Regency Romance: The Marquess’ Curse (The Fairbanks Series - Love & Hearts) (CLEAN Historical Regency Romance) Read online

  The Marquess’ Curse

  Jessie Bennett

  CARLTON HOUSE PUBLISHING CO.

  Contents

  Copyright

  Monthly Giveaway Contest

  A Personal Note From Jessie Bennett

  Dedication

  About The Author

  A Marquess’ Curse

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  Preview of More For A Duke

  Monthly Giveaway Contest

  Also By Jessie Bennett

  Acknowledgement

  If You Have Enjoyed This Book…

  Publisher’s Notes

  Copyright © 2016 by JESSIE BENNETT & CARLTON HOUSE PUBLISHING CO.

  This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. It contains material protected under International and Federal Copyright laws and Treaties. Any unauthorized reprint or use of this material is prohibited. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each person. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

  This book is a work of fiction. Any similarities to real or dead people, places, or events are not intentional and are the result of coincidence. The characters, places, and events are the product of the author’s imagination and are used fictitiously. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior written permission from the author/publisher. The publisher does not have any control over and does not assume any responsibility for author or third-party websites or their content.

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  A PERSONAL NOTE

  FROM JESSIE BENNETT

  To My Dearest Lovely Readers,

  The female characters within my stories are women who have a strong faith of love, they know what they want to pursue during this era. They are constantly seeking and believe the true love really exists as they are often being looked upon as an inferior gender. Because of these social stigma, it motivates them to overcome challenges they may face while waiting for the man of their dreams to appear.

  Will these insecurities and stigma encourages them in believing true love despite the differences and challenges in social standing that they will face during this Regency Era?

  Read on to find out the answers!

  Thank you very much for your strong support to my writing journey!

  With Hugs, Kisses and Love…

  DEDICATION

  “A lady's imagination is very rapid; it jumps from admiration to love, from love to matrimony in a moment.”

  Jane Austen (1775 - 1817)

  This Story Is Specially Dedicated To You, My Dearest Reader!

  It is with gratefulness and gratitude that I am writing to you this personal dedication.

  Thank you once again for giving me this opportunity to share with you my creative side of me.

  I hope you will enjoy reading this story as much I have enjoyed writing it!

  It is with such great support from you that keep us authors writing and writing, presenting to you with great and interesting stories.

  Have you checked out my other historical romance books series?

  Click the link below to get started

  *** AMAZON USA ***

  Do you like what you have read?

  I would want to hear from you!

  Please do get in touch with me:

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  [email protected]

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  Jessie Bennett is an obsessed romantic freak. She loves historical romance stories. Recently, she discovered another interest within the historical romance, which is Regency Romance stories. She wants to use her ideas, knowledge and interest of the regency era to spin out characters that readers wants to read. She aspires to be the next Jane Austen that combine grace, love, and simplicity to delight readers to find their happy endings.

  She lives in Norfolk county, England most of the her time. When she's not writing, you will find her walking down the countryside with her husband and her beloved dog.

  THE MARQUESS’ CURSE

  by

  JESSIE BENNETT

  and

  Carlton House Publishing Co.

  Was he cursed because of his past behavior? Would he ever meet a woman now, a woman to love, who would not be caught up by disaster and destruction?

  “I agree. I wonder, will he return to being a scoundrel or will he grow into a man once and for all?”

  He was taken in by her soft voice. She’d had an excellent tutor to speak English so well. He could barely detect a Dutch accent. He smiled at her. “I am. And you?”

  I truly believe that Belle has captured my heart.

  “Do you vow to stay by my side?” His voice dropped almost to a whisper.

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  Was he cursed because of his past behavior? Would he ever meet a woman now, a woman to love, who would not be caught up by disaster and destruction?

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  CHAPTER ONE

  THE END OF A MARRIAGE

  Fairfield County, Fairbanks, England

  1819

  Lord William David Montgomery was used to things not going his way. He was the second in line to the title his father carried and his older brother was much better at handling business than he was. He had long since given up hope that he would ever amount to much more than a husband. And he wasn’t good at that role either, it seemed. He’d lost interest in his wife, Liza, after their third year of marriage. That was when he’d found out that she would not be able to bear children. Without an heir or the ability to raise children, he felt defeated, angry and resentful toward her.

  So he had strayed. He’d had many affairs with women all over Europe during the first ten years of the century while he’d traveled on business. Every day since 1815, when he’d returned to his home in Fairfield County, whether he liked it or not, he thought about his last dalliance with the maid Abigail, who had borne him a child. He’d not heard from the woman after the affair ended, other than the announcement that she’d had a girl. His brother Abe had been involved, trying to he
lp him avoid the scandal the birth would have created, and had been kind enough to inform Will of the gender of the child. However, Abe had mentioned nothing more and had never brought it up in the four years since then.

  When William woke to the sound of commotion outside his door, he sat up in bed, ready to take up his sword and cut someone from stem to stern. There was a knock on his door and then it swung open to reveal his butler, James.

  “Lord William, there is a problem with the lady. We cannot rouse her. Please come quickly.”

  Will was out of bed in a heartbeat, grabbing a thick robe from the chair next to his bed and throwing it around his shoulders as he made for the door. “What do you mean? Have you gone in Liza’s room? Is she ill?”

  “I am unsure of the facts, my lord. Only that Mary came to me crying, saying she cannot rouse the Lady Montgomery.”

  Will’s face collapsed in worry. He hurried beside his butler down the hallway to his wife’s room, which was not far from his. The door was standing ajar. He pushed it open and went through to see two of the maids standing over the bed. Mary, his wife’s personal maid, was holding Liza’s hand, patting it and speaking softly.

  “Lady Liza. Please wake up, my lady. Please wake up.” He could hear the tears in her voice.

  He approached the bed and rested one hand on Mary’s shoulder. She looked up. Tears had made her cheeks soaking wet. She turned away from him, lifting her apron to cover her face. “My Lord, I don’t think…I don’t think she’s alive.”

  William’s heart squeezed tight in his chest. He had not been in love with Liza for many years. Nevertheless, he had always cared about her well-being and never wanted to see any harm come to her. “How can this be?” he murmured, leaning to look closely at his wife. “She is so young.”

  “Yes, m’lord.”

  William reached out and touched Liza’s cheek with the back of his fingers. She felt cold to him. She was not moving. He could see that she was not breathing. Her chest did not rise and fall as it should have. He looked at James over his shoulder. “James, send a messenger to the constable and the doctor. We must remove Liza from here as quickly as possible. Also, have the messenger go to her parents’ home and fetch them.”

  Mary began to sob uncontrollably. Helen, the other maid who was also in the room, wrapped her arms around the woman’s shoulders and held on to her. She began to lead Mary out of the room, knowing William did not want to deal with her. William gave Helen a grateful look. Helen nodded.

  “Come along, Mary. Let’s go get some hot cocoa.”

  “Oh my lady…” Mary moaned, her voice muffled against the apron she was holding against her face. “My lady, oh my lady.”

  “It’s going to be all right, Mary. It’s going to be all right. She’s with Jesus now. She’s happier where she is, I’m sure.”

  William listened to Helen’s words of comfort. Liza probably was in Heaven. She certainly had no reason to go in the other direction. She’d always been a faithful wife, a dutiful woman who doted on William even though she had to have known he was dallying behind her back with other women all over Europe. She’d never voiced a word of concern, anger, hatred or anything negative.

  He inhaled deeply. He was now alone in the room with his dead wife. He sat on the edge of the bed and looked down at her. She looked more fragile than she ever had in real life. She was always small compared to his large stature. She was slender, with long blond hair that trailed down over her chest like strands of gold, waving and swirling at their own leisure. She’d never been able to tame her wild locks, so she generally let them flow free. Her hair was so fine, she’d been unable to find combs or ties that would stay in it.

  He touched the strands of hair and blinked back unexpected tears. “I’m so sorry we didn’t get along better, Liza,” he whispered. “I’m so sorry we couldn’t be a happy couple. I wanted to make you happy, I truly did. But…I guess it was just impossible for me. I’m so sorry, sweet woman.” He ran his fingers over her long locks of hair, trying to keep his tears to himself. “If things had been different between us, we would have been so happy. If we’d been able to have a child, if we…” William stopped. His words were useless and he felt stupid even saying them. They’d not had a child. They’d not had a happy marriage. It was only in the last few years that he had become able to control his desires for other women and give his attention to Liza. He’d been a terrible husband and he knew it. Even now, years into their marriage, he did not share the same room or the same bed with her.

  He’d given her a nearly loveless life. Without children, he’d been the only one to show her the kind of love every woman needed in order to be happy and to thrive. And he’d withheld it from her more than half the time. Nearly all the time, he would venture to say.

  He was ashamed.

  It would be hours before anyone came to see to Liza. He didn’t want to leave her alone in the room, whether she was alive or not. He pulled the cord behind her bed to ring the bell downstairs so that a maid would come up. It probably wouldn’t be Mary. The woman had barely been standing when she left.

  A few minutes later, Caroline came in, her face grey with distress, almost matching the color of her hair. “Yes, my lord,” she said when she entered.

  “Stay with Lady Liza.” He stood up and held his hand out toward his wife. “I…I cannot be in here anymore and no one will be here to see to her for at least an hour or more. I…I will be in my chambers when I am needed. Please come and get me from there when the doctor and constable arrive.”

  “Yes, my lord.”

  “Have James bring me my morning tea. And I don’t want any food this morning.”

  “Yes, my lord.” Caroline nodded.

  He glanced one more time at the woman on the bed. It was a tragic morning. A morning he would never forget.

  He was resting on his chaise lounge when the men he’d sent for arrived. He had remained there for the hour and nearly forty minutes it took for them to come. During that time, he had reminisced, thinking about his courtship with Liza, how much fun they had had together. She’d been a different woman then. When she found out that she was unable to have children, it was as though she’d shut down, cut herself off from the world. She wanted only to be with him, following him around like a puppy dog, catering to his every whim. She was not the happy, fun-loving girl he’d known before. In fact, she was no fun at all, crying when he was annoyed with her, begging for his attention when he was not prepared to give it.

  Was he cursed because of his past behavior? Would he ever meet a woman now, a woman to love, who would not be caught up by disaster and destruction?

  He ran through the last few years in his mind. He’d kept the fact that he’d fathered a child with the maid, Abigail, from Liza. Neither he nor his brother ever mentioned it or talked about it, so she could not have overheard a conversation revealing the information. If she had known, it would have crushed her to her very soul. William knew that. He was glad she had never found out.

  It didn’t seem to keep her from leaving him in death. For all he knew, his daughter and Abigail were also dead.

  The door was cracked open and James put in his head. “My Lord, Doctor Barnaby is here, as well as Constable Farashay. Would you like to come and talk to them?”

  William turned his head to look at his butler. “Yes, James, I will be right there. Please let them know.”

  “Yes, my lord.”

  After James closed the door, William pushed himself up from the lounge and stretched his large arms above his head. This chapter in his life was about to come to a close. He was free now to seek adventure and find another woman to love, this time without the bonds of matrimony holding him back. He wondered about Abigail. He wondered where she was and where his little girl was.

  With a fluttering heart, he moved to the dresser. He poured some water from the pitcher into the basin and splashed it on his face, rubbing his hands together. A soft white towel sat next to the basin. He used it to dry himself.


  “It’s going to be a long day,” he murmured. He’d have to inform everyone of the tragedy and make funeral arrangements. The doctor would most likely remove Liza’s body from the estate, relieving him of that duty.

  He would give Liza a proper funeral and burial. He would make sure she was comfortable in a fine coffin. Perhaps he would have lilies carved into the side of the coffin. The lily was her favorite flower.

  As he passed through his doorway and out into the hall, his mind went back to Abigail. He could see the little Irish maid in his mind. Abigail O’Reilly. Where would she be now? Would she still be in the employ of the Worthingtons? He hadn’t seen her there since they’d had their tryst in her attic loft. He’d only been back to the estate four times and it was while accompanying his brother, Abe, who had business with the Worthingtons on a regular basis. Abe was at the mansion at least twice a month. However, he’d never mentioned Abigail to William. Not once.

  He wondered if Abigail’s daughter looked like her or like him. If he had to bet, he would say the little girl looked like her mother. He’d noticed in the past that the Irish had strong genes. They all seemed to look similar to each other, even when they were only cousins. The golden red hair was a dead give-away, and if the red was more prominent, that was nearly a guarantee.

  He passed through the open door to Liza’s room, one last tear of regret sliding slowly down his face, only to be wiped away hastily by his large hand.

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  “The doctor came this morning, and he gave me some appalling news”