Chapter 14
Rochester Hall, Kent, 1815
It was a perfect day in May with the heady scent of blooming flowers filling the gardens. Horatia was idly picking her way through the maze of tall hedges as she searched for Linus and Audrey. At fourteen, she was too old to enjoy hide and seek but she still humored the other children. She had counted to one hundred and was now having a devilishly hard time finding the others on the vast grounds of Lord Rochester’s estate. Lord Rochester, she sighed aloud at the thought of his name. He was twenty-six years old, her brother’s close friend and unbelievably handsome.
She also knew Lucien was a rake; she’d heard that whispered in the servants’ hall among other places. At first she’d thought it odd that the Marquess had been likened to a gardening tool,
