I was five. We knew everything about each other. She knew me better than even my sister did.”
“I miss her, too,” Keith whispered. “I did while I was away. And now, not only do I live with missing her, I live with regret that I ever left her here alone with him.”
Keith watched as something flickered across Lydia’s face before she recovered. It was as though she thought of someone, then realized Keith meant his father. It reminded him of what he’d overheard the day of Kelsey’s funeral.
“I should go. Rajesh will wonder what’s keeping us. Ben and Jemma are—occupied.” Lydia pressed her lips together to keep from smiling. She knew virgins like her weren’t supposed to know what passed between a married couple, but she’d visited India many times during her childhood. It was a long voyage, but her mother and father insisted they raise their children with their Indian heritage valued as much as their English. They stayed with her grandmother, Chandra, but spent much of their time with Rajesh and Jemma’s families, since their mothers were the daughters of Maharaja Surat Singh.
The maharaja’s daughters were princesses, making Lydia and Jemma princesses as well. Jemma’s father, Theo, held the same rank as her own father, Will. Both men were baronets who had married far above their station. Rajesh inherited his earldom from his older brother, who’d inherited it from their father.
Keith stepped closer. “What do you know about that?” His voice wrapped around her like honey.
“Enough. India isn’t as prudish and hypocritical as England.”
Keith nudged her chin up with his forefinger, and his thumb swept her jaw. “I told the truth earlier. I don’t take advantage of women. I will never take what isn’t offered. So, I will ask you, Lydia. May I kiss you?” He held his breath, praying he hadn’t misread her interest.
“And if I allow it, what will you expect next?” Lydia tried to keep the breathlessness from her voice, but he overwhelmed her senses. The feel of his hand on her face and the heat from his body. The scent of his bergamot soap filled her nostrils. His silky voice made her insides quiver. His handsome visage was all she saw. The only thing missing was discovering his taste.
“I told you before. I expect nothing.”
Lydia considered his answer almost too long. When she saw him withdraw, rejection in his eyes, she placed her hands on his chest. The shirt he wore did little to buffer the heat. It didn’t surprise her to find him without a coat or waistcoat, since he rarely wore them at home. She knew from seeing him in the gardens and on the beach. But she hadn’t expected him to veritably scorch her palms and fingers. His muscles were taut and harder than she’d imagined. It was like resting her hand on a brick wall. She titled her chin up further and parted her lips.
Keith watched as she decided. He absorbed every moment of how she looked up at him, her expression open and curious. She was the most beautiful woman he’d ever seen. He’d longed for her from a distance since he returned home. He’d thought of her often during the years after his sister’s death and while he sailed. Fantasized would be more accurate. He’d closed his eyes with more than one woman and pictured Lydia in her stead. Now she would permit him to kiss her. He intended to make it one she wouldn’t soon forget.
He lowered his mouth to hers, brushing his lips across hers twice before bringing them together. She opened to him without hesitation, which made him wonder who else she’d kissed. But her inexperience soon became clear. Her hands fisted his shirt as though she needed to hold on to keep from floating away. She sucked in a breath as his tongue entered her mouth. It drew him in and made him think of what else she might do with her mouth, but he knew it was from surprise and not a hint. She stood still for several heartbeats before she pressed back against his lips and tangled her tongue with his.
It took all the restraint he could muster not to wrap her legs around his waist and press her against the wall, not to rock her against his rod that pulsed beneath his breeches, unhappy with the constraint. He settled for wrapping his arm around her waist while his other hand cupped her jaw. He hungered for far more now he’d had a taste, but despite spending more than half a decade as a legal pirate, he always kept his word. Usually, it was a promise of retribution, but he wouldn’t take advantage of Lydia or deceive his friend.
Lydia’s imagination had failed. The kiss was better than anything she’d daydreamed. Even her dreams at night that centered on him and what they might do together were nothing compared to the consuming kiss they shared. She slid her arms around his neck and came onto her toes. When his arm tightened around her waist and the other slid up between her shoulder blades to cup her skull, she leaned into him. The lengths of their bodies pressed together, and both moaned at the feeling’s rightness.
“Lyddie.” It was Rajesh calling her. They pulled apart breathless, their gazes passion filled.
“I need to go.” Lydia didn’t move. She couldn’t. It was as though Keith’s embrace and how he looked at her ensnared her. She wanted to stay just as they were, or better yet, much, much closer.
“Lydia.” Rajesh’s voice was more strident and closer.
Keith released her but slid his hand into hers and brought it to his lips. His deep-blue eyes watched her at he bent his head. There was promise in them that made dew coat her inner thighs. She pressed them together, hoping to ease the ache, but it only made her more aware of her arousal. Keith was quick to open the door only moments before Rajesh appeared. His eyes narrowed as he looked between Keith and Lydia.
“Yes, Raj.” Lydia stepped around Keith and stood before her cousin. He was eight years her senior and had always seemed so worldly, even when they were children. Now he looked more like a disapproving father. He’d been raising his two nieces for the past couple of years, and he had his own child on the way. Lydia didn’t care for it in the least. She canted her head and shot him a challenging expression.
“I’ll walk you home.”
“Thank you, but I can go on my own.”
“No. Not with more of Windsor-Clive’s men still lurking.”
“He’s dead now, so he can’t bother me anymore. Without him paying, they won’t do anything.”
“Bother you.” Keith grasped Lydia’s upper arm and turned her toward him. His hold was gentle, so she didn’t fight him. “What do you mean anymore?”
Lydia gritted her teeth. She hadn’t thought before she spoke. “Zachary pursued Kelsey. They met when she went to London for her coming out. She wasn’t interested, but he persisted. Once she died, his attention turned to me. I believe his interest in us was because of our connections to smugglers. He called on me a few times and sent me letters. My father knows, and he kept Zachary away from me.”
She wouldn’t mention the times he tried to kiss and grope her, or how he’d pinned her against walls and tried to press his body against her. She’d kneed him once and called to anyone she thought might hear the other times. He intimidated her, but never forced her. She’d sensed he had a limit.
Keith glanced back at Rajesh, and something passed between the two men. Rajesh looked annoyed, but he said nothing. Keith turned his attention back to Lydia. “Did he do anything to you?”
Lydia shook her head. “No. He wouldn’t dare. My father scared him the most. Uncle Theo’s known for how protective he is of Aunt Vinita and Jemma, but he’s a pussycat compared to my father. A man tried to pull me out to the gardens during my first Season. My father challenged him to a duel to the death. As you know, my father is still breathing.”
“It’s dark. I don’t like the idea of you walking home, even with Rajesh with you. He doesn’t know the land like I do. I’ll take you.”
Lydia shook her head. “There’s a tunnel that runs to the edge of your property. It’ll bring me out in the trees that separate our lands. You know my home is just outside the copse. I can get home without being in the open for more than a couple of minutes. My family can see the trees from the drawing room. They know to watch for me. Rajesh can stay here, and he can leave with Jemma and Ben in the morning.”
“How many tunnels are there?” Keith wondered aloud. He knew of the one from the beach into his home, and he knew about the ones in the library and dormitory.
“Many. The monks used them during the time of Henry VIII when he dissolved the monasteries. They dug them in case they had to flee. I don’t know who re-enforced them or expanded them over the years, but I don’t think they all date back that long ago. There are books in the library about the abbey, but I haven’t seen any that tell who dug or maintained them since then.”
Rajesh and Keith looked at each other, neither appearing eager to accept Lydia’s suggestion. Rajesh spoke up first. “I’d like to have a little more time with you and your family. Aunt Sarla invited me to spend the night.” He looked at Keith, warning in his voice. “I trust Ben and Jemma are safe here for the night.”
“In that case, just give me a couple more minutes in here, please. I’m not ready to go.” Lydia smiled at Rajesh before she looked at Keith. “Goodnight, Your Grace.”
Keith glowered. He thought them well past his formal title. He’d been ready to carry her off and make love to her all night. He didn’t care for the distance she put between them. It stung.
“Goodnight, Lady Lydia, Raj.” He spun on his heel and walked away. It took all his resolve not to look back. And Lydia fought the urge to step into the corridor to watch him.
“What happened between you two? Tell me the truth, Lydia.”
“Rajesh, he kept his word. He didn’t defile me. He wondered why I came here, and I told him. I miss Kelsey and being in here makes me feel better. I had a dream last night that she wanted me to find something. I did.” Lydia went to the bed and withdrew the journal from beneath the mattress. After that kiss, she could almost forget why she’d hidden it. But Kelsey hadn’t revealed herself or her diary to Keith. Her friend only wanted her to know.
“What’s that?”
“Kelsey’s diary. She told me in my dream how to find it. I don’t think she wants anyone else to have it, at least not until I’ve seen it. If she didn’t want me to read it, she wouldn’t have led me here.”
Rajesh looked around the room. “Do you believe she’s a bhut ?”
Rajesh spent his life in India until his early twenties and was raised Hindu. He was well versed in the Anglican faith and held no objections to it. But his beliefs followed the Hindu teachings. He wondered if his cousin’s dead friend was a restless ghost. People believed bhut were spirits who weren’t at peace because they’d died a violent or untimely death or were denied burial rights.
“I don’t know. But I sense her with me whenever I come here. She’s never with me off the abbey grounds, except in my dreams. Are you going to tell Keith I found this?” She held up the leather-bound journal.
“No. I don’t think you should take it since it’s his now, but I won’t say anything.”
“I’m certain she wants me to read it, Raj. I can’t come back here to do it.”
“That’s why you agreed to me walking you home. You wanted more time, so you could grab it, and you didn’t want MacNeil to see.”
“Back to calling him by his surname? Are you angry at him?”
“You used his title. He’s a friend, but he’s not as close as he once was.”
Lydia nearly defended Keith, but she opted to remain quiet. She led her cousin to the tunnel and guided him through it, one hand stretched in front of her since they had no torches. She knew her way around by counting her steps. They were soon in the copse of trees. Before they stepped out, Lydia looked back toward Forde Abbey, nearly certain she could see Keith watching them from the front drawing room window.