Obsession by Claire Lorrimer Read Free Book Online

She knew already of his longing for a son – a boy he could teach to ride, to fish, to shoot, and to whom he could teach country lore so he would one day love Hunters Hall as much as he did himself, the home the boy would one day inherit.
    Occasionally a letter from Una would arrive; the last said that she and Patrick were delighting in the safe delivery of yet another male baby. Brook had laughed at Patrick’s somewhat ribald postscript that if they could keep up the good work, they might manage a whole platoon! Una always ended those letters saying,
I so wish you could see
our brood, dearest Harriet
.
    Harriet always wrote back saying she would indeed love to meet her nephews and nieces but it would not be easy to drag Brook away from his much-loved home and the many sporting parties which took place both at Hunters Hall and on their neighbours’ estates.
    ‘It will be so lonely here without him!’ she said sadly to the older girl who was now laying one of her several trousseau evening gowns on the bed. ‘I wish I were going away too, and that I did not have to live here without him.’
    ‘Hush now, Miss Harriet!’ Bessie said as she placed a pair of long evening gloves beside the dress. ‘If you go down to dinner with a doleful face like that, you’ll upset the master and no mistake! Like he said, you should visit Miss Una as surely you’d enjoy being with them.’
    Harriet nodded. ‘I know I would, Bessie, but Dublin is a long way across the sea.’
    ‘Is it so far away then?’ Bessie asked as she removed Harriet’s day dress and slipped the deep magenta silk dress over her head and her arms into the puffed bishop sleeves.
    ‘Indeed it is!’ Harriet said. ‘It would mean a long coach ride to the port of Liverpool, with a stop overnight on the way, and then maybe another night in Liverpool before sailing across the Irish sea in a ferryboat to Dublin. Then there would be a further coach journey to Ballsbridge Street where my sister lives. That means travelling for at least four days!’
    The colour on Bessie’s round, rosy cheeks deepened. ‘And what is wrong with that, surely!’ she said, using her mother’s Sussex dialect. ‘How many times did you use to tell me afore you was wedded of all the adventures you was going to enjoy when you’d be grown up! Just because you’m married now, I reckon as how the master would be pleased to hear you wasn’t going to be a-grieving whilst he’s gone.’
    As Bessie fastened an amethyst and pearl pendant on a gold chain round Harriet’s neck she was mindful of the fact that it was only a few months since her young mistress had recovered from the depression which had followed the loss of the third baby she had been expecting.
    Three months was not really such a long time, Harriet decided. Brook would be back in time for her birthday. Even the thought raised her spirits, and Bessie remarked on her sudden change of mood when, her toilette completed to Bessie’s satisfaction, Harriet went downstairs to join Brook in the drawing room.
    He was, as usual, impeccably attired in his black superfine dress coat with velvet facings and black waistcoat. She noticed with pleasure that he was wearing the set of pearl shirt studs she had given him, and his hair, with a centre parting, was brushed flat. He had also fastened a single diamond pin into the folds of his cravat, enhancing his aristocratic good looks. Harriet’s heart missed a beat as he strode across the room to greet her. Regardless of the footman’s gaze, he took her hand to his lips and told her how truly beautiful she looked – especially so this evening, he insisted. The sorrowful look had gone from her eyes and now he had every hope that she had come to terms with his enforced absence.
    Sitting down on the sofa with her hand still clasped tenderly in his own, he avoided the topic of his impending departure and said, ‘I am now going to confess to you that, as you know, this evening we were to have had