Miss Winbolt and the Fortune Hunter. Sylvia Andrew

don’t pay ’em to think!’

      Lady Deardon tapped her stick impatiently. ‘Your life in South America has spoilt you, my boy. Mark my words, you’ll soon change your tune when you have an establishment of your own to run here in England. Good servants are to be treasured. Your man arrived some time ago with your baggage. I cannot for the life of me call him your valet. Anyone less like a gentleman’s gentleman would be difficult to imagine. But I suppose he knows what to do. Do go and put some respectable clothes on before Reggie sees you. You know what a stickler he is, and he’ll be back for dinner soon. Then you can tell me your news.’

      ‘There isn’t much,’ William said briefly, as he went out. ‘I haven’t seen anything I’d call really suitable.’

      Emily would not have recognised him when he at last came downstairs again. Not only had he washed and shaved, but everything about him, from his carefully brushed hair to his gleaming evening shoes, his immaculate shirt and perfectly tied cravat, his beautifully fitted coat of blue superfine and snowy white pantaloons, pronounced him to be a gentleman of some distinction.

      ‘I must say you scrub up well,’ said Lady Deardon. ‘Why you choose to wander about the countryside like a tramp I cannot imagine. Reggie has just arrived. He’s dressing now, so there’s time for us to have a talk. Have you heard anything more about the children?’

      ‘The latest news is that they will stay in Jamaica with the Warburtons until they can all come to England some time in the autumn.’

      ‘Who are these Warburtons?’

      ‘Good friends of mine from my days in the Navy. When John died so unexpectedly, they took the children in.’

      ‘Poor little things. I take it that Juana’s family still refuse to have anything to do with them?’

      ‘When Juana ran off with my brother, the Lopez family didn’t simply refuse to acknowledge her marriage to him, they cut her out of their lives completely. The children don’t exist as far as they are concerned. Juana’s family will never relent, even though her children are now orphans.’

      ‘So they are your responsibility. What are you going to do?’

      ‘What else can I do but find somewhere to live and make it into a suitable home for us all? The children are safe enough for the moment, but it’s hard to say what effect the events of the past year have had on them. It will be better when we are all together in a house of our own.’

      ‘Have you found anything?’

      ‘There’s only one possibility in the district. I came across it today. Charlwood. It’s a handsome estate not too far from here, and the land is in good heart. The house itself looks ruinous, but it could be rescued. It is basically sound and it has plenty of rooms. The gardens and park have real potential, too. They’ve obviously been laid out by a master hand. I liked it.’

      ‘So it’s for sale? I know Charlwood quite well. It was once a lovely place, but there was some sort of dispute over ownership when the old man died, and it’s been empty for years.’

      ‘That’s the drawback—the whole place has been neglected too long. It would be months before the house was habitable. A year even.’

      ‘It’s in a beautiful situation, William. It sounds as if it could be just what you’re looking for.’

      ‘It certainly came close. But the children will need to settle down as soon as possible after they arrive here.’

      ‘It’s a wife you need, if you’re to look after those children properly. Have you thought of that? A mother for them is more important than four walls and a roof.’

      ‘I know, I know. I haven’t the slightest wish to marry, but I suppose I must. To be honest, it’s a devil of a mess.’

      ‘Bringing up two orphans won’t be easy. They need a mother and you haven’t even found a wife yet! It isn’t every woman who would be willing to take on a ready-made family such as that.’

      ‘Since they are the only reason I would even consider marrying, any wife of mine will have to accept them. John was my brother and his children are now my responsibility. There’s no alternative.’

      ‘Well, if you do wish to hold on to them you must find a decent, well-bred young woman and marry her! That is far more important than any house.’

      ‘How the devil can I ask anyone to marry me when I haven’t a home to offer her? What should I say to her? “Madam, you can have my heart, my name and two orphaned children, but, alas, we shall have to live in a field!” I can’t see any sensible woman accepting such an offer, can you?’

      ‘Don’t be ridiculous, William! Of course she wouldn’t. But now I come to think of it, there’s a very pretty Dower House at Charlwood. Is it included in the sale?’

      ‘Yes.’

      ‘Well, then, you and your family could live there until the main house is ready. I know it’s a little small—’

      ‘Extremely so. That was why I have almost decided not to consider it.’

      ‘Is it as much of a ruin as the main house?’

      ‘No, a few months’ work would put it in order.’

      ‘It could surely house you all till Charlwood itself is ready to receive you.’

      ‘I suppose it could—if it could be made ready in time…’

      ‘Reggie and I are going up north at the end of October, but you could all stay with us till then if it wasn’t quite ready for you. There, that’s settled. Here comes Reggie. We shall go in to dinner.’

      Later that evening Lady Deardon returned to the question of a suitable wife for her godson. ‘I’ve been thinking over dinner how to set about finding you a wife, William. It is essential you find one before long. I don’t imagine a débutante would suit you?’

      ‘Not at all! The ones I’ve met since coming back to England seem to me to be remarkably silly. They don’t appear to understand what I’m talking about half the time.’

      ‘As I thought—you need someone older.’

      ‘Preferably intelligent. And, if possible, with a sense of humour.’

      ‘Aren’t you being a little too particular for a man in such desperate straits? I suppose you’ll tell me next that you’re looking for a woman with a fortune, too!’

      ‘The very thing!’ exclaimed her godson with a grin. ‘A rich widow would be best of all! Putting Charlwood in order will cost a mint of money, and now there’s the additional expense of the Dower House. I shall certainly need a rich wife!’

      ‘My dear boy, you may not find it so easy. Rich young women who are looking for a husband do not grow on trees.’

      William was visited by a sudden vision of the young woman he had found in a tree. Warm, responsive, breathtakingly passionate… Rich or poor, in her teens or in her thirties, he was most unlikely to find anyone among the ladies of polite society nearly as exciting as his wild girl of the tree…

      ‘William!’

      With an effort he put the girl firmly out of his mind and said cheerfully, ‘I shan’t give up hope yet. There must be someone somewhere.’

      ‘You talk as if any woman would do! Have you no feelings in the matter? No heart?’

      ‘Any heart I had was battered out of me years ago, ma’am. No, I want someone whose company I find tolerable and who will care for the children. Affairs of the heart have nothing to do with marriage. A congenial partner is what I want, and if she is rich, so much the better.’

      ‘You are trying to shock me again. You always were a tease.’

      ‘I meant every word. Meanwhile, I shall have another look at Charlwood.’

      Chapter