The House (Armstrong House Series Book 1) Read online

  “There’s been so much going on here, Georgina – I can’t wait to tell you everything.”

  “How is Edward?”

  “Wonderful. Everything is wonderful. It’s everything I dreamed of,” smiled Anna.

  Georgina smiled, but the smile did not carry to her eyes.

  “I was so worried about you,” said Anna. “I sent letter after letter, and no response. I thought you might be ill, and didn’t want me to know.”

  “I know, I’m sorry. There has been a lot going on at Tullydere as well.”

  “And how’s Tom? And the wedding! Tell me – when is it – the actual date?”

  Georgina looked up at Seán. “I’ll tell you all back in the house.”

  After Anna had given Georgina the grand tour of the house, she was led to the guest bedroom she was to stay in.

  Georgina crossed over to the window and looked out. “I can see how you love this house. It’s exactly the same as the painting of it that Edward gave you last Christmas.”

  “It’s now hanging in the library.” Anna walked over to Georgina and placed a gentle hand on her shoulder. “Georgie? What’s wrong? What’s the matter? You can tell me.”

  Georgina’s eyes filled with tears. “The wedding is off, Anna. Tom has jilted me.”

  “What? But why? He was in love with you!” Anna could not believe it.

  Georgina began to cry loudly. “He met somebody else. Frances Westworth, from King’s County.”

  “Lady Frances, yes. I met her at several functions and parties.”

  “And so did Tom! So many times that he decided he was in love with her and not me!”

  Anna led Georgina over to the bed and they sat down.

  “They’re getting married next month in Cork!”

  “No!”

  “And honeymooning in Rome.”

  “But that’s where you were supposed to be honeymooning!”

  “I know! He didn’t change his itinerary. Just his bride!”

  “Oh, Georgina! But can’t you sue him for breach of promise?”

  “Oh no, I couldn’t face that! Nor could my family. No, there’s nothing to be done. My life is over. I’m ruined.”

  “Of course you’re not! You’ll meet somebody else.”

  “No, I won’t. My name is ruined. Everybody is talking about me being jilted. I’m damaged goods and no man will want to be seen marrying me now. Another man’s cast-off. I will never be the mistress of my own house, with my own husband and family. I’ll spend the rest of my life at Tullydere, a guest in my brother’s house. His wife Joanna makes me feel like an unwelcome visitor in my own family home every day. She enjoys it, my humiliation.”

  Anna sighed. She knew Georgina and her sister-in-law never got on.

  “Well, come and live here with me and Edward.”

  “How can I do that?” snorted Georgina.

  “Very easily. There’s more than enough room and you’d be so welcome.”

  “I can’t, Anna. My brother would never allow it. I am his charge and responsibility until I marry. And now that it will never happen I will be his charge and responsibility for the rest of my life. It would reflect badly on him if I came to you, as if he didn’t want to be responsible for his sister.”

  Anna sighed again. She knew this was true.

  “Well, you can be independent. There is this woman who rents a house from Edward, a Mrs Hunter. Quite remarkable, if a little scary. She rents her own farm and runs her own business even. Nothing is stopping you from doing the same.”

  “Mrs Hunter. A widow, I take it? No doubt she was left ample means to look after herself by her husband. But I have nothing.” Georgina stood up and walked over to the window again and stared out. “I have nothing of my own. And you had nothing of your own until you married. Our fortune was to be wives and mothers. Without that, we are nothing.”

  10

  Anna did her best to comfort Georgina during her stay over the next few days. And she believed the time away from Tullydere did her some good. But nothing worked to stop Georgina from being desolate about her life and future. Her negativity seemed to have crept into all aspects of her personality. She was no longer the carefree girl full of hope. She was now very cynical, hardly having a good word to say about anybody.

  As Seán drove the two women through the estate on a sunny afternoon, Anna divulged more information about Diana Hunter to Georgina, telling her she had often seen Sinclair’s horse outside Hunter’s Farm.

  “And do you think they’re romantically involved?” asked Georgina.

  “I don’t know for sure. But he seems to spend a lot of time there, when the only reason he needs to be there is once a month to collect the rent.”

  “Sounds like you’ve almost been spying on them!” Georgina said with a little laugh.

  “No, not at all!” Anna’s face went red. “Hunter’s Farm is on the way to town, so I always pass it.”

  Seán looked back on hearing this lie and gave Anna a withering look. Smirking, he threw his eyes to heaven.

  “Keep your eyes on the road, Seán! We don’t want to end up in the ditch,” snapped Anna.

  “Yes, ma’am.”

  “And then when we are entertaining in the house, they monopolise each other’s company.”

  “And how do you find her?”

  “She’s cool and distant. I don’t think I’ve ever really had a proper conversation with her. She seems to prefer talking to the men.”

  “And they prefer talking to her, I daresay, if she is the beguiling beauty you say she is. I’m quite intrigued to meet this Mrs Hunter. Not to mention your new cousin Sinclair.”

  “You mightn’t have to wait that long. There he is, up ahead!” said Seán.

  “Seán! Do you have to listen in to every private conversation?” scolded Anna, as she sat forward to see Sinclair.

  True enough, Sinclair was in a field they were nearing, sitting proudly on his stallion. He seemed to be arguing with some tenants gathered around him. Anna could hear his voice raised in a roar that sent shivers down her back. Then she saw Sinclair raise the riding crop he was holding into the air and bring it down with great force on the head of one of the men he had been talking to.

  Georgina cried out in shock as the man fell to the ground.

  “Stop the carriage, Seán!” cried Anna.

  “No, ma’am, I think it’s best we keep going,” advised Seán who kept the horse at a steady trot.

  “Seán, I’m not asking you, I’m ordering you! Stop the carriage at once!”

  “His lordship will murder me if he hears I stopped,” warned Seán.

  “And I will murder you if you don’t stop!”

  Seán pulled on the reins of the horse and the carriage came to a halt.

  “Where are you going, Anna?” asked Georgina.

  “I’m going to see if that poor man is all right,” said Anna as she stepped out of the carriage.

  “You shouldn’t get involved in this!” Seán gave a final warning as Anna walked through the gate and into the field.

  “Shut up, Seán!”

  Sinclair was still shouting at the peasants as Anna made her way over to them.

  “What is going on here?” demanded Anna.

  Sinclair looked at her, shocked.

  “Nothing to do with you, go back to your carriage,” he said.

  “This poor man is injured. He needs medical attention,” said Anna as she bent down to look at the man and the bloody wound Sinclair had inflicted on his head.

  “He can’t pay his rent, so I doubt he’ll be able to pay for any medical attention.”

  “Sinclair, I saw you hit this man. Why did you do such a thing?” demanded Anna.

  “Anna, go back to your carriage and stay out of my business.”

  “But this is not your business. This is my husband’s business, which makes it my business.”

  Sinclair’s face turned red with fury and he pointed his riding crop at Anna.

  “
You’re interfering in things that don’t concern you, madam.”

  “If this happens on my husband’s land, then it does concern me!”

  Sinclair and Anna’s eyes locked in defiance.

  “You’ll regret this interference. I guarantee you that,” said Sinclair, then he hit the horse with his stick and galloped out of the field and down the road.

  Anna turned around to the other men. “Take this man in to Dr Robinson in town, and tell him I said he was to tend to him.”

  Leaving the men staring after her, astounded, she walked out of the field. It was only when she sat back into the carriage that she realised she was trembling.

  “Are you all right?” Georgina put her arms around her.

  “I’m feeling quite dizzy after all that.”

  “I didn’t think you had it in you!” said Georgina.

  “Neither did I!” whispered Seán under his breath.

  “I just – I didn’t even think. The words just blurted out of my mouth, at the cruelty of it!”

  “I see what you mean about him. He’s larger than life,” said Georgina.

  “Seán, take us back to the house,” said Anna.

  11

  Sinclair took the steps two at a time up to the front door, swung it open and marched through the hall.

  “Edward!” he shouted, crossing over to the drawing room. Taking a look and seeing it empty, he checked the parlour across from it, before making his way down the corridor to the library. Opening the door, he found Edward at his desk writing.

  Edward looked up, surprised at his cousin’s angry face. “Sinclair, what’s wrong?”

  “Your wife, Edward, your wife is what troubles me!”

  “Anna?” Edward’s face creased in bewilderment.

  Sinclair began to pace up and down in front of Edward’s desk.

  “I will not be humiliated by your wife, Edward. I will not be shown up in front of servants and peasants by a slip of a girl who knows nothing about anything!”

  Sinclair stopped pacing and slammed his fist down on Edward’s desk, giving him a fright.

  “Please, Sinclair, calm down and explain to me what happened.”

  “There’s a tenant farmer I was chastising because of his extreme insolence and non-payment of rent – and she interfered, Edward, she bloody well interfered!”

  “Anna?”

  “She marched into the field, out of nowhere, and ordered me to stop and that it was her business, her land, and I should mind my place.”

  “Sinclair, Anna would not undermine you like that, or insult you.”

  Sinclair turned on Edward. “Am I to be insulted again? Are you now calling me a liar?”

  “Of course not. But this must be a simple misunderstanding.”

  “Yes, it is, Edward. And it’s your wife’s misunderstanding. I manage this estate. That is my post, that is my position. I manage it in the most efficient manner possible. I am also your cousin, which makes me your family. And your wife will not ever speak to me like that again, Edward. I won’t allow it!”

  Sinclair’s eyes bored into Edward’s.

  Georgina and Anna came through the front door of the house, arms linked while they laughed over some story Seán had just told them.

  Edward was standing in the doorway of the drawing room, hands behind his back, and a stern look on his face.

  “Edward!” said Anna, surprised to see him waiting for her.

  “Anna, I need to speak to you. Georgina, please excuse us.”

  “Of course,” nodded Georgina and, giving Anna a supportive look, she went upstairs.

  Anna hadn’t seen this expression on Edward’s face before, and she felt a little nervous as he stepped into the drawing room, waiting for her to enter. She walked in and he closed the door behind them.

  “Anna, I’ve been speaking to Sinclair. What happened between you two? He’s outraged.”

  “He’s outraged! What about me? I’m outraged!” she defended herself, as she sat down on a couch.

  “Sinclair tells me you interfered with the running of the estate. That you told him off in front of tenants and undermined him. Is that true?”

  “He’s not telling you the full story, Edward!”

  “Did you interfere in his work and criticise him in front of tenants and servants? Yes or no?”

  “Well, yes, but I had good cause to!” said Anna.

  Edward’s face went bright red with anger and he walked over to the front window and stood staring out at the lake.

  “Anna, you must never – ever – do that again. It is not your place. You are not to interfere with Sinclair’s running of the estate again, do you understand me?”

  “Edward!” Anna pleaded. “Sinclair hit a man with his riding crop. Struck him across the head and the poor man fell to the ground, badly injured from what I could see. I – I had to intervene.”

  Edward turned around, his eyes slightly softened and his face surprised at hearing the reason for Anna’s intervention.

  “The man was badly injured?”

  “From what I could see, yes. Don’t take my word for it, ask Georgina – she was there with me.”

  “Georgina!” scoffed Edward. “She’d say the sky was purple if you asked her to.”

  “So, not only do you disbelieve me, but my family now as well?” Anna’s eyes widened in amazement and hurt.

  Edward neared her. “I’m not saying I don’t believe you.”

  “Well, it sounds like that to me.”

  “I’m saying it still isn’t your place to correct Sinclair. An estate like this takes a huge amount of management. It has to be managed with an iron will and fist or else it will quickly fall apart. Sinclair knows this, he understands more than any. His own family estate was lost due to mismanagement.”

  “His own family estate was lost due to his father’s preoccupations with the public houses, gambling houses and whorehouses of Dublin!”

  “Anna!” Edward shouted.

  “Well, it’s true!” Anna snapped back.

  “I don’t even know where you pick up such thoughts. Georgina, no doubt.”

  “You yourself were my informant! Don’t you remember?” Anna felt her eyes well up at the injustice of it all.

  Edward came and sat down beside her and took her hand. “What I’m saying is for your own good. Inside the house is your business and outside the house is Sinclair’s. Stick to that rule and there will be no more problems.”

  She looked at his face and wanted to launch into a tirade of how she despised Sinclair. That she thought him cold and cruel and cunning and didn’t trust him. But as she saw the kindness return to Edward’s eyes while he begged her to accept the nature of things, she didn’t want to upset him any further.

  “All right. If you ask me to, I will. But I do not like people being treated badly, Edward.”

  “They’re peasants, Anna. They don’t know any different. And if they were treated differently, they would just take advantage of us. It’s the natural order of things, and we can’t interfere, otherwise we jeopardise our own position.”

  “Well, I don’t want to hear any more about it,” said Anna, refusing to allow Sinclair to come between her and Edward any further.

  A thought suddenly came to Edward. “That bloody Seán! Where was he when all this was going on?”

  “Sitting in the carriage,” said Anna.

  “He’s a useless boy! I told him to make sure you didn’t get into any trouble!”

  So Seán was appointed to keep an eye on me, thought Anna.

  “I’ve a good mind to take a cane to him and give him a beating himself!”

  “No, Edward, leave him alone. He tried his best to stop me from interfering, but he couldn’t stop me.”

  “You can be quite headstrong when you want to be, can’t you?” Edward looked amused at her.

  “More than you think,” she smiled back.

  “Well, soon we’ll have the house here filled with children, and you can put all you
r energy into them.”

  12

  “Well, you did right to drop the subject,” agreed Georgina, as she and Anna walked through the extensive gardens around the house.

  “I’ve never seen Edward like that before. He seemed angry with me, and not willing to listen to my side of things.”

  “I suppose it’s not your place to interfere in business.”

  “I just thought he would take my side more,” sighed Anna.

  “Sinclair obviously holds great sway over him.”

  “Sinclair is a liar and twisted the truth. He never told Edward he struck that man.”

  “And he made sure to get to Edward first to give his version of events. You need to tread carefully with this man, Anna. He’s cunning and, let’s face it, brutish.”