The Shocking Secret of a Guest at the Wedding (Millworth Manor) by Victoria Alexander Read Free Book Online

arrived in England, his father was as apprehensive as his son. They agreed the colonel should find just the right moment to present his newfound offspring to the rest of the family. Jack had stayed at an inn in a nearby village last night while his father went on to Millworth Manor.
    He had joined his father at the family’s ancestral home a few minutes before the late afternoon wedding. Father had decided, given the chaos at Millworth upon his arrival, to wait until after the wedding to reveal Jack’s existence to the family. While the colonel assured Jack of his welcome, it was obvious he didn’t entirely believe his own words. Jack was more than willing to take a seat in the back of the manor’s chapel for the ceremony while the colonel joined the rest of the family in the front.
    Perhaps she was a member of the family? Jack’s gaze again settled on the red-haired beauty, drawn back as if of its own accord. Not that it mattered what her connection to his family was. He had Lucy to consider after all even if she had essentially broken things off with him before he left New York.
    Lucy had said, as they were not officially engaged and he might well be starting a new life, and, as there would be an ocean between them, he shouldn’t for a moment consider himself under any obligation to her while he was away. She said he should regard himself as completely unencumbered. Besides, she had pointed out, this was the opportunity for both of them to discover if they were really meant to be more than good friends or if they had just assumed they were meant for each other to please their families. Why, when one thought about it, wasn’t it significant that they had both put off announcing their engagement over and over again? And really, wouldn’t it be dreadful if they married and then later discovered it was a mistake? He had objected, of course, but she had been adamant and, in the end, he had reluctantly agreed with her. He had discussed the matter during the voyage with his father who agreed that women, as a rule, were incomprehensible. His father had also noted that it was his experience that women who gave a man his freedom often did so because they wanted freedom themselves. Jack had scoffed at the time, this was Lucy they were talking about after all, but a few days later he found himself wondering why it was so easy for them to part. Why neither of them had declared their love for the other. And why that now bothered him even though there was also a distinct sense of relief. Which bothered him as well.
    He took another sip of his wine and watched the redhead move from one group of guests to the next. There were a surprising number of Americans present. His father had explained that the groom, Grayson Elliott, had spent nearly a decade in America. Jack didn’t realize until he saw the man at the altar that they’d met but were no more than acquaintances. There were other Americans here too that Jack had met in the course of business although no one he knew more than casually. He thought it best to avoid them for now given that he wasn’t at all sure how to explain his presence.
    He and his father had avoided the other guests after the ceremony as well. Instead of joining family and friends for an early supper in advance of the wedding ball, the colonel had escorted his son on a tour of Millworth’s extensive and impressive grounds. His father took him to the pond where he and his brother had skated in the winter and learned to swim in the summer, in spite of governesses who had forbidden them to go near the water. Father showed him the Grecian-style folly that was built by a long-ago owner of Millworth for his wife and told him the story of the star-crossed lovers that were said to haunt not only this folly but one exactly like it on the grounds of a nearby estate. It was foolish, of course, no sensible man believed in spirits. But it was also poignant and romantic and touching, even if one was a sensible man who