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‘You remember Miss Cavenhurst, do you not?’ Mark said to him. ‘This is Jane, sister to my fiancée.’
‘Of course I remember,’ Drew said, doffing his hat. ‘How do you do, Miss Cavenhurst?’
‘I am well. And you?’ She had often wondered what it would be like to meet him again and whether the old attraction would still be there. He was an extremely attractive man, to be sure, and a great deal more confident than the man she had sent away, but after ten years, it would have been surprising if she had not found him changed.
‘I am in good health, Miss Cavenhurst, and happy to renew acquaintance with you. It has been some time.’
‘Ten years,’ she murmured and then wished she had not mentioned the time. He would assume she had been counting and dwelling on it, which was the last impression she wished to give him.
‘Yes, and every one of them devoted to the goal of returning one day, having made my fortune.’
‘And have you?’
‘I believe so.’
‘He is a nabob,’ Mark said, laughing. ‘But underneath he is the same Drew Ashton I knew before he went away. He has come to stay with us at Broadacres and be my groomsman.’
‘I thought you already had someone,’ Jane said, turning towards him. He was almost as tall as Drew, but slimmer and his urbane good looks contrasted sharply with the weathered look of his friend.
‘So I did, but he has been called away and when I met Drew in London, the solution to my problem was obvious.’
‘How fortuitous for you.’ She turned back to Drew. ‘So, you came to see how we all go on in Hadlea, Mr Ashton. We are a quiet community, little changes here.’
‘Except we all grow older and wiser,’ he said.
‘That is true, of course.’ Was that some reference to their youth ten years before or was he telling her his old passion had died a natural death, as surely hers must have done?
‘Jane, I need to have a quiet word with you,’ Mark said. ‘Perhaps Drew will excuse us for a moment?’
‘To be sure,’ Drew said. ‘I will amuse myself exploring the village.’ He bowed to Jane. ‘Good day, Miss Cavenhurst. I shall look forward to renewing my acquaintance with the rest of your family while I am here.’
She bowed her head in acknowledgement. ‘Good day, Mr Ashton.’
She watched him stride away, then turned back to Mark. ‘He is much changed and yet he has not changed at all.’
‘Except he is richer,’ Mark said with a laugh.
‘What is it you wanted to speak to me about?’ She did not want to talk about Andrew Ashton. His sudden arrival was something else she had to deal with. Would he mention the past or would it be a closed book? She hoped the latter. She did not want to be reminded of it.
Mark’s smile died and he seemed to be reluctant to go on, which was so unlike him that she wondered what it could be. ‘Jane, I met Lord Bolsover while I was in London. Drew and I had a hand of whist with him and a friend of his at White’s.’
‘Oh, surely you are not a gambling man, Mark? Gambling is an insidious evil.’
‘I only play for amusement now and again and never for high stakes. You play yourself of an evening, do you not?’
‘Yes, when we have company and then for counters, not money. But do go on.’
‘Bolsover is not a man I would normally associate with, but Drew wanted a game.’
‘Mark, you are beating about the bush. You are going to tell me Teddy owes him money, aren’t you?’
‘You know of it?’
‘I am the first person my brother comes to when he is in trouble.’
‘I believe he owes Lord Bolsover a substantial amount—will you tell me how much?’
‘Mark, I know you mean well, but Teddy would not like me to divulge the figure, not even to you. Why do you want to know?’
‘Lord Bolsover is putting it about that Teddy is a welsher and he will have his money by hook or by crook. He even hinted he would have the Manor.’
She gasped. ‘It is not so large an amount, Mark. He cannot do that, can he?’
‘Not while your papa is alive, but when Teddy inherits, that will be a different matter. Isabel will be with me, of course, but I am concerned for you and your mother and Sophie. Can Sir Edward settle the debts?’
She hesitated. To her shame, she had already told one untruth that day and she did not want to tell another, especially to Mark, but he had truly frightened her with his tale that Lord Bolsover had bought up all Teddy’s debts, the full extent of which she did not know.
