Fated Love

Chapter 1-1

1

So close as to be almost sisters

October, 1842, Scottish Lowlands

Miss Penelope Fenwicke, daughter and only child of the Viscount and Viscountess Huddleston, fought the rising panic in her belly as she held the door to her room open for one of her two best friends in the entire world to enter.

“Well... If that wasn’t the most awkward welcome we’ve ever received, I don’t know what is,” whispered Lady Charlotte Brightman, only daughter of the Earl and Countess of Camden, as she swept into Penelope’s suite of rooms at Lyden Castle, home of Penny’s great-aunt, Lady Adina, the Countess of Rathcavan. “Emphasis on awkward.”

Penelope nodded in agreement. Placing a finger over her closed lips, she shut the door behind Charlotte. She pressed her hand to her belly, hoping to stop the butterflies from bursting forth. Penny never showed nerves on the outside. She kept them bottled within, releasing her anxieties in the privacy of her own bedchamber. It was something she’d had to learn early in her life. If her mother saw her upset, she would fret over her. And her mother had enough of her own worries with Penny’s father off somewhere in the northern territories of India. Penny didn’t want to add to her mother’s concerns.

Even before Penelope could reply, a second knock, just moments from the first, brought their friend Isabel into the room.

“I rushed right over after tossing my hat on the bed,” Lady Isabel Halden whispered. “I can’t believe what we just heard.”

“Same here.” Charlotte gave Penelope an expectant gaze. “What on earth is going on?”

“You’re asking me as if I know.” Penelope felt herself trembling, as though her heart was given a new reason to have hope. “My great-aunt just said that my cousin is not engaged to marry anyone, much less Mr. Santiago. But I read the letter Lady Edgar sent to my mother. She is planning to announce the betrothal during this house party, and…” Penny swallowed past the knot tightening in her breast. According to her great-aunt, Penny’s cousin would not be marrying the man she, Penelope Fenwicke, had fallen in love with the year before—the same man Penny had feared might be dead because he’d not written to her since his abrupt disappearance from London on the same day he’d said he wanted to ask her father for permission to court her. She’d mourned his disappearance at first. Then after learning he’d been up in Scotland and engaged to marry her cousin, she’d been heartsick and furious.

“Since the earl and his friends aren’t here, there is no way of asking is there?” Charlotte said.

“If there’s been a breakup Miss Olivia might not wish to talk about it,” Isabel offered. “It would be nice if we could discover what happened without appearing the worst sort of gossips.”

“No,” Penny whispered, trying to regain what strength she’d thought she had before she arrived at Lyden Castle a mere hour ago. One short conversation with Lady Adina had her belly tumbling inside her like a circus performer. “As much as I may have wished at one time that Mr. Santiago realized his folly, begged my forgiveness, and asked my father for my hand in marriage, the man has not contacted me in any way, for over a year.”

“Well,” said Charlotte, “chances are he likely won’t be coming to the house party because of this new development.”

“Right,” said Isabel. “I mean, who would want to be in the same vicinity as someone you’ve broken a betrothal to?”

Penny went to the window and pulled back the curtain to look at her view. Rolling hills, lush and green, spread out before her far off into the distance. Glancing down, she saw her rooms were above the flagstone terrace with steps leading to a path that wound around the side of the house. She’d stayed in this room once before, several years ago, before she’d come out, and long before she’d fallen in love with that feckless man who stole her heart. “We won’t know for certain what the truth is, or if there ever was an… understanding between them until my cousin and Lady Edgar return from shopping in the village which could be any minute.”

“You don’t sound as though you believe what Lady Edgar wrote in the letter to your mother,” Isabel said.

“Do not be swayed by his sweet words again Penny, if he comes here,” Charlotte warned. “Do not melt if you see his handsome face and do not give in to his passionate Spanish nature. He would use your emotions against you.”

“Yes, Penny,” Isabel said. “You have recovered and have become a stronger woman because of his cruel actions.”

“Remember,” Charlotte added, “Mr. Santiago promised he would write, and he never did. Over a year without a single word, and these past months he’s been here in Scotland. Why did he never come to you, or write to you?”

In the distance Penelope watched a young lad, a groom likely, riding one horse in the front, center position, leading about eight other horses behind him up the narrow lane from a distant pasture. They looked well-behaved, following him with no halters or ropes on their heads. Likely he was bringing in horses for the guests that had already arrived, or were still en route to Lyden Castle.

She turned to face her friends. How could she explain without making her cousin seem truly horrid? “I have told you both before that my cousin Olivia is a bumble-head,” Penny whispered. “And that was being… kind. You will find she’s… an… exaggerator.”

“She’s a liar?” Charlotte sounded surprised.

“In a way… Yes. I suppose,” Penelope tried to find the correct way to describe her vacuous, self-absorbed cousin without being cruel. “She wants desperately to be liked. And to that end, she will say and do almost anything to gain your amity, or affection. Her mother died when she was a small girl.”

“I will not feel sorry for the girl who tells her aunt that Mr. Santiago wants to marry her,” Charlotte said, “when, according to Lady Adina, he’s said no such thing.” Charlotte would be the least of the three of them to be forgiving or accepting—especially when a wrong was done to one of the three of them.

“I am in no way giving Olivia a pass on her behavior, but as she isn’t here—and neither is Mr. Santiago—I don’t know what the real story is.” Before walking into Lyden, Penelope had hardened her heart such that she was almost as strong as Charlotte. But with what her great-aunt had just shared with their party, Penny’s heart was taking flight again—she could feel it. And, after what had occurred during the year and a half that he had been gone, she wasn’t certain she could let her heart get carried away by Mr. Nathaniel Santiago again.

Charlotte might be right. He likely wasn’t even going to be here if there was no announcement of a marriage to be made. That would suit Penelope just fine.

There was still the very real possibility that if Olivia knew Penelope had had her heart set on him at one time, Olivia would browbeat her with her perceived win, demonstrably rubbing said victory in Penny’s face. Penny long ago realized her cousin was not her biggest fan. Likely because she had both parents and she was jealous of that.

From the letters that her mother received from Lady Adina, it seemed as though Lady Edgar’s vulgar influence had already been established in her cousin’s behavior. It might not hurt to prepare her friends, away from Penny’s mother as they were now, to what Olivia’s nature might be.

“After Olivia’s mother died, she was sent here to live with Lady Adina first, and… well, you’ve met her.”

Charlotte grinned. “She doesn’t appear the type to tolerate fools.”

Penelope nodded, Charlotte was right about that. “My great-aunt can be brusque with people she deems frivolous, weak, or whiny. Olivia is the only girl in a family filled with male offspring. Her parents treated her like a fragile little princess. They positively doted on her.

“First her mother died of a fever when Olivia was two. At eight, when Olivia’s father died, Lady Adina was… unprepared to raise a little girl, so she sent Olivia to Lady Edgar—the widow of her firstborn son—a woman who had never had a child herself. Lady Edgar then sent Olivia away to boarding school in Switzerland because she didn’t know what to do with Olivia either.”

“With the portrait of your cousin that you are painting,” Isabel said, “I almost feel sorry for her.”

“Don’t,” Penelope warned. “She was a spoiled and manipulative brat as a child, and I doubt she’s changed. It’s something I believe she learned at Lady Edgar’s side.”

“I believe I understand,” Isabel said. “Though, one would think she’d grow up eventually and learn right from wrong.”

Penelope agreed with her friend, then added, “Just… be wary of her.”

Her friends left to nap before dressing for dinner. As Penelope lay on the bed trying to force herself to fall asleep she heard carriages clattering up the front drive. She knew from this room she wouldn’t see the arrivals. Besides, they were likely more guests, or the return of the group that had gone shopping in the village.

An hour and a half later, Annie woke her to dress for dinner. As her maid placed the last of the pins in her up-swept straight blonde locks, a knock sounded at her door. Certain it was Charlotte or Isabel, she called for the person to come in.

Penelope wasn’t prepared to see her cousin.

Olivia had grown a few inches taller since the last time she’d seen her three years earlier when Penny’s family had come for a visit. Her artfully designed coif was similar in color to Penny’s, a shade of blonde particular to the Fenwicke side of the family, only God had seen fit to grant Olivia pretty curls.

And that wasn’t the only thing he’d given her more of. The girl’s bodice revealed an indecent amount of flesh for one so young—barely seventeen. Or maybe it was just the illusion from a daringly low cut dress and an over-tight corset. Either way, it was an inappropriate dress for an unmarried young lady her age, even if she was out.

Penelope tried not to stare at her cousin’s breasts and forced herself to look instead at the sleeves and skirts. The cerulean velvet bordered with gold piping was beautiful, and the cream-colored hand-woven lace underskirts peeking out at the scalloped hem, and the bell sleeves perfectly complimented Olivia’s complexion, her eyes, and her hair. The dress had surely cost someone a fortune. Her jewels had to cost even more.

For a jealous moment Penelope wondered if the sapphires and diamonds were a gift from Nathaniel. But then Penelope remembered he’d said he was planning for a life in the church when she met him. Besides, Olivia was no longer betrothed to him. Had she ever really been?

Perhaps the jewels were her mother’s, or borrowed from Lady Edgar. That had to be it.

“Cousin Penelope!” The attractive blonde swept into the room with a cool smile. “It is wonderful to see you!” She glided over to Penny, graceful in her movements. Olivia wore a hint of rouge on her lips, but it didn’t detract from her natural beauty. Penny wanted to hate her, but couldn’t. Yet. She had to keep that in mind. Dismissing Annie, Penny said she would call for her in a few minutes.

Olivia gave her a welcoming hug and immediately began rattling about things Penny didn’t care about. If she knew her cousin as well as she thought she did, the real reason for her coming to Penny’s room would be hiding in this idle chatter. It was Olivia’s way of revealing, in that covert way that was her habit, what her true intent was.

“Aunt Edgar says you have had another successful season. The newspapers in Edinburgh say nothing but intriguing things about you. There’s always speculation over who might ask for your hand, or that of your friends, and every week it’s a different man. A girl up here should be so lucky to have half as many fawning beaus.”

Penny wanted to laugh at this, but couldn’t. Every week a different man? She’d not shown any partiality toward a young man at all for the past two seasons. Partly because her heart had not yet healed to the point where she could allow another man in. Penny told herself that this was partly why she was here in Scotland. To put Mr. Nathaniel Santiago del Andaluz behind her. Permanently.

“I asked Aunt Edgar earlier this year if we could go to London so I might have one season there, and well…” She blushed as she smiled, revealing dimples that made her incredibly, disgustingly, pretty. Dimples that Penny never got from her father’s family. “Aunt Edgar said that’s no longer necessary because I will soon be a married woman, but…”