Midnight Bride by Barbara Allister

"It was." Then he added before she could get out the remark she was getting ready to say. "At least partly. Little Bit, you know I enjoy being with you."
    "When I am not preaching to you, don't you mean?" she teased.
    "That too. But you were right to be angry last night. I shouldn't have brought anyone here without your permission." His face was more serious than she had ever seen it. For the first time Elizabeth began to realize that her little brother, six feet and more of him, was a man.
    "Maybe. But I was wrong, too. Charles, this property does belong to you. You have the right to visit it anytime you like," she said quietly. How could she have missed seeing that he was no longer the little boy she had teased and protected?
    "But no right to treat it as I have." Too restless to stay seated, Charles began to walk around the room. "I talked to Carstairs this morning. The fields are being repaired, and I arranged to pay some compensation to the farmers as well as paying for the new seed." He paused and looked at her. She smiled back. He walked slowly around the room as if the movement made it easier for him to speak. "Elizabeth, I am sorry about Susan. But she was no innocent. After she could not attach Dunstan or me, she made a go for Hartley. We had bets on who would be next."
    "Never dreaming your 'friend' would take advantage of her, of course." Elizabeth twisted around on the settee until she could look at him again. Her face was stern.
    "Dash it, Elizabeth. If anyone was taken advantage of, it was Hartley." His sister raised her eyebrows and didn't say another word. Charles cleared his throat. He needed to tell her about Hartley's still being there. But before he could get the words out, the butler opened the door.
    "Lord Dunstan is leaving at this time. He wishes to convey his thanks."
    "I'll see him off and be back," Charles said, grateful for the reprieve. He hurried into the entry hall, where Dunstan waited, caped, ready to go.
    "Thanks for the fishing, Beckworth . I enjoyed the visit. You must let me return the hospitality soon," Dunstan said quietly. He glanced around as if expecting someone else to appear. "Tell your sister that I hope to meet her again soon." Charles's eyebrows went up so that Dunstan hurried on. "We met briefly yesterday afternoon."
    The door to the library clicked shut. "I'll see you in London," Charles said quietly as he walked Dunstan to the door. So Dunstan knew Elizabeth. Had that been the cause of this morning's distress? Although his farewells seemed sincere, Charles's mind was far away. At that moment he wished his mother, as meddling as she had been lately, were close at hand.
    As Dunstan galloped down the long drive, he frowned. As much as he had been regretting his presence at the manor the day before, he now regretted leaving. "Blast. Why wouldn't she listen to me?" he yelled, spurring his horse. The cows in the home meadows turned their heads curiously and then went back to their grass. Dunstan galloped for a few minutes, letting his horse's speed blow his anger away. When he could think more clearly, he smiled, remembering the assignment that had brought him there in the first place. "If there was a message here this month, might there be another next?" he wondered.
    In the library at the manor, Hartley stared at the door he had just closed, anger in his eyes and in his bearing. Dunstan was leaving. After the man's coolness at breakfast that morning, Hartley had been certain that something had gone wrong. And the constant suggestions and innuendos by that young friend of Charles's had kept him from being able to delve more deeply into the matter himself. Hartley threw himself into a large comfortable chair and considered the situation.
    For a few minutes he simply stared into space, his fingers rubbing the fob he wore. Had Charles seen him at that moment he would have agreed with his mother and sister's view of the man. Hartley's pale blue eyes were narrowed to slits; his mouth