The Promise of a Gentleman

Book 1: The Cousins of The Aristocracy

by Linda Rae Sande

Genres: Regency Romance; friends to lovers; historical romance; Regency romance; May December romance

Synopsis

When it comes to matchmaking, the obvious choice doesn't always lead to love. Will the third time be the charm?

Orphaned at sixteen, Emma Fitzsimmons lives at the London finishing school her late father, George, arranged for her to attend. With no prospects for marriage but having experience as a bookkeeper at her father's hat shop, Emma decides to pursue a position as an accomptant. But who will hire a woman in 1802 London?

Her roommate's brother, Thomas Welllingham, inherited his father's import company and quickly expanded operations to include a way to transport goods across Great Britain. Convinced someone is embezzling from Wellingham Imports, he solicits advice from his banker, Sir William Burroughs.

Charged with Emma's financial welfare, Sir William recommends Thomas hire her to audit his books. Thomas does so, arranging for her to work at his manor in Chiswick and be a companion to his sister Christiana. And he may have just the man for Emma.

Todd Vandermeer, a wealthy broker with the East India Company, has decided to marry. His apparent low birth and excessive height make courting awkward, although once he meets Emma, he's sure she's the one for him. Emma's best friend Deborah, a midwife at a home for unwed mothers, may be a better choice, though. The tall, willowy woman has an unfortunate past that may prove too much to overcome, although not in a way she expects.

Emma's new landlords, an older couple who are rather overt in their affection for one another, seem intent on introducing her to the wealthy Gregory Grandby. With a reputation as a rake, Gregory has already made his choice in a future wife, a young lady who is rather good at keeping secrets—especially him.

With one couple having found love despite their class differences and three couples looking to find love, one banker is determined to see it all work out in his favor. Or will it be the butler who prevails in the epic Regency "The Promise of a Gentleman?"

Release date: October 26, 2014

Publisher: Twisted Teacup Publishing

Print pages: 740

Sample

Prologue

A Lady Takes Her Leave of Merriweather Manor

A prelude set in 1777 

One of the preeminent homes of the aristocracy, Merriweather Manor could be found on a twelve-thousand acre estate about seven miles west of London. Besides the large multi-wing structure that made up the manor, the estate also included stables, a carriage house, three gardens, and a large pond. The brick structure hosted several generations of Merriweathers until a few years after the untimely death, in 1777, of Roger, the youngest son of Mary Margaret Merriweather Grandby, Dowager Countess of Torrington. 

The countess had been especially pleased when Roger Grandby married Lady Sophia, the youngest daughter of William Burroughs, Duke of Ariley. Her oldest son and the current Earl of Torrington, George, was already married to the duke’s oldest daughter, Sarah. Although it had taken a few years to produce an heir from that merger, the two were the proud parents of Milton, who was proving at the age of one to be a rather mischievous little boy. 

But more about him later. 

Roger’s death from pneumonia left his wife, Sophia, with a young boy, Gregory, an inheritance of ten thousand pounds for her, and a twenty-thousand pound trust for the son that would make him one of the wealthiest men in England when he reached twenty-one years of age.

“You will stay here, of course,” the countess insisted once the reading of the will had taken place. 

Sophia regarded her mother-in-law for only a moment. Where else would I go? There was her son to consider. She supposed she could return to her family—the Burroughs had a country estate in Derbyshire, a house in London, a cottage in Brighton and a townhouse or two in Bath—but she had no desire to leave Merriweather Manor. “Of course, we’ll stay,” she answered with a wan smile. 

Mary Margaret gave her a nod and turned her attention to the other family members, acting as if she hadn’t done anything more than give a servant an order. 

Sophia placed her arm around her young son’s shoulders. How could she leave when his entire family—aunts, uncles, cousins—lived at the manor? 

So it was quite a shock when only a few years later, on the last day of 1781 to be precise, Lady Sophia Grandby found herself packing her own trunks in the middle of the night. With one last kiss on her son’s forehead and a whispered promise she would see him everyday and speak with him when she could without being seen, Sophia took her leave of the estate and disappeared. 

Once flush with the funds from her inheritance, her account at the Bank of England, set up on her behalf by her brother, Sir William Burroughs III, was suddenly empty. When inquiries were made, Sophia’s brother assured the Dowager Countess of Torrington that no withdrawals had occurred until just a few days before Sophia’s departure from Merriweather Manor. An agent representing Sophia had cleaned out the account, explaining to the bank teller that Lady Sophia wished to change banking institutions. 

Her brother, who would have seen to the transfer of funds had Sophia asked him to do so, was on Christmas holiday at the Burroughs’ family estate in Derbyshire at the time. In fact, Sir William claimed he didn’t learn of the missing funds and his sister’s disappearance until his return to London in mid-January. 

Given the amount of money involved and Lady Sophia’s standing in London society, William assured the family it wouldn’t be long before he could ascertain what happened to his sister. 

After all, ten thousand pounds was difficult to hide. 

He met with the account representatives of England’s other banks, asking that he be contacted should any sizable deposits be made by Lady Sophia under her married or maiden names. 

But he never was. 

And William’s attention was already diverted to the rather sizable acquisition of rows of townhouses along a section of Kingly Street, so the importance of tracking down the fate of his sister faded to an occasional comment about her supposed whereabouts. 

In the meantime, it was suggested perhaps Sophia had run off to the Continent with a secret lover or, since the war was over and the Colonies had won their independence, she could have embarked on a trans-Atlantic trip to the States and taken up residence there. 

Had Sophia’s relatives pursued the search a bit closer to home, they would have been surprised to learn Sophia did no such thing. A simple marriage proposal on Christmas Day 1781 changed her life, for it was the promise of romantic love with a man of a lower class that drove Sophia to leave Merriweather Manor for a modest but comfortable townhouse in London’s West End. 

Although it pained her to leave her son behind, Sophia knew Gregory would be raised properly by the nurses and educated by the governesses and tutors who were in charge of all the children of Merriweather Manor. She was close enough to see him should she require assurance of his health and well-being. Once he was in private school in London, she made frequent trips to see the boy and was pleased when he matured into a tall, well-educated, and very smart man with a head for business and a heart for natural sciences. 

And had anyone bothered to ask the butler just why he was leaving Merriweather Manor when he resigned from his position at the beginning of February 1782, well, he might have admitted he did it to marry the love of his life.