A Fall from Grace
Contents (29)
- Contents
- Chapter One
- Chapter Two
- Chapter Three
- Chapter Four
- Chapter Five
- Chapter Six
- Chapter Seven
- Chapter Eight
- Chapter Nine
- Chapter Ten
- Chapter Eleven
- Chapter Twelve
- Chapter Thirteen
- Chapter Fourteen
- Chapter Fifteen
- Chapter Sixteen
- Chapter Seventeen
- Chapter Eighteen
- Chapter Nineteen
- Chapter Twenty
- Chapter Twenty-One
- Chapter Twenty-Two
- Chapter Twenty-Three
- Chapter Twenty-Four
- Chapter Twenty-Five
- Chapter Twenty-Six
- Read Book II of Clavering Chronicles
- Also by Jennie Goutet
Copyright © 2020 by Jennie Goutet
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
Dedicated to the very best of sisters, Stephanie—
who always buys my books, even though they are not in her genre of choice.
Contents
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
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Read Book II of Clavering Chronicles
Also by Jennie Goutet
Chapter One
Hertfordshire, 1817
Sir Lucius Clavering, sixth Baronet of Mardley, had just loosened his cravat and settled into the deepest armchair his hunting box boasted when he heard the loud echo of the knocker on the front door and the footsteps of Briggs proceeding to answer it.
He wasn’t expecting visitors and couldn’t imagine why anyone should arrive at this hour to trouble him, but he’d instructed Briggs not to disturb him, and so, with a satisfied smile, he closed his ears to the noises outside the library and reached for his warmed brandy. A log in the fireplace cracked, and the well-cleaned chimney pulled the smoke upward. For the past hour or so, welcome aromas of roast game and simmering French sauces had wafted through the small stone house—the inviting scents of refuge. He had endured a wearisome round of Christmas obligations at the estate, brought on by his widowed mother who still lived there, and the incessant demands of youthful, entitled siblings that came with such a reunion. A quiet meal in his own company would be just the thing to restore his peace.
A soft knock at the library door put a damper on his hopes. Lucius sighed audibly and wondered what could be important enough to disturb him. “Enter.”
“A young…ahem, lady, sir,” Briggs said. “It appears she has lost her way in the snow and is seeking shelter.”
“Unaccompanied, I presume?” Lucius inquired with the lift of an eyebrow. This was hardly the first time. The number of accidents occurring outside his London property requiring him to come to the rescue of comely young maidens was impossible to credit, and Lucius was impatient with such a tiresome ploy. It appeared he was now not even safe in Hertfordshire.
“Naturally,” Briggs replied, eyes twinkling. He was as wise to the ruse as his master.
“Show her in, then,” Lucius said on a sigh.
The girl ushered into his library minutes later was a prime example of one such maiden. She certainly was a taking thing, with a sweet apple-shaped face and doe-like eyes, framed by a perfect halo of golden curls that were tucked into a chignon in the back. This he was able to appreciate, as she had removed her bonnet.