Page 4 of The Season of Lady Chastity

Present in the letter was all the subjects that had taken up residence in Chastity’s mind over the last several months.

“Who is Cam?” Prudence asked, irritation evident in her tone.

Chastity had been so taken aback by the letter that she’d failed to notice that Dearest Cam was clearly not an address to their father, Horace Neville. “I haven’t any idea.”

Suddenly, it wasn’t the words of love and adoration Chastity thought of, but her mother’s mention of separation. When had their mother and her dearest Cam been separated, and why? Never had she questioned their mother’s love for their father, even though his many trysts were common knowledge to all who lived at Downshire Place. To learn that her father’s heart lay with another would have not surprised her—or Pru. But their mother?

She looked at her older sister, needing an answer. The only explanation Chastity could grasp hold of was that their mother had loved another. That she’d been forced to be away from him…yet, they’d found another way to be together.

But where had they fallen in love?

When had they planned to meet on the terrace?

…and their separation? The only time the girls had heard word of their mother being away from society once she’d made her debut was when Clara was with child. In her girlhood, Clara had lived a sheltered life at her family’s country estate. Any chance of meeting eligible gentlemen would have been small in such a rural area. Chastity and Prudence had heard whispers from the servants surrounding their mother’s quick passing soon after giving birth to Chastity. She had never found the opportunity to return to her family home, and neither had her daughters met any of their mother’s family, though certainly some existed.

That meant…

Chastity could very well be a child born of a bastard’s beginnings. She retained her father’s name and status, but what if someone learned of her mother’s dearest Cam? What if dearest Cam knew of Chastity’s existence? Or, possibly worse, was utterly unaware? What would happen to Chastity if their father learned of his wife’s unfaithfulness?

Her mother…an adulteress.

Chastity’s knees trembled, and she wished there was a seat nearby. Chastity had never done anything to cause concern about her reputation, but her good standing in society may be taken out of her hands. No men of the beau monde would knowingly entangle themselves with a lady who was a known by-blow and born out of wed lock. Yet, there had never been any whispers surrounding Chastity’s birth. Certainly, her father’s third wife, Esmee, would have been delighted to provide proof that would deem any of Downshire’s children from his previous marriages illegitimate and, therefore, make it so they were unable to inherit any land or be worthy of the precious funds needed for a marriage dowry.

Her sister must have noticed Chastity’s ashen complexion because she clucked, folding the paper with a firm shake of her head. “This is drivel. Besides, we found it in her gown. Obviously, dearest Cam never received the note and, therefore, they never met on the terrace.”

With a frown, Prudence dropped the letter back into the trunk, slung the royal blue dress over her arm, pivoted, and stalked from the room. She didn’t wait to make certain Chastity followed. The solid thump of her half boots on the wooden floorboards did not falter. And her chin remained high as she started down the stairs.

In stark contrast, Chastity’s entire body quaked as her feet remained rooted to the spot, fearful if she attempted to follow Pru her knees would give way, and she would slump to the floor.

Her mother had been in love with another man.

Despite the undelivered letter, their mother could have met Cam—and shown him the limitless bounds of her love.

What did that mean for Prudence and Chastity?

Did their father know Clara’s heart did not lie solely with him and that Chastity’s parentage may not be of Downshire blood?

“Do collect the candelabra before you follow,” Prudence’s command drifted up the stairs and into the attic.

It had been a mistake to return above stairs and to her mother’s belongings. They’d been stowed away for a reason—a very good reason it seemed—but now that Chastity knew her mother’s secret, it was not so easily locked behind the closed door and forgotten. Chastity’s own identity was forever entwined with her mother’s past, as was her and Prudence’s future.

In that moment, Chastity was uncertain which truth she wanted to discover: her mother’s past as a bold, brazen woman of the ton who was not afraid to claim what she wanted and who she loved, or finding proof that Chastity’s entire existence had been built upon a lie concocted by the one woman who, had she still been alive, should have cared for her daughter above all else. How could Clara perish with such an enormous secret waiting to be discovered?

Chastity retrieved the undelivered letter, grabbed the candelabra, and hurried from the attic in Prudence’s wake.

Chapter 1

Oxburgh Hall

Norfolk, England

December 1815

Four days until the Montrose wedding

Bastian Stanhope, the Earl of Mansfield, kept a steady, easy pace as he eased down the garden path he suspected would bring him to the moat’s edge and away from the gathering inside the open terrace doors. He didn’t quicken his pace when the obnoxious chuckles from the terrace chased him on the chilly winter breeze. He didn’t turn back when the laughter cut off, and he heard his mother’s melodic voice asking his friends where he’d gone. He refused to be drawn back into the mocking embrace of his old schoolmates.

It had been nearly six years since he’d returned home to care for his family estate and look after his mother due to his father’s failing health. Seven years since he’d been locked in his dorm room’s dressing closet. Eight years since he’d been pushed into the pond bordering the school property on a freezing January winter day—and nearly drowned but for the kindness of the school’s groundskeeper who’d pulled him from the waters. And nine years since every boy at Eton had taken to calling him by his father’s moniker: Manny.