Chapter 1
London, England
“A missive has arrived for you, my lord.”
Colin Rowley, Viscount Hartsford, glanced up from the billiards table where he contemplated his opening shot when his ancient butler shuffled into the room, a vellum envelope in his white-gloved hand.
The man insisted in dressing himself in the silver and royal blue livery that had long gone out of fashion with the Duke of Lancaster’s household—Colin’s father—and no amount of gentle hints could change the old retainer’s mind.
That was how he’d done things when he’d worked with the duke.
He wouldn’t alter it now that he was in the employ of the duke’s second son.
No plain black suits with white shirts for him, thank you very much.
“Put it with the other post and leave me be, Drayton.” Colin waved a hand and returned to pondering the colorful balls aligned in a triangle.
He had no use for letters and had no interest in anything that didn’t directly benefit him.
Christmastide season or not, he was a selfish bastard, and everyone knew that his first order of business was entertainment to please himself.
A soft clearing of the man’s throat indicated the butler hadn’t followed the instructions.
Most annoying. “My lord, this didn’t come with the post like the others.
It came by special courier and bears the Duke of Lancaster’s seal.
” He coughed into his free hand. “I suggest that you attend to this if you won’t anything else. ”
Now the butler was the expert on what he should and should not do?
Of course, he was probably right, and if Colin didn’t do it, the man would tattle like he was a brat of ten in the school yard.
“Bloody hell.” Colin threw his cue stick on the table and finally turned to the elderly servant, who’d been passed down from his brother when the butler had become too old to handle the needs of such a lively household.
Hand-me-downs and second thoughts. Fitting, since no one expected much from him.
“No doubt Father wishes to summon me to Christmastide festivities at Lancaster Hall.” The great monstrosity of a castle set amidst the rolling hills, lush farmland, and thick forests of Chesterfield in Derbyshire. Crumbling pile if ever there was one.
The exact place he never wanted to visit again.
“I wouldn’t know, my lord.” Drayton, with a shaking, blue-veined hand, extended the note.
The familiar swoop of his father’s heavy black handwriting immediately caught Colin’s eye.
How many times had he received letters with the same scrawl throughout the years?
How many times had he tossed them away, unread?
A handful, that he knew, for he hadn’t read a single letter from his father since that terrible year when everything in his life went south.
“Of course not.” Colin refused to let those memories loose in his mind.
They were in the past for a reason. When he snapped up the missive, Drayton pivoted and made his doddering, ponderous way back toward the door.
“There is one more item of business, my lord.” He glanced at Colin over his shoulder, a hint of a smile on his lips.
“Your grandmother is in the parlor. She wishes to speak with you. Post haste.”
What other horrors will this day bring? All he wished to do for the rest of this month was meet his chums at the clubs, attend a few operas with various widows and then spend the nights in the perfumed arms of those same ladies.
It might be the Christmastide season when everyone looked for signs, wonders, and miracles, but he was content to settle for physical pleasures and removing coin from his friends at the faro tables.
Couple those things with wine or brandy, and it all sounded like the perfect way to usher in the season.
With his mental faculties safely intact and no maudlin memories to bedevil him. “I’ll attend to her presently.”
“Very good, my lord.” Drayton exited the room without another word.
The viscount stared at the familiar red wax seal that bore his family’s crest complete with a rampant lion.
How long had it been since he’d seen his father, his family?
Weeks, months, a year? Time moved quickly when one chased pleasurable pursuits.
He blew out a breath. What a lie. Oh, he knew exactly how long it had been.
Seventeen years. That’s how long it had been since he’d stepped foot in Lancaster Hall.
Colin ignored the tightness in his chest that thinking of his family always brought.
His father didn’t truly care about what he did with his life.
Hadn’t he made that obvious with his silence over the years?
Yes, the duke wrote regularly, and Colin dutifully tossed each and every missive into a trunk at the foot of his bed, unopened.
Perhaps he didn’t care what his father had to say. Nothing would change the past.
And there could be no future with his sire, how could there be?
Yet now, here was an official summons, sent by special courier and not the post. No doubt the duke wished for this one to have a better chance of being read.
Or mayhap something dire had happened to one of his siblings.
His gut clenched in sudden fear. Fine. Let’s have this over with.
He’d be in heavy annoyance if this was a mere announcement that his older brother or sister had added to their nurseries again.
Copulated like rabbits, those two, each with a passel of brats.
Did they not value peace and quiet? At least his younger sister hadn’t bred yet.
Rolling his eyes, Colin tore into the envelope and then withdrew the parchment within, letting the ivory vellum envelope fall to the carpet unheeded. When he unfolded the single sheet of paper, he huffed. It was the summons he originally thought.
It’s time to come home, son.
“What, I don’t even rank a proper salutation?” Colin flicked the paper with a finger before he continued to read.
You have been gone long enough, and it’s time I had my whole family together again for the Christmastide holidays.
Your siblings miss you; I miss you. Please come to Lancaster Hall and spend the season with all of us.
Get to know your nieces and nephews. No time like the present to mend fences and make a fresh start.
No, it’s not the same since your mother died, but we do our best, and the holidays are always delightful.
I can already see the look on your face.
You’ll tear this letter up the same as you’ve probably done with the others.
However, let me sweeten the deal this year.
If you arrive home to Lancaster Hall by Christmas morning, I shall give you my prized charger, Thor.
He is a descendant of Thunder, the horse you adored as a young man, and he’s the fastest in the county.
In addition, I will deed you my estate in Surrey, for those days when you tire of knocking about Town with your ne’er-do-well friends and scandalous women.
Please think about it. Christmas is for family. I’d like to have mine intact this year. I’m not growing any younger…
Yours respectfully,
Lancaster
Colin snorted. Family, indeed. They were a family when his mother was alive.
However, the man had indeed sweetened the pot.
This changed everything. He’d hankered after that charger, Thunder, for years, but his father had denied him time out of hand, saying he wasn’t responsible enough to handle such a powerful horse.
Every horse Thunder had sired over the years had gone on to win countless races throughout England and a few times overseas.
A gift such as this was nothing to sneeze at.
As for the small property in Surrey? Well, it had a decent manor in the countryside along with good hunting in the autumn, close enough to Town that he could make the trip in a day.
He’d always salivated at the thought of having a place to remove to during the summer and winter months, especially since his older brother considered the castle in Derbyshire his home when he wasn’t in London.
What to do?
Seventeen years was a long time to return as the family prodigal.
When last he’d been at Lancaster Hall, he’d been a lad of one and twenty, and thought the world owed him everything as the second son of a powerful duke and the third out of his four children.
He was reckless, selfish and spoiled, lived very much for himself.
A slow smile curved his lips. Not that he’d changed all that much.
Sure, he was a widower with a daughter now, but that didn’t mean he’d given up chasing his own pleasure or entertainment.
Anything to keep the past at bay. Could he give those things up for a couple weeks of rustication, and inundated by his relatives?
Then his smile died, and he glared at the letter.
Once, there had been more than enough in the country to keep him occupied.
A certain young lady who he’d thought to spend the rest of his life with had captured his attention and his heart, but that future had crumbled with his na?ve dreams once he’d spoken them aloud on that long-ago snowy day, and he’d fled from Lancaster Hall with the bitter taste of embarrassment and defeat on his palate once Christmastide festivities concluded.
Perhaps he wouldn’t go after all. How could he when every foot of that property would bring him face to face with a past he’d rather forget on multiple levels?
“I cannot do it.” Colin folded the letter, retrieved the dropped envelope and then stuffed the paper inside.
On the other hand, his father offered too great a prize to ignore, and no doubt Lucy Hudson had moved far away from Derbyshire over the years.
There would be no awkward moments between them, and he wouldn’t need to remember…