A Lady's Guide to Mischief and Murder Read online

  Books by Dianne Freeman

  A LADY’S GUIDE TO ETIQUETTE AND MURDER

  A LADY’S GUIDE TO GOSSIP AND MURDER

  A LADY’S GUIDE TO MISCHIEF AND MURDER

  Published by Kensington Publishing Corporation

  A Lady’s Guide to Mischief and Murder

  Dianne Freeman

  KENSINGTON BOOKS

  www.kensingtonbooks.com

  All copyrighted material within is Attributor Protected.

  Table of Contents

  Also by

  Title Page

  Copyright Page

  Dedication

  Acknowledgments

  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

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  KENSINGTON BOOKS are published by

  Kensington Publishing Corp.

  119 West 40th Street

  New York, NY 10018

  Copyright © 2020 by Dianne Freeman

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means without the prior written consent of the Publisher, excepting brief quotes used in reviews.

  Library of Congress Card Catalogue Number: 2020931319

  Kensington and the K logo Reg. U.S. Pat. & TM Off.

  ISBN: 978-1-4967-1693-4

  First Kensington Hardcover Edition: August 2020

  ISBN-13: 978-1-4967-1695-8 (ebook)

  ISBN-10: 1-4967-1695-7 (ebook)

  For my mom and dad, Lottie and Hank Halicki. Love and miss you!

  Acknowledgments

  Heartfelt thanks to the following people for helping to make this book a reality: To my writer friends; Mary Keliikoa, Heather Redmond, Bea Conti, and Clarissa Harwood, who, as beta readers and CPs, assist in untangling twisted plot threads, keep me from making historical errors, and push me to write better.

  Many thanks to Christine Hounshell and Mark Fleszar for their technical support in medicine and sports. To J.W.—you know what you did. And to Bud Elonzae, you old romantic you!

  There would be no book without my agent, Melissa Edwards, my editor, John Scognamiglio, and the team at Kensington Books, especially Larissa Ackerman, Robin Cook, and Pearl Saban. You are all amazing.

  I owe a special debt of gratitude to the librarians and booksellers who have championed the Countess of Harleigh series, and to the readers who have enjoyed it.

  Lastly, thanks to my husband, Dan, who lets me read full manuscripts out loud to him, provides endless love and support, and tells everyone he meets about my books!

  Chapter 1

  October 1899

  Why does it always happen that just when I begin to feel life simply couldn’t get any better, fate drops a disaster into my path to prove me right?

  While I have no idea how common this phenomenon may be among people in general, it happens to me with rather exasperating frequency. For example, a little over ten years ago, when I was merely Miss Frances Price, I married the man of my mother’s dreams and became Frances, Countess of Harleigh. A joyous occasion. I’d done my family proud. My husband was dashing and handsome. I learned too late he was also feckless and philandering. After making me miserable for nine years, he had the audacity to die in the bed of his lover. Once I’d emerged from mourning, I found myself similarly buoyant and optimistic. That period also ended in death, or more precisely, murder.

  This cycle of highs and lows weighed on my mind because my life, at the moment, was purely idyllic and I couldn’t help but wonder if disaster loomed right around the corner. Regardless, I carried on as usual, taking breakfast in the nursery with my eight-year-old daughter, Rose, while we made plans for an upcoming visit to the country. When the time came for her lessons, I slipped downstairs to my library, where Mrs. Thompson, my housekeeper, had left a pot of coffee next to the morning mail on my desk, and waxwings trilled outside the window looking out over the garden. While enjoying my first sip, I learned that was the moment fate would drop the other shoe.

  Aunt Hetty and my sister, Lily, slipped into the room, both looking far too distressed for such a fine morning. Lily was soon to be married, and she’d been floating through the past two months as the happiest of brides-to-be. But with her blue eyes red-rimmed and watery, her complexion blotchy, and her golden hair spilling from its coiffure, she looked rather like a ghoulish version of her usual, sunny self.

  The first twinges of apprehension tickled the back of my neck like icy fingers. “Dearest, is something amiss?”

  She burst into tears.

  Hetty wrapped her arms around Lily and cast a scowl my way. “Now look what you’ve done.”

  I must admit the exchange left me baffled. And concerned. I swept around the desk and leaned over my sister. “Lily, please, tell me what happened.”

  As her tears continued to flow, Hetty settled her in a chair and gave me the news. Lily was with child. I reeled back against the desk and uttered the first word that came to mind.

  “Disaster!”

  This brought on renewed wailing and a fresh bout of tears from Lily, and a peevish huff from Aunt Hetty.

  “Honestly, Frances, you are no help at all. Lily turns to you with her troubles, and this is your reaction?”

  I gave her a slow-burning glare, intended to make her cringe, or at least take her criticism elsewhere. It didn’t work. Hetty was immune to glares, mine or anyone else’s. As my father’s sister, she shared his pragmatic nature, dark hair and eyes, and the uncanny ability to make money from anything. Hetty had survived the loss of a beloved husband, made and lost several fortunes, and held her own with businessmen and society matrons alike. She was not to be intimidated by the likes of me.

  Instead, she sidled up to Lily and placed a protective arm around her shoulders. As if I were going to harm her in some way. For her part, Lily struggled to fight back her tears and mopped her eyes with a handkerchief.

  “Of course I’ll help. You just took me by surprise.” I glanced at my sister and sighed. “Your wedding is only eight weeks away. Couldn’t you have waited?”

  Lily, with the face of an innocent babe, raised her handkerchief to her watery eyes. “That’s exactly the point, Franny. We saw no reason to wait.” As she waved the handkerchief dismissively, Hetty drew back and took her own seat. “After all, we’ll be married so soon. I had no idea it could happen this quickly. You and Reggie were married for some time before Rose came along. And Aunt Hetty was married for years and never had children. How should I have known?”

  How should I have known was not likely to pass muster as an excuse for our mother. I could just imagine her reaction had I made such an announcement before my wedding. Though now I think about it, it wasn’t as if there’d been time. My mother had singled Reggie out as a possible husband for me before we even left New York. A mutual friend introduced us soon after we’d arrived in London. Reggie and I danced a few times, he and my mother came to terms, and we were married without ever having a chance to become acquainted.

  Have I mentioned the marriage was a disaster? Is it any wonder I wanted Lily and Leo to have a long engagement period? To take some time and come to know one another?

  Clearly, they came to know one
another all too well. Now what were we to do?

  “Leo suggested we elope,” Lily said, almost in a whisper.

  Her words pulled me from my thoughts. “Oh, no, dear. That will never do.”

  She balled the handkerchief in her fist. “Well, we can’t wait eight weeks as we’d planned. How on earth will I explain giving birth so soon? It would be less than six months.”

  “You wouldn’t be the first, dear.” Hetty patted her hand.

  “No, you wouldn’t, but if it can be avoided, so much the better. However, an elopement is almost a proclamation that one is with child. I agree the original wedding date is out of the question, but an elopement is not a satisfactory alternative.” So where did that leave us?

  Since Lily seemed to have recovered herself, I ventured to ask another tricky question. “What does Leo’s mother say?”

  She gawked at me as if I’d just asked her to set herself on fire. “Mrs. Kendrick says nothing as she has absolutely no idea of our situation.” Her voice had become a shriek. “You cannot seriously think I’d tell her? Frances, I’d die first.” She stared and clutched at her throat as if choking. “I’d simply die.”

  “Well, we can’t have that, but how do you intend to keep this from her?”

  “That was the point of the elopement.”

  I was relieved to see Hetty narrow her eyes in confusion. “Were you planning to elope and stay away for nine months?” she asked.

  Lily took a breath to speak then stopped herself, sinking against the back of the chair. “Bother. I suppose we’d have to, wouldn’t we?”

  “Leo couldn’t do that, dear, at least not without giving his father a very good reason. Unless he can come up with a plausible lie, you will still have to tell them the truth. Mr. Kendrick isn’t likely to allow him a nine-month wedding trip.”

  Leo Kendrick was a businessman. In fact, he was a partner in his father’s business. I wasn’t entirely cognizant of what he did, except a portion of the business involved mining and part, manufacture. His grandfather had started the company, and his father expanded it and made it quite profitable. Enough to raise his daughters as gently bred ladies and send his son to the best schools and raise him as a gentleman. Though he planned for Leo to take over the running of their enterprise eventually, all four of the children were expected to make advantageous marriages.

  Leo’s oldest sister, Eliza, had done just that, and Leo’s choice of Lily also met with his father’s approval. Thank goodness, as the two were hopelessly in love. They’d have married months ago if I hadn’t urged them to wait. I pulled my thoughts up short. I was not about to take responsibility for Lily’s pregnancy.

  But looking at her now, lost in her misery, I felt compelled to come up with a solution—as did Hetty, it seemed. Since she’d come in here to support Lily, she must have known about her condition at least a bit longer than I.

  “Have you any ideas, Aunt Hetty?”

  She shook her head. “I thought an elopement was their best option.”

  “It’s not a horrible option, but it should be considered only as a last resort. Surely, we can think of something better.”

  “You’re right.” Hetty squared her jaw in determination. “We are three intelligent women. What would we do if we had every possible option to hand?”

  “If Graham weren’t selling Harleigh Manor, we could arrange a wedding there in under a week,” I said. “Just have the closest family members in attendance. As long as we’re not in town, no one will feel snubbed if they aren’t invited.”

  I sighed and leaned against the desk behind me. Selling the old family home was the best idea my brother-in-law ever had. The behemoth of a mansion had sucked several fortunes into its very walls, including mine. That fortune was the only reason Reggie had married me. Not that I didn’t have other redeeming qualities. I was a consummate hostess, an intelligent conversationalist, and knew how to dress and act in society. While I was taller than the average woman, the rest of me was indeed average—fair skin, as society required, dark hair, blue eyes—nothing off-putting, but nothing to inspire my late husband to hold me in higher regard than my dowry.

  Reggie’s brother, Graham, was now Earl of Harleigh, and he just couldn’t afford to keep Harleigh Manor going. Fortunately, the house itself was built by his great-grandfather on an unentailed part of the property, and he was free to sell.

  But it would be lovely to have use of that house now.

  “A wedding in less than a week might be a bit too soon,” Hetty said. “Your mother will only just be arriving, and Lily can’t get married without her.”

  “Can’t I?” Lily’s lip trembled. I sympathized with her plight, but she could not marry before our mother arrived then leave me to deal with her fits of temper. Not that she wouldn’t be justified after traveling all the way from New York to attend her youngest daughter’s wedding.

  “No, dear, you can’t.” I turned to consult the calendar on my desk. “Her ship arrives on Tuesday. It would be wise to marry as soon as possible after her arrival so as to leave her less time to fuss about the change in plans.”

  “That’s why the elopement was such an attractive idea,” Lily said. “Leo’s parents are away from town this week. Mother won’t be here. We could marry and present them with a fait accompli.”

  In fact, they’d be presenting nothing. I’d be stuck with the dirty work. “That’s not fair to Patricia Kendrick. Leo is her only son. She’d want to be at his wedding.” I crossed my arms in front of me and gave her a long, hard look. “And the two of you will have to tell her about the baby at some point, don’t you think?”

  “Not until after the honeymoon. But you are right. I expect her to be disappointed in us, but if we marry quickly, at least she’ll see we took some action to mitigate the gossip.” She gave me a pleading look. “That should help, don’t you think?”

  “Only if we find a country house in which to hold this small family wedding. So far, we only know what isn’t available.”

  Hetty cocked her head as she turned to me. “Don’t some families ever lease their homes?”

  “Not for such short a time.” Hetty and Lily had only been living in London since April when Lily made her debut. They still had much to learn about the ways of society. Aristocratic society, that is. One could lease one’s manor out for a year or longer, and though everyone would know the family was having financial trouble, taking this step would seem like a sensible way out of those troubles. Renting one’s family home out for a week, however, would give the appearance of running a hotel and would reek of middle-class business. It simply wasn’t done.

  “What of Leo’s sister and her husband?” I ran through a mental list of distant acquaintance names. “The Durants, if I remember correctly? I know they keep a house in town, but where is Mr. Durant’s family seat?”

  Lily wrinkled her nose. “I’m not sure where they’re from, but Leo would know better than I. Let me fetch him.”

  She rose and crossed the room as if Leo were waiting just outside in the hall. She opened the door and reached out.

  Heavens, he was just outside in the hall.

  I cast a glance at Hetty, who shrugged. “We all thought it better if he waited while Lily gave you her news.”

  Leo, usually friendly and gregarious, shuffled into the room, his head down. He darted nervous glances at me while Lily tugged him along behind her—a sight in itself. Leo was not a tall man, but he had a square, sturdy build, and Lily was so petite it looked as though she were guiding a repentant Goliath to a chair.

  Good. He couldn’t be any more uncomfortable than I, and he’d been a party to bringing this situation upon us. I invited him to sit while I searched for the right words to begin.

  Hetty had no such problem. “We’ve been discussing your situation, Mr. Kendrick, and Lady Harleigh seems to think an elopement might give rise to a great deal of gossip.”

  Leo chewed on his lip while he studied me, his warm brown eyes wary. “I rather think t
he gossip would be less vicious over an elopement than if we wait for the proper wedding date.”

  “Perhaps,” I said. “But not by much. Since the wedding invitations have not yet gone out, is it possible for you and Lily to change your venue and date? Somewhere in the country in a week or so, with only family in attendance.”

  He contemplated the idea then blew out a breath. “I can see the advantage to a quick, simple ceremony, but where exactly in the country did you intend the wedding to take place?”

  “Would it be possible to hold it at Mr. Durant’s family home?”

  His eyes grew wide. “In Northumberland?”

  I slumped back against the desk and let out a tsk. “That far away?”

  He bobbed his head. “And I’m not certain they’d be agreeable to the idea. Durant’s not very close to his family. Don’t know if he’d be willing to ask them.”

  “Well, that settles it,” Lily said. “We will have to elope.” She perched on the arm of Leo’s chair. “And we should do it quickly while your parents are away.”

  I hated the idea, but before I could comment, a knock sounded at the door and Mrs. Thompson poked her gray head inside.

  “Mr. Hazelton is here for you, my lady.”

  “Is he?” I couldn’t stop the smile that slipped across my lips. No matter what problems bore down on me, just the thought of George Hazelton drove them from my mind.

  “Must you see him now?” Lily flashed me a look of impatience.

  I rose to my feet. “Yes, I must. He’s on his way to Risings, so he won’t be here long, dear. Besides, you and Leo have a great deal of planning to do.” I shot her a warning look as I followed Mrs. Thompson out. “Don’t you dare leave before I return.”

  The second I stepped through the drawing room door, George pulled me into his arms. I made no protest. On the contrary, I thoroughly approved of his actions. George Hazelton and I were to be wed, though we kept that lovely secret to ourselves, so as not to steal Lily’s thunder. Once she and Leo married, we could make our announcement.