Free Caversham's Bride (The Caversham Chronicles - Book One) by Sandy Raven Page B

expression unruffled. “I told you all that was important. What should you care of the details? They’ll not change the outcome for me now. The prospects for my future were forever ruined the night of my abduction.”
    “I need to know the whole story, so as best to decide how to proceed.”
    Instinct told her this man could be a formidable foe should she cross him, and right now she didn’t have the time for a fight, nor did she need an adversary that could keep her from her goal. Tears threatened to rise, but stuck in her throat, suppressed by the fear that any chance she had to save Luchino and Maura would be lost if he refused her request. For her captor would then be wary of leaving her unattended.
    “I know not if I can trust you,” she confessed.
    “You never will until you give me a chance.”
    “My own aunt tried to have me killed. If you cannot trust your own family, then who can you trust?”
    He seemed to process what she said, his expression for the most part, unreadable. Lia felt perhaps she hit a little close to home with her words. She went on, and explained, “I used to believe trust was something that should be assumed of an individual, until such time the person in question is proved untrustworthy.” Lifting her glass, she twirled the fine crystal goblet in her hands, staring down at the shards of light reflecting off the cut patterns. “That changed soon after my parents died.”
    He stood and walked back into the room. When he returned, he carried the decanter. “Why don’t you start at the beginning?” He refilled their glasses, and reclaimed his seat on the bench, this time stretching his long legs before him.
    Lia gave him a shortened version of her life up until the fire that took her parents from her. Pacing about the small courtyard, she told him of the liberal inheritance she and her brother received. She never knew she had any paternal relatives. Her father never mentioned his family to her. When she was old enough to ask, Lia’s mother told her it was because her grandfather had disowned her father when they married because she was not his social equal.
    Having grown up with parents who loved her and her brother dearly, Lia thought no more of it. Until the day her aunt and uncle had come to Naples after the funeral and informed her that she and her brother, Luchino, were moving to Genoa. Lia had refused, explaining to her relatives her plans to complete her studies and become a scholar like her parents. She stressed that she and Luchino had Maura, and had inherited enough money to live comfortably for the rest of their lives, provided they didn’t squander it.
    In the end, all of her efforts failed. At her aunt’s insistence, her uncle forbade her to remain in Naples unmarried and with only their old nurse as chaperon. She and her brother were forced to leave the only home they had ever known, and move in with a family they had never met before.
    Once they got to Genoa, Lia’s clothing disappeared. She was given three coarse black gowns, worn through with holes in places. She was in mourning, her aunt said. Not long after, she noticed her own gowns had been altered to fit her much shorter cousin, then new drapes and carpets began to appear in the house. She didn’t have to question where the funds came from for it was obvious her aunt was spending the monthly allowance that belonged to her and Luchino.
    Her uncle died five months after their arrival in Genoa, and things quickly got worse. Lia felt that, while he was alive, her uncle acted as somewhat of a buffer between her and her aunt. Perhaps he felt some obligation to protect her because he was a blood relation, it was unclear to her. But, once he died there was no one to dispute, or control her aunt.
    “My brother, Luchino, was often kept locked in his room for minor infractions of our aunt’s ridiculous rules,” she said, fighting the tears. “When he was allowed out of the room, he wasn’t allowed to play, which is