LITMIR.BIZ

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“He always said he wished he were your natural father instead of just your stepfather. He loved you and Cally every bit as much as he loved me. That is why he legally adopted you and gave you his name as well as that of your own dead father. I wish he had left you St. Timothy instead of leaving it to me. Then nothing would have ever changed.”

      George reached out and took Aurora’s hand in his. “I might bear Papa’s name, little sister, but I am not of his blood. It was blood that made his decision for him. As you have already said, he was proud of his family. I am well provided for, God knows, and he has requested in his will that the duke continue my tenure as manager and overseer of St. Timothy. I am good at it, Aurora! There is no reason the duke will not honor Papa’s request, and as long as the plantation remains prosperous, he will have no cause for complaint, will he?”

      Calandra settled herself back down on the floor with her two siblings, resting her head on her brother’s shoulder. The trio had been together for almost their entire lifetime, and loved one another dearly. If Oralia and Robert Kimberly had worried that their children would not get on, it was a notion dismissed in the first few minutes of their meeting, when Aurora had struggled from her nanny’s arms and run down the dock to welcome her new stepmother and siblings to St. Timothy. It seemed to those watching that the child was greeting her natural mother, brother, and sister, who had been away but a time. There had never been any jealousy between any of them.

      “Then we are agreed,” Aurora said. “Cally will marry the duke, bringing with her the plantation as a dowry. I will have Cally’s portion from Papa, and my mother’s family home. And George will have what Papa left him, and remain as manager.”

      “You are absolutely certain this is what you want?” George questioned her. “Once Cally has been introduced to the duke as his bride, there can be no going back, Aurora. You do understand that?”

      She nodded. “I want to marry a man who loves me, George, not a man who is obligated to marry me. I know there are some who would think me a fool for it, but I do not care. I will go to England with Cally and the duke and see if I can find a gentleman who will love me. If I do not, then I shall return to St. Timothy to my own home.”

      “Very well, then,” George Spencer-Kimberly said. “Then it is indeed agreed between us that this is the course of action we shall take. I hope that the duke never finds out our little ruse.”

      “What of Mama?” Cally said. “She says she will not cooperate.”

      “Aurora is right,” George replied. “When the duke’s vessel sails into the harbor, Mama will have no choice but to go along with us. If she does not, she risks everything. I do not like making her unhappy, but if Aurora will not have her duke, then this is the best direction for us to take if we are to preserve the family.”

      The brother and his two sisters joined hands.

      “Together,” said George.

      “Forever,” said Cally.

      “As one!” Aurora responded, finishing the pledge of allegiance they had made up as children and repeated whenever they did something together that they considered important.

      “Then it is settled,” Cally said, her eyes sparkling.

      “Yes,” Aurora agreed.

      “And you shall be the duke’s duchess,” George chuckled. “What a treat London society has in store for it.”

      “I shall be a wonderful duchess,” Cally told him. “I shall have all the beautiful gowns I want! And jewelry! And I shall dance till dawn every night with all the handsome gentlemen!”

      “First, however,” her brother reminded her, “you will have to produce an heir for the duke. That will be your primary duty. It is your insurance should Valerian Hawkesworth ever find out you are not who you should be, little sister.”

      “Fiddlesticks, George! It will make no difference if he finds out one day. He will have St. Timothy anyway. There is plenty of time for babies, and being stuck in some country mansion just as isolated as our island home is not my idea of being a grand duchess. Any woman can have babies! I want to go to London and see the king! Do not distress yourselves. I shall make my duke fall madly in love with me. Then he will allow me to do whatever I want, for he will desire to please me at all times else I withdraw my love from him.” She giggled. “Ohhh, I cannot wait to be a duchess!”

      “What a heartless little hussy you will be.” Aurora laughed. “You had best not let Mama hear you speaking this way. It will give her a terrible attack of the vapors, I fear.”

      “I love Mama,” Calandra admitted, “but it will be so nice not to have her telling me what to do all the time.”

      “You will have the old dowager telling you what to do instead,” her brother teased her.

      “Another reason for staying in London,” Calandra countered.

      And the three of them laughed, while outside the study, a sudden afternoon squall blew in from the sea to pepper the windows with warm rain.

      Chapter 2

      The Duke of Farminster stood at the rail of the Royal George as it made its way around the island of St. Timothy. The only bay suitable for landing was on the far side of the island, away from the shipping lanes. In the last few days he had been treated to all manner of topography as they sailed among the islands of the western Indies. Many of the islands were mountainous, some were flat, but this island seemed to have a broad plain all about it, with a spine of rolling hills in the center running the length of the island. The cane fields were lush and green, and he was not just a little impressed.

      “They’re harvesting. It’s the season,” the captain said, coming to stand by his side. “The island is about eighty square miles in size, about half of Barbados, and smaller than Grenada. Do you know anything about it, your grace?”

      “Precious little,” Valerian Hawkesworth replied. “I know the two families who were given the grant by King Charles were related to mine by marriage. My bride, and her father, are the last of them.”

      “The families kept in touch with England, then. Many of them don’t, y’know. They go native,” the captain noted disapprovingly.

      “No, our branches kept in touch. My father and Mr. Kimberly were at Oxford together, which is how the match came about between myself and Miss Kimberly. Is there a town on the island, Captain Conway?”

      The seaman shook his head. “Nay, your grace. St. Timothy was Kimberly and Meredith property. They grow sugar cane, and nothing else is done with the land. Besides, who would live here, and what sort of business could a man employ his time with on an island like this? Other than the family, and a few bond servants, there are only blacks.”

      The duke nodded in response and gazed out over the blue-green sea. The island was beautiful, but was it profitable? Was this Kimberly girl really a good match? His grandmother has assumed that the Kimberlys were rich, but were they? The island’s whole subsistence depended upon a good sugar crop. He would, he decided, want to go over the books, and speak with Mr. Kimberly as soon as possible. If the plantation did not make an excellent profit, they must consider the possibility of a cash dower. The ship entered the bay. He could see the warehouses and docks along the shore.

      “Do they ship their sugar to England from here?” he asked Captain Conway.

      “They ship to Barbados, and from there to England. The cargo ships can’t be bothered with a small island like this one, and don’t call. It’s the same all over the Indies, but St. Timothy is in an excellent location, your grace. It can ship cheaper than the plantations in Jamaica because the trade winds blow more convenient here than there.”

      “I can see I have a great deal to learn,” the duke replied.

      “Do you intend remaining here, then, your grace?” That would certainly be odd, the captain thought, unless, of course, this nobleman had murdered someone and needed to be out of England for a time.

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