You Only Love Twice by Elizabeth Thornton

inherit a title, his pedigree was impeccable. He had money. He was a war hero. So she, a woman who could have any man she wanted, had accepted his proposal.
    And this was her reward?
    She took several long breaths and forced herself to relax. She’d spoken in the heat of the moment when she’dtold Rupert she didn’t care what people said about her. She did care. She cared passionately. But she also cared passionately about punishing anyone who had slighted her. Lucas had paid his debt when he’d lost her to Rupert. But Jessica Hayward …
    Jessica Hayward had always been a thorn in her side. She’d been a strange child; a little busybody if the truth were known. But she couldn’t tell anyone the truth because it showed her in a bad light. It was because of Jessica Hayward that her own father, Sir Henry, had given her, Bella Clifford, the most sought after girl in the county, the thrashing of her life.
    He’d discovered that someone in the house had been stealing porcelain objects and silver trinkets, and he’d blamed one of the footmen when, in fact, she was the culprit. She’d been too terrified to say anything, and so the footman had been duly charged, convicted and transported to the colonies for the crime. Somehow Jessica Hayward had stumbled on the truth. She’d tattled to Sir Henry and the result was he’d thrashed his only daughter and had bankrupted the little jeweler in Chalford who had bought all the trinkets from her. And, to keep Jessica Hayward’s mouth shut, he’d paid off her father—with money that Hayward had immediately drunk and gambled away.
    If Sir Henry had given his daughter a reasonable allowance in the first place, she wouldn’t have been forced to take things. It wasn’t as if she were stealing. After all, she’d inherit these things eventually. It was all a great to-do about nothing.
    After that, she’d been very careful to stay away from Jessica Hayward. But she’d spread stories about the girl and had turned people against her. With Lucas away at the war, it was easy to do. There was no one there to protect her.
    Then Lucas had come home … and Jessica Haywardhad turned the tables on her. No one did that to her and got away with it.
    Calmer now, she leaned back in her chair and closed her eyes. Many minutes passed before the pout on her lips curled into a smile. She opened her eyes. She would do as her husband asked. She would open the doors of Haig House to Jessica Hayward, but she would do it with a vengeance.

CHAPTER
7
    A fter dinner, Joseph went off to his workshop in the barn while Jessica and the sisters cleared up the kitchen. When the dishes were dried and put away, the sisters sat at the table and spread out a rug they were in the process of making from long strips of old clothes. The nuns did most of the talking, and Jessica listened with half an ear as they reeled off the names of some of their neighbors who had offered to come out to Hawkshill and help repair the place.
    But Jessica had other things on her mind, and after donning her shawl, she unobtrusively slipped outside. In the cobblestone yard, she paused for a moment, deliberately opening her senses to everything around her. The tang of mint and lemon came to her from the overgrown herb garden. When she turned her head, she caught the not-unpleasant scent of farm animals and newly mown grass. In the soft glow of twilight, the outbuildings didn’t look so rundown.
    She slowly traversed the length of the yard to the barn,desperately searching for something she could recognize. There was nothing. Everything about Hawkshill was as unfamiliar to her as it was to Joseph and the sisters. What was worse was that she had no recollection of her father, either, and if Lucas was to be believed, she was better off not knowing.
    Impatient with the sudden sting in her eyes, she opened the barn door and went in. Joseph was at his bench, examining one of the wheels from the wagon. He looked up at her entrance and gave her