Garden of Temptation Read online

  She finally pulls away from me, and I already miss the touch of her. She clears her throat, taking a couple of steps away.

  “I think we missed a step or two in the courtship,” she says, running her hand down the front of her dress to smooth away the imagined wrinkles. “You must speak to my aunt, let her know of your intentions.”

  “Right,” I say, waiting for my good sense to return. I step toward her. She doesn’t move away.

  “She will need to be our chaperone as we get to know one another better.”

  “Uh-huh.” I step toward her again.

  “And…umm…speak to the…the vicar…”

  I reach her and pull her into a kiss again. I cup her cheek and wrap my arm around her. Now I know why she didn’t hire me in the first place. Why she didn’t want me around. The temptation is far too great. I release her and nearly push her away from me.

  “You should go,” I say. Her face falls as if I’ve hurt her in some way. Rejected her. “Tell your aunt I’ll call on her this afternoon.”

  She smiles as wide as I’ve ever seen her. “She’s already expecting you.”

  I laugh. “She knew how this would turn out, did she?”

  “I think the whole county knew what we wanted before we did.”

  I have to chuckle. She’s probably right about that. I hear voices and look to see Mother and my siblings returning.

  “I’ll go,” Violet says. “I’m sure you and your family will have a lot to talk about.”

  “I hate to see you leave, but it is probably for the best,” I say. “I’ll be at the house as soon as I can be.”

  She nods and goes through the little worn gate. She waves to my family but makes sure she is well away by the time they arrive.

  “So, what did she want?” Mother asks.

  “Well, it seems you’re going to get your wish,” I say.

  “And what’s that?”

  “I’m staying.”

  Epilogue

  Violet

  Two years later…

  I practically run down the steps as I see my sister’s carriage coming down the drive. The footman has barely helped her reach the ground before I have my arms around her.

  “I’ve missed you so much!” I say. It has been over five years since I’ve seen Elizabeth, and I can hardly believe she is here now.

  She hugs me back and kisses me on the cheeks. “And I you. I have so much to tell you.”

  “Formalities first,” I say, leading her to Aunt Charlotte. The two women hug and kiss.

  “Thank you so much for taking care of Violet all these years,” Elizabeth says. “And for letting me stay here a while.”

  “Of course, dear,” Aunt Charlotte says. “Though, unfortunately, I don’t have any unmarried gardeners at the moment. But I do have some fine footmen.” We all laugh.

  “I had to promise Mother I wouldn’t run off with one of your servants before she agreed to let me come. Besides, I don’t think it would be very kind to my finance.”

  True to their threats, my parents did send Elizabeth over to try and snag a lordly husband. They sent her to live with some other distant relative I had never heard of, though. To my surprise, she succeeded during her second Season.

  “You must tell me all about him,” I say, leading her to the man standing next to my aunt. “Elizabeth, this is my husband, Edison.”

  Elizabeth pulls him in for a hug. “So pleased to meet you, brother.”

  Edison seems a little surprised at her warm welcome. “Oh, uh, thank you, Elizabeth. Sister.”

  “You both must tell me all about your torrid love affair,” Elizabeth says, a mischievous twinkle in her eye.

  I blush. “It’s not nearly as exciting as you might think,” I say.

  “Still,” Elizabeth says, “you must tell me everything. I’m sure your letters left out a great deal.”

  I know there will be no escaping having to tell her the story in minute detail. My parents forbade any contact between my sisters and me upon hearing of my marriage to Edison and plan to stay on as Aunt Charlotte’s companion. But after Elizabeth came to England, she began writing to me in secret. I told her quite a bit about what had happened, but it would have been a hundred pages or more if I’d have told her everything.

  After Elizabeth was safely engaged, they finally gave their tacit approval for Elizabeth to visit me. Though, I can’t help but think it was partly to keep the daughter who fulfilled their dreams in their good graces. Once she was married, they wouldn’t be able to keep her from visiting me if she wished.

  “These are two of my sisters,” Edison says, motioning to Emma and Catherine. True to her word, Aunt Charlotte did find a position for Emma. A few months later, when one of the maids left to marry her sweetheart, she hired Catherine. Catherine had been in service quite a distance away in another county, so she was happy to accept a position closer to home.

  With the formal greetings out of the way, the footmen and maids begin carrying the luggage into the house and up to Elizabeth’s room.

  “It was lovely to meet you,” Edison says. “But I must return to work. I’ll see you at supper.”

  “Of course,” she says. I reach out to Edison to squeeze his hand before he leaves, and he surprises me with a kiss on the cheek before slinking away. I blush and feel the butterflies in my stomach that I still get when he walks into a room.

  “Well,” Elizabeth says, “I can certainly see why he caught your eye. He’s simply gorgeous.”

  “That’s hardly why I married him,” I say, trying to keep my chin up and not be scandalized by her insinuations. “But it is a lovely bonus.”

  “Now, you must show me this darling baby you’ve been telling me so much about!” Elizabeth says.

  “She’s sleeping,” I say, looping my arm through hers as we go into the house.

  “That sounds like a fine idea,” Aunt Charlotte says. “I’m going to lie down for a bit.”

  “I’ll fetch you before supper,” I tell her.

  She waves me off. “Enjoy your guest.”

  “Oh my,” Elizabeth says, looking around and up at the chandelier as we enter the manor. “It’s far more grand than I imagined! Mother and Father made it sound as if the place had sunken into disrepair.”

  “That’s rather unkind,” I say as we begin to climb the green-carpeted staircase to the second floor. “It’s old but hardly archaic. And Edison doesn’t let a shingle slip out of place before repairing it.”

  “How is it?” Elizabeth asks, lowering her voice. “You know, being married to a man in service?”

  “I don’t see how it is any different from being married to any man of business,” I say, my tone even. I’m not ashamed that my husband works hard to take care of us. “Papa was gone more than Edison is. Edison works from breakfast to around five or six o’clock in the evening and then joins us for supper. He’s here to put Agatha to bed with me each night and then spend time with me. How many days did Papa miss supper or have to leave for weeks us at a time?”

  “Hmm, I suppose I never thought about that,” Elizabeth says.

  “Your husband will quite busy running his father’s estate when he comes into his own,” I say, leading Elizabeth down the hall to the nursery. “Not to mention how often he will be in London to serve in the House.”

  “Thankfully, he has very little interest in politics,” Elizabeth says. “But he loves the country. You are right that he will probably be very busy. It’s a large estate.”

  “So I’ve heard,” I say. “A viscount. Well done.”

  “Mother was not impressed,” she says. “But Arthur and I get on so well, I wasn’t about to throw him over in hopes of a better offer.”

  “I’m so happy for you, Elizabeth,” I say. “Truly. I was so relieved when you told me that it was a love match.”

  “Me too,” she says. “It wasn’t until I was in the thick of it that I began to understand what you meant about being afraid to marry a fortune-hunter. It was quite di
sconcerting, never knowing a man’s motives. But when I met Arthur, he didn’t know who I was at first, so I have no worries that he married me for money. Well, at least not just for money.”

  I chuckle and shake my head as I crack the door to the nursery open and peek my head in. I can hear the baby babbling to herself in the crib.

  “She’s awake!” I say excitedly, nearly bouncing across the room to pick her up. It’s silly, but I am always so anxious to hold her and kiss her and play with her. I’m with her almost all day when she’s not sleeping, but I still can’t get enough of her.

  “Oh, Violet,” Elizabeth says. “She’s beautiful.”

  “Isn’t she just?” I pick Agatha up and kiss her plump cheeks. She’s barely six months old, but I can already pick out which features she’s gotten from me and which are from her father. She has my sparkling blue eyes.

  “Don’t be greedy! Give her to me!” Elizabeth has to nearly pry the baby out of my arms for the chance to hold her. She then sits in a nearby rocking chair as she admires her first—and so far only—niece. I sit on the nearby window seat and watch them.

  “Oh, I can’t wait to have one of my own,” Elizabeth says. “As soon as possible. That way he or she will be near in age to Agatha. Won’t that be lovely?”

  “That would be nice. And Trotwood is not far from here, less than two days’ ride I’ve heard.”

  “Indeed,” Elizabeth says. “Isn’t that lucky?”

  I nod and then feel a little nervous as I ask my next question. “Will Mother and Father be coming over for the wedding?”

  “Of course,” she says. “They wouldn’t dare miss their grand introduction to English high society.”

  “Have they…mentioned me?”

  “They said that if you happened to be able to make the wedding, they would be happy to see you.”

  A few tears come to my eyes as a feeling of relief washes over me. “I wasn’t sure. They have yet to return any of my letters…except to say that they were horrified at what I had done and they would never speak to me again if I went through with it.”

  “Of course they were angry,” Elizabeth says. “Did you expect anything different?”

  “No,” I say. “I knew they would be. I had just hoped they would let the fact that I was happy gloss over their anger, at least a little bit.”

  “Well, now that I am getting married, and that you have their first grandchild, they are working toward acceptance of the situation, trust me. They are waiting on a full accounting of little Agatha. Don’t expect them to ever be fully happy about your marriage. I doubt they will come to Birchwood. And of course they blame Aunt Charlotte for much of it.”

  “That’s unfair,” I say.

  “I know,” she says. “And they know it as well. But they have to blame someone. They can’t bear to think that trying to force you into an unhappy marriage had anything to do with your decision.”

  I wipe the tears from the corner of my eyes and clear my throat. “Well, what’s done is done. And I’m so incredibly happy. I suppose I have to thank them for that. If they hadn’t put me in such a position, Edison and I might never have come together.”

  “Oh, yes!” Elizabeth says. “Now, tell me everything.”

  I sigh as I get comfortable and begin to tell my tale.

  * * *

  The End

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  Garden of Joy

  https://books2read.com/GardenofJoy

  Can two people with painful pasts still find a happy future?

  Orphaned at a young age and left with almost nothing, Iris Bedford welcomed the chance to become governess and guardian to three distant cousins who were also orphaned. At least, she did when she was merely twenty-one. Now, at twenty-six, and her young charges growing up, Iris is worried about what the future holds. Is it too late for her to have a family of her own?

  Franklin Courtenay, son of the Earl of Devon, always had an adventurous spirit, until he ended up lost in the heart of Africa for two years while hunting for rare and exotic plants. Now back home and nearing thirty, it’s time for him to take his place as his father’s heir by finding a wife and having children. But Franklin is not the confident man he once was and is doubtful he will be able to find a woman able to put up with his acquired oddities.

  Iris and Franklin cannot deny the attraction they feel for each other, but when Franklin is ordered to marry a young lady of status and Iris’s reputation is called into question, will they ever be able to find the happiness both have so long been denied?

  Garden of Joy is a sweet, clean Regency romance and book 4 in the Garden of Love series! It is a STANDALONE romance novel. No cheating, no cliffhangers, and a guaranteed happily ever after.

  About the Author

  Daphne Bloom is an author of romances and cozy mysteries. She lives in a quaint Southern town with her family that lets her imagination run free. When she's not watching the latest historical drama on TV, she's usually curled up with her dog and a good book. You can jointer newsletter on her website, DaphneBloom.com or follow her on social media.

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