Free Lord Deverill's Heir by Catherine Coulter

love.” Lady Ann drew a deep breath. “I fully intend to remedy all the past ills Elsbeth has suffered.”
    “But why did the earl treat her so?”
    “I’ve often wondered that. I finally decided it must be because he loved Arabella so very much, he did not want to share her or himself. There was, quite simply, no one else for him.” Lady Ann added, “And for some reason that I could never discover, he bore some sort of grudge toward the de Trécassis family. That was his first wife’s family. The earl was never a very forgiving man, you know.”
    “Does it not seem rather curious to you, then, that he bequeathed her ten thousand pounds?”
    “Yes, I was shocked. Perhaps he regretted what he had done, but I am not at all certain that is true. I fear that we shall never know his reasons for doing so. Ah, Justin, do forgive me for being so very blunt about you and Arabella. Dr. Branyon wasn’t pleased with me. He said you held your tongue, but it was difficult for you.”
    “Just a bit difficult.” The earl rubbed his chin, looking into the orange embers in the fireplace. “Let us just say that you did not leave me a great deal of latitude on the subject. Though I made up my mind several years ago that I would marry Arabella, it still comes as a shock to be thrust so baldly into the cauldron. You know, Ann, that I shall try to do my best by her.”

    “If I had believed otherwise, my dear Justin, I would have fought the entire proposition with the ferociousness of a mother lion. Although I felt a great deal of doubt about the earl’s deception, I thought his decision to be the best solution. You know, it was all I could do to keep quiet while George Brammersley dallied about before you arrived. I spoke briefly to Arabella this evening. If naught else, I believe she begins to understand her father’s motives as well as my silence over the matter.
    Still, it is difficult for her. It will be difficult for her for a long time, I fear.”
    “You are a remarkable woman, Ann.”
    “You are kind, but that isn’t true. Over the years I have become a very realistic woman, nothing more. Years of life do that to one, you know.
    Perhaps it was wrong of the earl to wish to protect Arabella. You know how he felt.”
    “Yes. If Arabella had known that there was an heir to the earldom, she would have been distressed.”
    “An understatement.”
    “Yes, her father thought and thought and worried. I remember him telling me that he couldn’t allow her to feel dispossessed.”
    “Well, now it’s over. We will see what happens. Oh, Justin, what do you think of your new home?”
    He laughed. “I feel daunted by such magnificence. I have never before in my life had more servants than I had relatives. Only this evening I noticed the truly vast number of gables and chimney stacks.” Lady Ann chuckled as a memory rose in her mind. “You must ask Arabella the exact number of gables. When she was only eight years old she came rushing into the library and proudly announced to her father that there were exactly forty gables on Evesham Abbey. She was such a sturdy little girl, her hair always a tumbled mess and her knees invariably scratched.
    Oh, I don’t know but even then she was so full of life, so inquisitive.
    Do forgive me, Justin. I do not mean to bore you. I cannot imagine why I thought of this. It was a long time ago.” The earl said brusquely, “That doesn’t matter. Anything you could tell me about Arabella could doubtless be of assistance. I do not believe that this marriage business is going to be an easy thing.”
    “You are right about that. Now, if you really wish to hear this, very well. Back to Arabella’s forty gables. A short time later, her father sent her to Cornwall to visit her great-aunt Grenhilde. No sooner had she left than he commissioned carpenters and bricklayers to add another gable to the abbey. When Arabella returned and bounded into his arms, he held her away and said in the most stern voice