Bluebell Castle. Sarah Bennett

      

       About the Author

      SARAH BENNETT has been reading for as long as she can remember. Raised in a family of bookworms, her love affair with books of all genres has culminated in the ultimate Happy Ever After: getting to write her own stories to share with others.

      Born and raised in a military family, she is happily married to her own Officer (who is sometimes even A Gentleman). Home is wherever he lays his hat, and life has taught them both that the best family is the one you create from friends as well as relatives.

      When not reading or writing, Sarah is a devotee of afternoon naps and sailing the high seas, but only on vessels large enough to accommodate a casino and a choice of restaurants.

      You can connect with her via twitter @Sarahlou_writes or on Facebook www.facebook.com/SarahBennettAuthor

       Also by Sarah Bennett

      The Butterfly Cove Series

       Sunrise at Butterfly Cove

       Wedding Bells at Butterfly Cove

       Christmas at Butterfly Cove

      The Lavender Bay Series

       Spring at Lavender Bay

       Summer at Lavender Bay

       Snowflakes at Lavender Bay

      The Bluebell Castle Series

       Spring Skies Over Bluebell Castle

       Sunshine Over Bluebell Castle

      Sunshine Over Bluebell Castle

      SARAH BENNETT

      HQ

      An imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd.

      1 London Bridge Street

      London SE1 9GF

      First published in Great Britain by HQ in 2019

      Copyright © Sarah Bennett 2019

      Sarah Bennett asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work.

      A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

      This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.

      All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins.

      Source ISBN: 9780008331009

      E-book Edition © 2019 ISBN: 9780008314811

      Version: 2019-07-01

      Table of Contents

       Cover

      About the Author

      Also by Sarah Bennett

       Title Page

       Copyright

       Dedication

      Chapter 1

      Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

       Chapter 6

       Chapter 7

       Chapter 8

       Chapter 9

       Chapter 10

       Chapter 11

       Chapter 12

      Chapter 13

      Chapter 14

      Chapter 15

      Chapter 16

      Chapter 17

      Chapter 18

      Chapter 19

      Epilogue

      Acknowledgements

       Extract

       Dear Reader …

       Keep Reading …

      About the Publisher

       For Charlotte –

       thank you for believing in me when I don’t always believe in myself

       Chapter 1

      After a fruitless afternoon fighting with the overgrown tangle of thorns all but blocking the entrance to the maze which formed the centrepiece of the long neglected formal gardens of Bluebell Castle, Igraine Ludworth-Iggy to everyone but her formidable great-aunt, Morgana-was ready for nothing more than a quiet cry in a hot shower. Like the labours of Sisyphus, trying to make sense of the mess so many years of neglect had wrought to the gardens was starting to feel like a pointless exercise. It would take months of hard work, a bucketload of money, and a team full of assistants; the first she could manage, the other two… well a girl could dream.

      Shoving at the frizzy, sweaty dark snarl of a fringe haphazardly shortened with a pair of secateurs in a foolish act of frustration the previous week, Iggy had just reached the end of the pathway leading to the enormous gravel driveway in front of the castle when she heard the sound of a vehicle crunching over the stones. Frustrations and her dire need for a shower forgotten, Iggy hurried as fast as her wellies would carry her towards the battered Land Rover pulling up on the other side of the enormous circular fountain and flower bed occupying pride of place in the centre of the drive.

      ‘You’re back, you’re back! How was it?’ Iggy asked her brother Arthur and his girlfriend as they clambered out of the vehicle. As the new baronet, Arthur had been invited to the local primary school to give out the prizes at their speech day, and he’d taken his girlfriend along for moral support.

      Though the eldest of triplets, Igraine had been passed over in the line of succession of their family’s lands and title to Arthur, the middle child, as she had the misfortune of being