The Devil to Pay by Emma V Leech EPUB & PDF – eBook Details Online
- Status: Available for Free Download
- Author:Emma V Leech
- Language: English
- Genre: Victorian Historical Romance
- Format: PDF / EPUB
- Size: 2 MB
- Price: Free
How disappointing that our mystery writer seems to
have developed a character about which he or she
knows nothing at all. Perhaps they come from an
elevated position in life and have never experienced
what it is to work for a living, for I found the
blacksmith entirely unconvincing, and as for the
housekeeper…
― A review of the recently published novel, “The
Jewel and the Iron Key” by Anon. Review
submitted to The Lady’s Gazette by Miss Selina
Davenport.
15thFebruary 1845, Goshen Court, Monmouthshire.
Jules Adolphus, Marquess of Blackstone, peered out of the window as
the carriage jolted up the pitted driveway, and grimaced.
“You’ve made a mistake, old chap. It can’t possibly be this pile of
mouldering stone.”
Briggs, a most superior valet and the envy of every man of fashion
among the ton, looked down his long nose at his master and gave a little
sniff. “This is Goshen Court, I assure you, my lord, and I might remind you
that I warned you as how you would live to regret this little jaunt.”
Jules waved this observation away with irritation.
“No one likes a know-it-all, Briggs,” Jules muttered darkly, staring with
increasing apprehension through the window. “Hell, and the devil! I know
he said the place was in disorder, but I thought he was exaggerating.”
“It would appear not. He’s probably not even here.” Briggs replied, in
Cassandra-like tones.
Jules glared at him. “Stop sulking. I’m sure he is, and more to the point,
we’re here now. The inside can’t be as dismal as the outside. Pip would
never stand it. Likes his creature comforts, does Ashburton.”
“So you say, my lord.” Briggs heaved a heavy sigh, resigned to his fate,
and awaited a footman to let down the steps.
As there were no obvious signs of life from the house, Jules opened the
door himself, jumped down, and stretched his long limbs, which were illsuited to the confines of a carriage. Briggs made his way to the front door
with the air of one climbing the Tyburn steps. Stamping his feet, which had
lost all feeling about ten miles previous, Jules looked around with disfavour.
Goshen Court, seen on a freezing winter afternoon, with the sun already
having decided the day was best over and done with, was hardly an inviting
prospect.
Briggs seemed to have no luck at the front door, the heavy pounding of
the knocker only disturbing the crows who had settled to roost in a nearby
oak tree. They rose into the sky with a great flapping of wings and ominous
caws of irritation that sent chills of foreboding skittering down Jules’ spine.
“What in the name of everything holy would Ashburton be doing,
hiding himself out here in this crumbling old pile of sh—”
Jules broke off as a tall figure rounded the building, his shock of
platinum blond hair startling against the twilit gloom. It could be none other
than Ashburton. If the hair weren’t a dead giveaway, the height, the broad
shoulders, and that impossibly handsome, aristocratic face would have
settled it. Yet Jules still blinked and stared, for never in his life before had
For More Read Download This Book
EPUB