Unexpected Wife

by

Tea with Charles

 

How in God’s name does this woman know everything?

Charles Wheatly, Duke of Murnane glanced down at the missive in his hand, a rather personal one coming from a duchess, and shook his head.

Charles

Do come to tea before you leave for China.  Shall we say Tuesday next?

Eleanor Winshire

He knew the answer to his own question. The duchess spoke to Uncle Richard, of course.  The Duke of Sudbury wouldn’t have confided such a secret in many people, but he would be frank with the Duchess of Haverford who could be trusted with both the political and the personal aspects of Charles’s mission.  Which part does she wish to pummel me about? Charles wondered.

He suspected the personal. The last time she summoned him to tea, she urged him to divorce his wife.  “This time I may listen to her,” he mumbled to the empty carriage. But no. He had no more desire to drag his wretched marriage through the mud than he did three years ago. He liked Eleanor, he truly did, but his life was his own.

The duchess surprised him. After tea had been poured, he accepted her condolences on the death of his son. She wisely chose not to linger over them, and they quickly moved on to the sort of exchange demanded by good manners. Yes, Uncle Will has recovered from the bronchitis he contracted at the funeral. Yes, Fred and Clare were thriving at Songbird Cottage, but he’d had no world from Rand recently. Charles suspected his cousin was too busy building his timber empire. The duchess, in her turn, referred lightly to the doings of her vast tribe of grandchildren: the children of her sons and foster-daughters, and the step-grandchildren from her second marriage. “They are all growing up, Charles. Even Haverford’s daughter is about to make her debut, and my son made a late start, as you know.”

Charles reached over to pick up a second lemon cake, always his favorite, when she struck.

“You will of course want to get into Canton itself.”

He sat upright, and blinked at her.

“There is no point in you going all the way to Macao just to listen to Charles Eliot’s views on the matter, much less those of Jarrett and those wretched smugglers unleashing drugs on those people.”

He put the remains of the cake down and cleared his throat. “You are correct. I had planned to haunt the docks of both cities and Madras as well.”

“And shed your title and position to do it.”

“How else can I entice people into speaking plainly?” He grinned at her, enjoying himself now. “Besides, I may as well enjoy a bit of freedom while I can.”

“Quite so,” Eleanor replied. “It is a pity you don’t speak Cantonese. You will need a translator.”

That problem had bothered him, but he assumed it could be solved. “There are people—“

“Not many. Lily would be perfect, but of course she has much too much dignity at her age to go racketing about with you.”

He choked on his tea. Lilias Hayden, the Duchess of Sudbury, might be a gifted linguist, but she wielded her skills over diplomatic dinners, not on the docks. “I should say not,” he croaked.

“I wonder if her daughter has inherited her skills?” Eleanor murmured innocently. Too innocently. Sudbury had obviously told her that his hoydenish daughter had absconded to China after refusing to accept the attentions of no fewer than six suitors during the previous Season.

“I wouldn’t have any idea,” Charles answered carefully.

“You might ask her when you see her,” Eleanor replied over her teacup. She put it down and turned the subject to tea and the opium that supported its import into London. Her extensive understanding of the laws, the economics, and the ethics didn’t surprise him.

“Be cautious what you report to Victoria, however. She may think she wants to know the truth, but she won’t upset any apple carts, and she certainly won’t cross Melbourne. Still, it can’t hurt to have the sovereign well informed. I applaud the mission.”

He rose to leave sometime later and bowed over her hand. He was half way to the door when she spoke again.

“Don’t forget what I said about Lily’s daughter. She might be just the thing you need.”

He turned and gave her a slight bow.

“And Charles, do something about your marriage. Enough is enough.”

 

About the Book: The Unexpected Wife

Children of Empire Book 3

Crushed with grief after the death of his son, Charles Wheatly, Duke of Murnane, throws himself into the new Queen’s service in 1838. When the government sends him on an unofficial fact finding mission to the East India Company’s enclave in Canton, China, he anticipates intrigue, international tensions, and an outlet for his frustration. He isn’t entirely surprised when he also encounters a pair of troublesome young people that need his help. However, the appearance of his estranged wife throws the entire enterprise into conflict. He didn’t expect to face his troubled marriage in such an exotic locale, much less to encounter profound love at last in the person of a determined young woman. Tensions boil over, and his wife’s scheming—and the beginnings of the First Opium War—force him to act to rescue the one he loves and perhaps save himself in the process.

Zambak Hayden seethes with frustration. A woman her age has occupied the throne for over a year, yet the Duke of Sudbury’s line of succession still passes over her—his eldest—to land on a son with neither spine nor character. She follows her brother, the East India Company’s newest and least competent clerk, to protect him and to safeguard the family honor. If she also escapes the gossip and intrigues of London and the marriage mart, so much the better. She has no intention of being forced into some sort of dynastic marriage. She may just refuse to marry at all. When an old family friend arrives she assumes her father sent him. She isn’t about to bend to his dictates nor give up her quest. Her traitorous heart, however, can’t stop yearning for a man she can’t have.

Neither expects the epic historical drama that unfolds around them.

The Unexpected Wife, will be released on July 25 and can be preordered from Amazon internationally as well as here:

https://www.amazon.com/Unexpected-Wife-Children-Empire-Book-ebook/dp/B07FGGC918/

Here’s a short video about it:

https://www.facebook.com/carolinewarfield7/videos/924791187669849/

About the Author

Traveler, would-be adventurer, former tech writer and library technology professional, Caroline Warfield has now retired to the urban wilds of Eastern Pennsylvania, and divides her time between writing and seeking adventures with her grandbuddy. In her newest series, Children of Empire, three cousins torn apart by lies find their way home from the far corners of the British Empire, finding love along the way.

She has works published by Soul Mate Publishing and also independently published works. In addition she has participated in five group anthologies, one not yet published.

For more about the series and all of Caroline’s books, look here:

https://www.carolinewarfield.com/bookshelf/

 

 

by

Tea with Will and Henry

A sober young woman whose firm chin and intelligent blue eyes marked her as a twig of the remarkable Grenford family tree led William Landrum, the Earl of Chadbourn, through French doors in Her Grace’s sitting room and out into a sunny garden filled with the hum of bees and the scent of roses.  He followed her down a stone path, around towering lilac bushes, into a sheltered bower paved in flagstones and bordered with flowers in lush profusion

He had known Eleanor Winshire since boyhood, and had come to count her a friend in spite of the difference in their ages. Her immediate response to his request for an interview pleased him. That she invited him so early in the day, hours before her formal calling hours, gratified him even more.

“The Earl of Chadbourn, Your Grace,” the young woman announced, bowing out.  The earl hesitated. She wasn’t alone. A tall gentleman with silver hair and the upright bearing of an officer, but dressed in impeccable civilian clothing, chatted happily with the duchess, sobering when the earl interrupted their tête-à-tête.

The topic that weighed on his mind involved family secrets and deeply personal worries. He didn’t know Brigadier-General Lord Henry Redepenning well, not as he knew the duchess. Will hesitated.

“Will! I’m delighted you could join us. Come and try some of the cook’s berry tarts. He has outdone himself.”

The Haverford chef enjoyed renown for good reasons. Will sat and helped himself. “Thank you for responding so quickly Eleanor.”

“Of course! Don’t hesitate due to Henry’s presence—you know Brigadier-General Redepenning; I know you do. He can be trusted with absolute discretion. I presume you wish advice about Charles.” She glanced pointedly at the black band on his sleeve.

Charles Wheatly, the Duke of Murnane, and, what is more to the point, Will’s nephew endured the loss of his only son six months past, casting him into a hell of grief and despair.  Will looked over at the general, and seeing only sympathy, came to a decision.  He brushed crumbs from his waistcoat.

“It’s killing me, Eleanor. We lost Jonny, and for the first month I thought we were going to lose Charles too.  My Catherine goes about pretending she has regained her spirits, but I know she worries for him still.”

“Charles always struck me as a sensible sort,” Lord Henry commented. “But any man may turn to the bottle after the sort of loss he endured.”

Eleanor nodded. “But Charles has never been the sort for dissipation. “

Will shrugged. “He’s tried every form of dissipation he could, except laudanum. He hates the vile stuff. None of them lasted. I’m not certain how much he eats or sleeps.”

“Has he gone out home to Eversham? He hasn’t been seen in town,” the duchess asked.

“Briefly. Fred has the place well in hand, however, and he doesn’t feel needed.” Will glanced at the general and plunged ahead. “They settled the matter of Jonny’s paternity, thank God, and all is well between them, but I think the sight of Fred’s and Clare’s growing brood running about the place depressed him.”

“Happy memories can wound as deeply as bad ones when one is being strangled by grief,” General Redepenning suggested.

“I suspect spending much time with those two didn’t help either. At least I assume Fred is still besotted with the beautiful woman he married,” Eleanor murmured. “That can’t help in Charles’s situation.” Thankfully she didn’t directly mention the duke’s dreadful estranged wife.

Will nodded morosely. “He is back in London, haunting my house, his own, and Sudbury’s like a wraith, saying little, refusing all invitations, and pacing the drawing room. He throws my children into miseries whenever he comes. He’s lost, Eleanor, just lost.”

The duchess glanced at her friend the general. “Henry and I were discussing it before you came. He can’t be allowed to wallow in grief until it makes him ill, you know that.”

“But what am I to do?” Will snapped. “I’m at my wit’s end.”

“He needs work. He allowed his career to languish these few years while he attended to Jonny. He needs work, and England needs his talent.

“I thought of encouraging him to find a position in the foreign office, but I don’t see that haunting Whitehall will be an improvement over my drawing room.”

Eleanor smiled at him. “Perhaps not, but he would be out from underfoot.”

“Getting away from places that bring his son to mind might help,” General Redepenning put in.

“Precisely!” the duchess replied. “What he needs is a mission, preferably something overseas.”

Will brightened. “That might do the trick, but what?”

“Why don’t you speak to your friend the Duke of Sudbury. He keeps an oar in for all his party is out of power. He’ll know of something.”

“He might at that,” Will said. “I feel better.” He sat back to enjoy the duchess’s excellent tea.

“One other thing,” Eleanor said, this time more sternly. “He needs to deal with his marriage mess. He’ll be lost until he does it. Now that the boy is gone, it’s time. I know you use Sudbury’s network to keep an eye on the woman.  What do you know about her whereabouts.“

Will choked on his tea. “Julia? Yes, well as it happens we heard she sailed for India with some baron she met in Baden.”

The general looked at the duchess, amusement impossible to conceal. “You want to send him on a mission to Madras?” he asked, laughter in his voice.

“It wouldn’t hurt,” she answered primly. “You and Sudbury will think of something Will.”

They passed an hour in pleasanter conversation until the earl rose to depart. Before he could take his leave, Eleanor spoke again. “One other thing, Will. Sudbury’s heir is becoming a byword. Tell the duke I would be delighted to chat about some ideas for that boy as well.”

About the Book: The Unexpected Wife

Children of Empire Book 3

Crushed with grief after the death of his son, Charles Wheatly, Duke of Murnane, throws himself into the new Queen’s service in 1838. When the government sends him on an unofficial fact finding mission to the East India Company’s enclave in Canton, China, he anticipates intrigue, international tensions, and an outlet for his frustration. He isn’t entirely surprised when he also encounters a pair of troublesome young people that need his help. However, the appearance of his estranged wife throws the entire enterprise into conflict. He didn’t expect to face his troubled marriage in such an exotic locale, much less to encounter profound love at last in the person of a determined young woman. Tensions boil over, and his wife’s scheming—and the beginnings of the First Opium War—force him to act to rescue the one he loves and perhaps save himself in the process.

Zambak Hayden seethes with frustration. A woman her age has occupied the throne for over a year, yet the Duke of Sudbury’s line of succession still passes over her—his eldest—to land on a son with neither spine nor character. She follows her brother, the East India Company’s newest and least competent clerk, to protect him and to safeguard the family honor. If she also escapes the gossip and intrigues of London and the marriage mart, so much the better. She has no intention of being forced into some sort of dynastic marriage. She may just refuse to marry at all. When an old family friend arrives she assumes her father sent him. She isn’t about to bend to his dictates nor give up her quest. Her traitorous heart, however, can’t stop yearning for a man she can’t have.

Neither expects the epic historical drama that unfolds around them.

The Unexpected Wife, will be released on July 25.

Here’s a short video about it:

https://www.facebook.com/carolinewarfield7/videos/924791187669849/

About the Author

Traveler, would-be adventurer, former tech writer and library technology professional, Caroline Warfield has now retired to the urban wilds of Eastern Pennsylvania, and divides her time between writing and seeking adventures with her grandbuddy. In her newest series, Children of Empire, three cousins torn apart by lies find their way home from the far corners of the British Empire, finding love along the way.

She has works published by Soul Mate Publishing and also independently published works. In addition she has participated in five group anthologies, one not yet published.

For more about the series and all of Caroline’s books, look here:

https://www.carolinewarfield.com/bookshelf/

 

by

Tea with Fred

“Eleanor Winshire is a tiny wisp of a woman, not a dragon,” the Duke of Murnane told his cousin.  Fred Wheatly looked skeptical. “She may be small, Charles, but she’s terrifying.”

The duke chuckled at his cousin’s shudder. He stood a head shorter, but he made up in coiled strength what he may have lacked in the other man’s bulk. Red haired and blue eyed the both of them, no one who saw them standing side by side on the fashionable street could mistake their family resemblance.

“Remember the time she caught us doing battle in her garden?” Charles asked.

“You and Rand hid under the Wisteria and let me take the all the blame,” Fred remembered with a smile. They had been visiting with Fred’s brother-in-law who was also the duke’s uncle.

“Well it was your idea to have her favorite bushes represent the Lancastrian army,” the duke pointed out with a grin.

“They were red roses weren’t they? They took two years to recover. Will made me muck out her stables for three days over that,” Fred said ruefully. He looked up at the intimidating entrance to the Haverford Townhouse and grimaced.

“You best get it over with,” Charles said sympathetically, “And before you ask, no. I will not go with you to face her. I’m returning to Eversham Hall. Jonny needs me,” he added soberly.

Fred clamped one hand on his cousin’s shoulder. “Then you best get home,” he said, sympathy cracking his voice. Word had come that the boy was ill again. “I’ll face the duchess alone. I wish I knew what she wanted.”

“I suspect it’s what she always wants,” Charles told him. “To manage the well-being of the kingdom by keeping its young men in line.”

Fred watched his cousin walk away, and muttered under his breath. “Easy for him to say. He isn’t a disgraced officer tossed home to make his way.” The duke’s accomplishments had been stellar, and his position in the government no doubt had the woman’s approval.

Half an hour later Fred faced his nemesis, standing with his hands clasped behind his back and head bowed as he had faced his uncle or headmasters a dozen times as a boy. The Duchess of Winshire had that effect on men.

“Oh do sit down Captain Wheatly,” the petite white haired woman snapped.

He raised an eyebrow. “Captain? I was Frederick the last time we met.”

“You were a boy the last time we met,” she pointed out, gesturing for her assistant to move a decanter closer to her table. “But you’re no longer in the army, I hear.”

“Your information is correct, as always, Your Grace.” He accepted a glass of brandy with thanks.

“Good,” the duchess said, pinning him with her piercing eyes.

“Good?” He expected a dressing down, not approval. He took a swallow and let it settle his nerves.

“Good,” she repeated. “Excellent in fact.” His shock must have shown because she went on. “Did you think I would agree with the fools on that court martial board in Calcutta? I saw Colonel Davis’s report. He’s the only one that got it right.” She leaned forward. “You’re needed here, Fred,” she said earnestly. “You must see that. Charles needs you.”

“You mean because his son is ill, and I am next in line? I would make a horrid duke. It isn’t—”

She made a dismissive gesture with one hand as if to wave that away.  “Yes, yes, there is that—and you would do your duty in the unlikely event it should it come to that—but he needs you now.”

“You heard about the sabotage?”

She nodded. “Someone wishes your family ill, Fred, and you are the one best equipped to protect them, especially with Charles so absorbed in the boy’s illness.”

“You have the danger part right. We came down to London in part to hire an enquiry agent,” Fred told her.

“Well done, but your involvement is crucial. It is a family problem, Fred, and family matters most of all.” She studied him carefully. “I don’t think you understood that when you were younger.”

“I’ve always loved my family,” he protested.

“Yes, in a distant kind of way. They need you nearby and involved. Do you understand what I’m saying?”

“I’m beginning to…” He glanced up to see her studying him. “I just don’t know how.”

“England needs Charles, and he needs your help. Go back to Eversham Hall and stay there. You’ll figure it out.”

When he didn’t answer right away she added, “That brilliant young woman you brought home with you may help.”

The conversation turned to inconsequential things, and soon enough he found himself on his way feeling oddly better. He had expected one more recounting of his failures, and yet he walked away buoyed up. Life, Fred thought, continued to surprise him. He went on his way with jaunty step.

About the Book

When all else fails, love succeeds…

Captain Fred Wheatly’s comfortable life on the fringes of Bengal comes crashing down around him when his mistress dies, leaving him with two children he never expected to have to raise. When he chooses justice over army regulations, he’s forced to resign his position, leaving him with no way to support his unexpected family. He’s already had enough failures in his life. The last thing he needs is an attractive, interfering woman bedeviling his steps, reminding him of his duties.

All widowed Clare Armbruster needs is her brother’s signature on a legal document to be free of her past. After a failed marriage, and still mourning the loss of a child, she’s had it up to her ears with the assumptions she doesn’t know how to take care of herself, that what she needs is a husband, and with a great lout of a captain who can’t figure out what to do with his daughters. If only the frightened little girls didn’t need her help so badly.

Clare has made mistakes in the past. Can she trust Fred now? Can she trust herself? Captain Wheatly isn’t ashamed of his aristocratic heritage, but he doesn’t need his family and they’ve certainly never needed him. But with no more military career and two half-caste daughters to support, Fred must turn once more—as a failure—to the family he let down so often in the past. Can two hearts rise above past failures to forge a future together?

It is available in Kindle format free with Kindle Unlimited or for purchase as ebook or in print:

Amazon

Barnes and Noble

BooksAMillion

The Reluctant Wife is Book 2 in Caroline Warfield’s Children of Empire Series.

Three cousins, who grew up together in the English countryside, have been driven apart by deceit and lies. (You may guess a woman was involved!) Though they all escape to the outposts of The British Empire, they all make their way home to England, facing their demons and finding love and the support of women of character and backbone. They are:

  • Randolph Baldwin Wheatly who has become a recluse, and lives in isolation in frontier Canada intent on becoming a timber baron, until a desperate woman invades his peace. (The Renegade Wife)
  • Captain Frederick Arthur Wheatly, an officer in the Bengal army, who enjoys his comfortable life on the fringes until his mistress dies, and he’s forced to choose between honor and the army. (The Reluctant Wife)
  • Charles, Duke of Murnane, tied to a miserable marriage, throws himself into government work to escape bad memories. He accepts a commission from the Queen that takes him to Canton and Macau, only to face his past there. (The Unexpected Wife)

Who are their ladies?

  • Meggy Campeau, the daughter of a French trapper and Ojibwe mother who has made mistakes, but is fierce in protecting her children. (The Renegade Wife)
  • Clare Armbruster, fiercely independent woman of means, who is determined to make her own way in life, but can’t resist helping a foolish captain sort out his responsibilities. (The Reluctant Wife)
  • Zambak Hayden, eldest child of the Duke of Sudbury, knows she’d make a better heir than her feckless younger brother, but can’t help protecting the boy to the point of following him to China. She may just try to sort out the Empire’s entangled tea trade–and its ugly underpinning, opium, while she’s there. (The Unexpected Wife)

Book 3, The Unexpected Wife, will be released on July 25.

Here’s a short video about it:

https://www.facebook.com/carolinewarfield7/videos/924791187669849/

For more about the series and all of Caroline’s books, look here:

https://www.carolinewarfield.com/bookshelf/

About the Author

Caroline Warfield grew up in a peripatetic army family and had a varied career (largely around libraries and technology) before retiring to the urban wilds of Eastern Pennsylvania, where divides her time between writing Regency and Victorian Romance, and seeking adventures with her grandson and the prince among men she married.