A Ghost of a Chance (Ebook)

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Chapter 1

Castle Keyvnor in deepest Cornwall was the perfect place to avoid being seen. The many nooks and crannies, spiral staircases, crenellated walls, and forbidding fortifications meant it was also a marvelous place for a game of hide and seek. Unfortunately, due to the somber nature of the gathering to sort out the Earl of Banfield’s successor, such a frivolous pastime would have to wait.
Violet DeLisle shivered, and wrapped her shawl more closely around her shoulders. Current fashion that required high-waisted, bosom-exposing gowns left all ladies prone to catching a chill. She was sitting in the drawing room with her stepmother, half-sister, and various members of the Banfield clan. There was a fire in the huge fireplace, but the heat barely penetrated the soaring stone walls covered with tapestries.
As usual, the women were waiting on the men of the family to make all the noteworthy decisions about the future of the unentailed parts of the Banfield estate. The gentlemen were currently attending a meeting with the family solicitor, Mr. Hunt. Her father’s interest in the matter was fairly peripheral, as the deceased dowager countess, Evelyn DeLisle was his aunt. Violet had no doubt that he would make his voice heard. He certainly liked the sound of it enough.
Violet focused on her darning. She needed her woolen stockings more than she had anticipated in the draughty hallways, where the wind echoed with a keening sound that set her nerves jangling. And she was never one to fly into alt. She left that to her beautiful, fragile half-sister.
A delicate sigh brought her attention from her work to the half-sister in question.
“This is so dull, Violet. Why did Papa make us leave home for this? He could have come alone.”
“We were expected to attend, Letty. And you must remember that you look very dashing in black.”
“That is true… and I do have my new hat to show off.” Letty sat up, her blonde curls bobbing. “Mama said the Suttons might be coming. Their father is distantly related to the Hambly family. Have you heard from them?”
“Me?” Violet tried to look uninterested.
“You still write to Kitty, don’t you?”
“Yes, I do.” Violet wrinkled her brow as if searching for the answer; she had already underlined the date in her diary in red ink, and mayhap adorned it with a flowery heart or two. “I think they might be arriving today, but I cannot be certain.”
“All of them?” Letty clasped her hands to her bosom. “Dear Charles, too?”
“Possibly.” She’d forgotten that Letty had met all three of the Sutton brothers in London during her first Season. “Charles? Don’t you mean Edwin? He is the oldest son.”
“And the eldest son inherits everything. I am well aware of that, Violet, and I know my duty to my family.” Letty smoothed her skirts. “But Charlie is so amusing.”
Violet almost stabbed her finger with her needle. Charlie? That was her special name for him! When had Letty decided she had the right to use it?
The door to the morning room opened and the butler came in, bringing a fresh tray of tea. A footman with another tray containing glass decanters followed behind him.
All the ladies sat forward expectantly as the hum of male voices drew closer and then overflowed into the room. Violet saw her father, and then the far more friendly face of her stepmother’s second cousin, Edwin. He made his way to her side.
“Miss DeLisle. Violet, how very good it is to see you again. I missed you in Town this year.”
He bowed over her hand and brought her fingers to his lips. His hair was brown, as were his eyes, and he was dressed with the neatness and propriety of a country squire. He had a quiet manner about him, which was very different to his far more handsome and high-spirited brother.
“It is very nice to see you, Edwin. Is Kitty with you?”
“I am sorry to say that she was unable to accompany us, being laid up in bed with a bout of, what I suspect, was imaginary influenza. She said to send you her love, and that you are very welcome to come and visit us in the spring.” He smiled. “In truth, we all enjoy your visits, so do come.”
“I will certainly consider it if my stepmother permits,” Violet answered. The thing was, she could never accurately predict her stepmother’s desires. They seemed to swing wildly to and fro like a weathervane in a storm. “I always enjoy Kitty’s company.”
After her father had met and married Mary Sutton, his second wife, straight out of the schoolroom, Violet had spent her summers at the Suttons’ country house with a variety of her stepmother’s extended family. She had practically grown up with Kitty, and regularly met her brothers when they returned from school. For the past two years, her stepmother had been focused solely on Letty’s upcoming debut, and had remained in London or at the DeLisle country estate. She’d loudly declared that Violet’s chances of catching a husband were exceedingly remote, and that she was tired of chaperoning a lost cause.