Burning Bright (Brambridge Novel 2) by Pearl Darling Page A

hardiest of men.
    “How many men did you kill?” she asked quietly.
    Despite himself, James’ hand tightened on the telescope. In truth it had not been that many, but all had been prominent men, generals, French and Spanish brutes who urged their hapless soldiers into certain death.
    “I cannot remember,” he said.
    “I never believed that you killed Fairleigh.”
    James stayed silent. Taking his eye from the telescope, he glanced at Harriet. She sat looking out to sea, her eyes flickering from the beach to the cliffs.
    “You had no cause to,” she said cryptically. Turning her head, she met his gaze. “Besides, he fell shortly after you disappeared into the mine.”
    “I beg your pardon,” James said softly.
    Harriet blinked. “Did nobody tell you?”
    “No, but then, I could not admit I was in the mine.”
    Harriet nodded. “A tricky situation.”
    Trust her to call it that. “How did you find out?”
    “I heard him fall.”
    “What?”
    Harriet turned back to the sea. “I was quite surprised because there was no yell. All I heard was the thump as his body hit the rocks just round from the beach. I thought it was a rock fall. I heard later they had discovered a body.”
    “A body that must have been discovered almost instantaneously on a deserted outcropping of rocks.”
    Harriet nodded. “I thought that was strange too.” She got to her feet. “I must go. The hour is getting late. Shrugging off his coat, Harriet walked towards him. Carefully she laid the coat over his legs, her touch as light as a feather. Reaching out, he captured her hand in his.
    “Harriet,” he said, the warmth of her hand charging his with currents of desire. “Thank you.” Closing his eyes, he let her hand go. For a few moments she stood in front of him, and then she was gone.
    His bed in the Fountain Inn would be curiously cold that night.
    **
    A landau stood outside Brambridge Manor as James rode up the drive the next morning. He hadn’t been back since the will reading. Stepping smartly up to the entrance, he faltered, as the door opened. He retreated back down the steps as Mrs. Sumner and her daughter, Cecilia, and his mother filled the top step with their full skirts and silken bonnets.
    “Hello, James.” Cecilia’s voice was dull.
    Mrs. Sumner looked down at James and winked coquettishly. “Your mother has been so kind. Once we said that we had met you in town, and when your mother and I realized that we had been to the same seminary together, why she has invited us to stay for the whole summer. Isn’t that kind of her?”
    “That is certainly kind,” he said. He didn’t have to wonder at why his mother had done it. Mrs. Sumner was tonnish in every aspect and his mother would be hoping for all the news from town and to gain every aspect of well-heeled association with Mrs. Sumner. He also knew that she thought it would increase her standing in the district to have her there.
    “I’ve put her in your old room.”
    James blinked, but he could not object. He had made no move to come back to the Manor, preferring instead to stay at the Fountain Inn.
    Perhaps it was time, however, to move back to the house. Staying at the Fountain Inn was bound to cause talk, and the state of the manor concerned James. Something was awfully wrong with it. It was also a good base for covering his mission from the Hawk. He needed to keep up the appearance of being the lord of the manor. Especially given that Granger had already taken away the care of the estate from him.
    “Fine, mother. I’ll take the Indian room.” His sister looked horrified, but his mother agreed complacently.
    “We must be off.  We are going to see Mrs. Madely for tea. She has promised us some new gossip.”
    Embarrassed, James looked at Mrs. Sumner and Melissa. Mrs. Sumner appeared coolly watchful and Melissa’s sea-blue eyes gave nothing away as they swept by him. Perhaps they did not want to say anything that might criticize Dowager Lady Stanton’s