Bronwyn Scott's Sexy Regency Bundle (249 page)

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The Viscount Claims His Bride

dormant between them during her marriage and his long absence, they had been awoken once more.

The man had

her at least once since his ill-

timed return, making Lucien highly suspicious that St Just's tenure away from fair Albion's shore could be directly linked to

marriage. Lucien

didn't like surprises. It galled him there was something of that nature he didn7 t know about Philippa.

Lucien7s secretary knocked and asked for the correspondence. Lucien sent him away. 'No letters to write today. Take time to work on cata-loguing the library.' The door shut on the office.

Alone again, Lucien took out a sheet of crisp paper.

There was one letter to write, but it was too private to entrust to another pair of eyes.

Lucien dipped his pen into the inkwell and began to write. St Just stood in the way of his bid to build a mining empire; for that, the man must be ruined.

Something had ruined the relationship between Valerian

Philippa, Beldon mused, and not for the first time since he'd parted ways with Valerian at three weeks ago.

After seeing

off in her coach bound for

Cambourne, he had ridden with Valerian to Roseland, stayed a few days to see his friend settled and then turned for the Pendennys lands outside St.

Mawes.

Today, as he rode home from his weekly visits with the tenants and his meeting with the vicar, the subject dominated his mind, perhaps because he had little else to think of. He was a social creature and this

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was a lonely time of year for him. There was small need for him to be in London and

was busy

with her own interests before she had to be back in town.

It wasn't that he didn't have options. He could go up to London anyway and

would always

welcome him at Cambourne.

was close by

and now that Valerian was home, he'd probably ride over to

on occasion to ease the isolation he

felt rambling around alone in the big Pendennys country house.

Certainly, he had options, but, in truth, his own estate needed his attention too. He'd worked too hard to save it from genteel poverty in the years since his father's passing. Of course, he couldn't take all the credit. Without the generous loan from the Duke of Camboume, all the effort in the world could very well have been useless. When he'd first starting going over the ledgers, that fact had become glaringly apparent. Cambourne's wealth had kept the Pendennys family afloat. He'd silently thanked the fates

had married well, if precipitously,

and at such a fortuitous time.

Beldon drew sharply on the reins, bringing his horse to a rather sudden and jarring halt. The answer to his riddle hit with full force. Cambourne's money had been the 'something' that had come between and Valerian.

He kicked his horse into a hard gallop, covering the remaining distance home as fast as he dared.

Once home, he raced into the estate office, pulling down old ledgers from the shelves. Beldon didn't

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The Viscount Claims His Bride

even wait to take off his coat, only taking time to strip off his gloves so as to turn the ledger pages better.

Hours later, when he'd finally removed his outer wear and his jacket, rolled up his shirt sleeves and eaten sporadically from the tray the housekeeper had sent up after she realised the young baron would not be swayed from his task long enough to eat in the dining room, Beldon had his answer.

The office was a mess, with books open to various pages strewn across any available surface. Ledgers from nine years ago had simply been a starting place.

He'd had to go back further to determine why the Pendennys barony had needed the funds so badly in the first place.

What he found had been devastating. The office had paid the price of his sleuthing and so had his memories. It was almost like learning the life he thought he'd had was only an illusion. His father had not confided in him, not really.

He'd known about the loan from Cambourne, naturally. But he'd thought very little of it beyond the exorbitant expenses of a few years. Philippa's Season and

were costly affairs coming on the

heels of supporting his time away at Cambridge with Valerian. At the time, his father had only said that the wars with Napoleon had placed the economy under undue stress.

Beldon had believed him. When he'd taken over the reins of the barony, he'd not looked back far enough in the ledgers to see that while there was

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truth in what his father had offered as an explanation for

loan, there was also much else.

The Pendennys finances had been in a slow decline for years. He could trace a string of investment losses and a decline in the production rates of the mines.

Too much money had gone out and too little had come in to cover the losses.

The loan had been used to shore up the failing coffers and Beldon had used part of the funds later to diversify the family holdings. In anticipation of a future where the copper and tin mines wouldn't produce as much ore, never dreaming that future was already coming to pass, Beldon had bought a tin smelter. Later, he'd invested wisely with the Industries gunpowder works. Both had paid off handsomely.