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A Deceptive Composition (A Lady Darby Mystery, Band 12) - Softcover

Buch 12 von 14: A Lady Darby Mystery

Huber, Anna Lee

 
9780593639412: A Deceptive Composition (A Lady Darby Mystery, Band 12)
Softcover
ISBN 10: 0593639413 ISBN 13: 9780593639412
Verlag: Penguin Publishing Group, 2024

Inhaltsangabe

Lady Kiera Darby and her dashing husband, Sebastian Gage, hope they’ve finally found peace after a tumultuous summer, but long-buried family secrets soon threaten to unravel their lives . . .

October 1832. Kiera is enjoying the slower pace of the English countryside. She, Sebastian, and their infant daughter have accompanied her father-in-law, Lord Gage, home so that he can recuperate from the injuries he sustained in a foiled attempt on his life. But as the chill of autumn sweeps across the land, they receive a summons from an unexpected quarter. Lord Gage’s estranged uncle—a member of the notorious Roscarrock family—has been murdered, and his family is desperate for answers. Despite Lord Gage’s protests, Kiera and Sebastian press on to Cornwall to assist.

It isn’t long before they discover that almost nothing is as it seems among the Roscarrocks, and they’ve been lured to their isolated cove under false pretenses. There are whispers of a lost treasure and frightening allusions to a series of murders stretching back decades that touch the lives of the family personally. Kiera and Sebastian are left with no choice but to uncover the truth before the secrets of the past threaten to destroy them all.

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Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

Anna Lee Huber is the Daphne Award–winning author of the national bestselling Lady Darby Mysteries and the Verity Kent Mysteries. She is a summa cum laude graduate of Lipscomb University in Nashville, Tennessee, where she majored in music and minored in psychology. She currently resides in Indiana with her family and is hard at work on her next novel.

Auszug. © Genehmigter Nachdruck. Alle Rechte vorbehalten.

Chapter 1

Everything that deceives may be said to enchant.

-Plato

October 1832

Warwickshire, England

Come see who I found wandering the corridors."

I looked up from the sheet music at the sound of my father-in-law's voice, my fingers trailing to a stop along the pianoforte keys. I couldn't help but smile at the sight of Lord Gage ambling toward me, still favoring his recently injured right leg, with the warm and wriggling bundle of my daughter cradled in his arms.

"Wandering, was she?" I countered in amusement. Given the fact that she was all of nearly seven months old and unable to crawl yet, the idea of her wandering anywhere was absurd. It seemed far more likely he'd liberated her from her nanny's care in the nursery.

"Well . . . I could tell she was thinking it. If only she'd been able to work out the mechanics of this thing called walking first." Lord Gage grinned down at Emma, and she squealed happily in response before returning her gaze to the object which had captured her attention.

Truth be told, it was the same object that had caught my attention when I'd first entered the drawing room at Bevington Park upon our arrival two months prior. The Broadwood grand pianoforte had gleamed in the sunlight streaming through the tall western-facing windows, practically beckoning to be played. One might have been forgiven for believing that the manor's owner was an accomplished pianist, such was the pride of place the instrument held, but I knew this to be untrue. In fact, the next day when I'd sat upon the bench, I'd suspected I was the first person to do so since the pianoforte had been delivered and tuned. The instrument was purely part of the chamber's aesthetic, for Lord Gage decorated his homes for effect rather than to suit his comfort and taste. But given the enjoyment I'd received from playing the magnificent instrument, this was one matter in which it would be disingenuous for me to complain.

I ran my fingers lightly over the keys, repeating the last phrase of music I'd played from one of Schubert's Impromptus. My husband, Sebastian Gage, had gifted me the sheet music of the set of impromptus for my birthday that spring, but I'd had little time to practice them in earnest until our arrival in Warwickshire. Some of the pieces were beyond my ability, and I would never be able to play them with great skill, but I had become determined to master the others. Or at least to do a credible job in performing them for my own pleasure.

Emma cooed in response, tipping forward in her grandfather's arms and reaching toward me. I sat her on my lap and predictably she lurched toward the keys, slamming her open palms down with relish as the pianoforte issued a series of discordant notes. There was nothing for it but to smile and hold fast to her little body lest she tumble forward in her unrestrained efforts.

"A veritable prodigy," Lord Gage proclaimed even as he winced at one particularly strident chord.

Though I'd been given over two months to grow accustomed to it, it was still difficult sometimes to reconcile the affectionate man before me with the father-in-law I had known. And if it was difficult for me, it must be doubly so for my husband, who had only known his father as cold, contemptuous, and impossible to please. Not that that side of Lord Gage had vanished entirely. He was still hard and critical, especially when crossed, but at least he was making an effort to build a relationship with us based on mutual respect and trust rather than merely obligation and duty. He might never hold as much esteem or devotion for his son or me as he did his granddaughter, but that was something we were both willing to accept. Particularly given the fact that Lord Gage was Emma's only living grandparent.

"What's this I hear?" Gage declared as he strode into the room. His golden hair was rumpled, and his sun-bronzed cheeks flushed from his morning ride. "Our daughter is giving her first recital and I wasn't invited."

Emma offered him a toothless grin, her golden curls-so like her father's-escaping from the sides of her cap. A trail of drool dribbled from her bottom lip and I managed to catch it before it fell to the ivory keys.

"Oh, this is just the prelude," I replied.

Gage flinched as Emma brought her hands down with more strength that I'd anticipated, producing several resounding crashes. Her father struggled to maintain his grin. "Oh, yes?"

Lord Gage chuckled. "Which direction did you ride today? Toward the lake?"

"Aye, and down through the pastures near Weethley."

I listened absentmindedly as the men discussed the estate-which my husband would one day inherit from his father. Lord Gage had been granted his barony and this property by the king a little over two years prior for his services during the late war with Napoléon and his more recent efforts on the sovereign and his friends' behalf as a gentleman inquiry agent. As such, Gage had spent little time here since then, and he had much to learn.

Truth be told, when we'd first arrived in late August, I'd been a little overawed. I hadn't expected a hovel, but neither had I anticipated this prime bit of real estate. Clearly it spoke to the immensity of either the king's affection for, or gratitude to, my father-in-law. Perhaps both.

Something that immediately raised questions in the cynical side of my brain. What exactly had Lord Gage done to inspire such gratitude? What delicate matter had he investigated or orchestrated to the sovereign's satisfaction? After all, I was better acquainted than most with the secrets the wealthy, titled, and powerful might hide.

But I also acknowledged that my father-in-law's friendship with King William IV was long-standing. Lord Gage had served under his command on the HMS Pegasus when the king was still a younger son-never expected to inherit the Crown from his older brother-and he'd remained a faithful friend through all the years that followed. He would, though, be the first to admit that their friendship had only lasted because he had proved to be useful to the king and his friends. Even so, this estate was quite the reward for such efforts.

Of course, I had no idea what state it had been in when Lord Gage had been granted it, or to what expense he'd had to go to in order to restore and refurbish it. Many of the furnishings and interiors were new, but that might have been less from need and more my father-in-law's desire that his home be all that was fashionable and au courant.

Regardless, upon seeing the size of the estate, Gage had begun to feel more keenly the responsibility he held to it. One day, he would not only be in charge of the manor, but also all the land and workings, and the people who labored upon it. Their care and management-and to a great extent their future prosperity-would rest on his shoulders. Of course, that day might be decades from now. But then again, it might be next week. The attacks made on Lord Gage in August had awakened us all to the realization that our loved ones' tomorrows were never guaranteed.

"Have you given any greater thought to the dower house?" Lord Gage asked.

Gage's eyes lifted to meet mine. "I have."

Deciding our ears had suffered enough punishment, and sensing Gage wished for me to take part in this conversation as much as I wanted to, I pushed to my feet. Emma immediately protested.

Gage set aside his riding gloves and crop and reached for her. "Now, what's all this fussing?" He lifted her high into the air, transforming her cries into laughter as he let his arms drop as if he might let her fall. He repeated this several times as we made our way over to the pair of rosewood sofas positioned near the hearth. A blanket lay folded over one arm and I spread it over the portion of open rug farthest from the crackling fire....

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Verlag
Penguin Publishing Group
Erscheinungsdatum
2024
Sprache
Englisch
ISBN 10 
0593639413
ISBN 13 
9780593639412
Einband
Taschenbuch
Anzahl der Seiten
385
Kontakt zum Hersteller
Nicht verfügbar
Verantwortliche Person
gpsr@libri.de
gpsr@libri.de

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