Fortune’s Final Folly Read online

  FORTUNE’S FINAL FOLLY

  FORTUNES OF FATE SERIES

  A TWIST OF FATE...

  Miss Katherina Elliott leads a simple life, teaching impoverished children, just as her parents did before her. Kate knows little of her family’s past: only that every three months, a mysterious benefactor sends her enough money to pay the school’s mounting bills. The envelope is brought by the solicitor across the street—a man Kate knows she shouldn’t want but can’t resist.

  Lord Joshua Stuart, the second son of the Duke of Beaufort, has never fit in with the rest of his family. Though he has a practice on Bond Street, he’s always preferred working in Cheapside, where he can make a real difference. It has nothing to do with his attractive, sweet neighbor across the street, or so he tells himself. But when Kate’s school is threatened, Joshua knows he must help her.

  As Joshua and Kate work to save the school, they grow closer, until their love for each other can no longer be denied. Their search brings them to the famed fortune teller, Madame Zeta, who holds the key to Kate’s past. But when Kate’s fate intertwines with Madame Zeta’s, nothing will ever be the same. Will her love for Joshua survive fortune’s twists, or will they end up as the final folly?

  Fortune’s Final Folly

  Christina McKnight

  Copyright

  Copyright © 2019 by Christina McKnight

  Cover Image by Period Images

  Cover Design by Sweet n’ Spicy Designs

  ISBN-13: 978-1-945089-52-7

  La Loma Elite Publishing

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the author, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law. For permission requests, write to the author, addressed “Attention: Permissions Coordinator,” at the address below.

  [email protected]

  Dedication

  ~ For Ann

  Contents

  Prologue

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Epilogue

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  Fortunes of Fate Series

  Also by Christina McKnight

  Author’s Notes

  About Christina McKnight

  Acknowledgments

  Prologue

  Oxfordshire, England

  December 1814

  The blustery winter winds whipped at Madame Zeta’s thick woolen cloak, pulling at the tattered folds and allowing the bitter cold to reach beneath to the thin cloth of her worn blouse and skirt. The severe English temperatures during the harsher months had ceased to affect her from the day her daughter, Katherina, was ripped from her bosom.

  Nothing—not her lack of a home, threadbare blouse, matted hair, nor her worn boots—caused her any pain. She lacked far more essential necessities than mere possessions. Her heart had been stolen from her.

  Before, the organ had beat with such vitality she’d feared her chest could not contain her love. Now, it was empty. Barren. Devoid of anything but hatred, loathing, and a determination borne of years of endless searching, relentless longing, and sleepless nights spent dreaming of her revenge.

  From her spot atop the crest of the property, she glared down at the entrance to Shrewbury Gardens.

  It had once been a place she’d longed to live and raise a family with her husband, Pierce.

  Yet, when she’d arrived that dream had been stripped from her as quickly as her name.

  After so many years under the guise of Madame Zeta, she’d likely not recognize her old name if someone uttered it…not that anyone but Lavinia knew her true identity.

  A’laya De Vere, the Countess of Holderness.

  Although, since she’d received confirmation that the duke had died, leaving his only son, Pierce as heir apparent, she was now the Duchess of Shrewbury—if she ever wanted to claim such a tarnished title.

  She scoffed at the thought.

  She’d rather perish than take the name and title of a man she despised. Never would she be known as anything but Madame Zeta.

  But what she wouldn’t give to be plain Miss A’laya Banesworth, daughter of an impoverished baron from Nottinghamshire, England. Cherished offspring of Eugene and Chloe Banesworth, Lord and Lady Oderton. If she’d listened to her mother’s warnings and not fallen under Pierce’s treacherous spell, she never would have wed the then-earl, left her family estate, had his child, found herself abandoned, and her babe stolen from her bosom.

  Her chest tightened, as it often did when she allowed her thoughts to meander down the path of her final day living as a proper lady at Shrewbury Gardens.

  If she hadn’t been such a senseless fool in her youth, Zeta would still possess a heart. She was thankful her mother hadn’t lived long enough to see how shortsighted and simple Zeta had turned out to be.

  Unfortunately, she didn’t have the guile necessary to prevent her world from shattering right before her eyes. Her own mother—living or not—would have been just as helpless where the old Duchess of Shrewbury was concerned.

  Zeta had paid a hard price for her folly since the day she had taken to believing Pierce’s lies and trusted his mother to care for her and Katherina.

  “My child.” A hand, light as a feather but as familiar as anything landed on Madame Zeta’s shoulder. “Have I failed ye?”

  She turned toward Lavinia, the old woman who’d been a mother to her since the day she’d taken Zeta in all those years ago. Starved, broken, and nearly dead, Zeta had wanted nothing more than to die when the Shrewbury coachman dumped her near Lavinia’s caravan. However, Lavinia had told Zeta that one day, she’d reunite with her Katherina. Both women had held onto that declaration of fate. For Zeta, it was a deeply buried and sometimes painful hope, while Lavinia declared the fortune was a prophecy destined to come true.

  In that moment, with Zeta battered and wrecked both on the inside and out, she’d decided to live…if only to see her daughter’s face once more before her days in this world were up.

  With each passing year, it was Lavinia who neared her end, not Zeta. And never did they get any closer to finding Katherina.

  Unfortunately, she didn’t possess a heart, if she had it would splinter ever more to see the kind old woman’s steady decline.

  How many times had Zeta insisted they journey to Shrewbury Gardens to see if Katherina had been brought back to her father’s family home? How many times had Lavinia joined Zeta on the very crest they now stood upon, overlooking the place Zeta had expected to call home? No, not Zeta. A’laya had longed to call Shrewbury Gardens home. But A’laya and her tendency to see the good in everyone was gone.

  Forever.

  Madame Zeta was wise enough to know that if she ever expected to see her daughter again, she needed to find her. And as things had often been for Zeta, nothing came easily or without great effort.

  As they stood on the ridge together this last time, Lavinia’s fingers tightened on Zeta’s shoulder. “I never meant to fail ye, me dear girl.”

  “You haven’t failed me,” Zeta mumble
d, setting her hand on Lavinia’s cold fingers and squeezing gently. “I have failed myself—and Katherina.”

  “Soon, I will be gone. But your time, and your search, are far from over.”

  “No—”

  Lavinia tsked at her denial. “It is the way of things, the path of life, as ye very well know.”

  At Lavinia’s words, the necklace, the only thing left to Zeta from her old life besides her heartbreak, warmed at her throat.

  They’d traveled, the pair of them, all over England and Scotland. In their journeys, they spoke—sometimes huddled in a freezing wagon bundled in hides, one time before a roaring fire in the early evening outside London proper, and more recently on the coast of Dover during a particularly warm spell amid summer—of the day she’d be reunited with Katherina. In none of their musings had Lavinia not been by Zeta’s side when they located Katherina.

  Together. The pair of them. As they had been since the woman had rescued Zeta from the roadside and taken her in with nary a question.

  Lavinia’s steady stare scanned the expansive green grounds of Shrewbury Gardens, knowing the hellish torment Zeta had endured at the hands of the estate’s cruel mistress, though Lavinia was always too compassionate to speak of it aloud. “I still feel, to me very soul, that your Katherina will be returned to ye.”

  “As do I.” Zeta had spent all her adult life gifting fortunes to those who could spare the coin, and to many who couldn’t. She’d learned much from Lavinia, including a knack for reading people—their desires, their fears, and their hearts. “I will never stop searching.”

  “That is good, my child.” The slight weight of the woman’s hand slipped from Zeta’s shoulder, and she felt Lavinia slipping from this world. Each day passed with Zeta knowing it was one less day with Lavinia near.

  The shrubbery to their left rustled, and a woman not much older than Zeta appeared.

  “Return to camp,” Zeta whispered to Lavinia, nodding back down the hill to the wooded area that gave their caravan refuge from onlookers. “Seek warmth. I will return shortly.”

  Lavinia stared at the woman as she approached but thankfully acquiesced, turning slowly to return to the others.

  “My lady?” The new arrival hurried over to Zeta. She dressed in the Shrewbury servants’ garb, with her limp, brown hair tied at the nape of her neck. Beads of sweat formed on her forehead despite the late December cold. “My lady, is that you?”

  It had been years since Zeta was mistaken for a lady, despite being raised to take her place in the upper crust of London society.

  “Lady Holderness?” the servant said, stopping before her, her eyes narrowing on Zeta. She took in Zeta’s disheveled appearance, though she must have found something she recognized as her stare settled on Zeta’s weather-worn face.

  “I have not gone by that name in many years. But, yes, it is me.” Zeta glanced around, fearful her husband, the wretched rakehell, would have someone near to detain her—or expel her from Shrewbury land. “Who are you?”

  “My lady, I was the one who—”

  Memories returned much like a dagger to her soul. “You helped the duchess collect my things before I was thrown from…Shrewbury.” She nearly said her “home”, but the estate below had no more been her home than the wagon she’d been traveling in for nearly two decades.

  Her home had been with her mother—and later, with Katherina.

  The woman dipped her head, clearly ashamed. “No, my lady. I, in no way, wanted to help the duchess. But I had no choice. Was never given a choice if I wished to keep my position.”

  Zeta eyed the woman, knowing she spoke the truth, yet unwilling to allow her actions to be forgiven so easily. “Where is my daughter?”

  The servant’s stare returned to Zeta’s. “I do not know. I am merely a maid at Shrewbury.”

  “My husband then?”

  The woman’s cheeks flooded white, despite the chilly winds. “Last time word came to us, he was living on the Continent after a sordid incident in London.”

  “He has not returned since his father’s passing?”

  “No, my lady, though rumor implies he might have gone the way of the duke and duchess.” Her tone lowered to a whisper before she continued, “May the Lord bless them in their eternal slumber.”

  Zeta nearly snorted at the maid’s mumbled prayer.

  “Who cares for the estate in Lord Holderness’s absence?” she prodded, not allowing herself to dwell on that morsel of information. “There must be someone, a cousin or distant relative, who has come forward to claim the title and lands.”

  “No, my lady. Lord Holderness, err the Shrewbury heir, has yet to claim his title. However, no one disputes that he lives. No one who matters, that is,” the maid replied. “Our salaries are paid by the steward. Some of the servants have been released from their posts. Only a few, those needed to maintain the Gardens, have remained. I have heard the steward is in contact with a solicitor in London.”

  “I should like to speak with him, the steward.” Zeta nodded to the woman. She was, after all, Pierce’s lawful wife. In his absence, perhaps she could… “Take me to him.”

  The maid shook her head. “I fear you are not welcome at Shrewbury. The duchess made that very clear before she passed, and the servants were reminded of her decree when you visited the duke several years ago. The magistrate is to be summoned if you even so much as set foot on Shrewbury land.”

  Zeta’s shoulders stiffened as cold outrage settled in her gut. She shifted to stare past the maid to the estate below. “Has the magistrate been called then?”

  How had she ever believed she could raise her daughter in such a bitter, unwelcome place, where even the servants feared for their future?

  Though she desperately wanted to locate her daughter, Zeta could not jeopardize Lavinia and her people. They’d taken her in, fed her, and given her a place to sleep. She would not be responsible for their presence being reported to the magistrate—and whatever would likely, and swiftly, follow for Zeta daring to defy the duchess’s final wishes.

  “Of course not, my lady.” The servant wrung her hands, her widened stare pleading with Zeta to believe her. “My name is Augusta. I have seen you watching but was unable to come and speak with you.”

  “Why do you wish to speak with me now? What has changed?” Zeta was not foolish enough to take the servant at her word, not after her employer’s betrayal. “I have returned to Shrewbury as often as possible, yet no one has ever offered me help.”

  “The servants…” The maid bit her lip and clenched and unclenched her hands at her sides. “The servants are afraid.”

  “Of what?” Zeta demanded.

  “Not what, my lady. Whom.” She glanced over her shoulder and down toward the manor as if fearing she’d been overheard.

  With the duchess gone, there only remained one person to fear. Pierce. “And you are not frightened of his wrath?”

  “I was for many years, but I have never forgotten your daughter…”

  “As I have not,” Zeta snapped.

  “I wish to help you find her.”

  Zeta was still unconvinced the maid had anything to offer.

  “Why now? When you never helped before.”

  “I couldn’t interfere before with the duchess present. Now, with the duke and duchess gone, it is different. The servants, all of us, are worried about our positions. If the duke’s son does not return to his place, what will happen to the lot of us, and Shrewbury? The steward cannot keep paying the servants as he does, with no lord presiding over the house.”

  Tension stiffened Zeta’s shoulders as she reminded herself that the people of Shrewbury were not her concern. Perhaps, in a time long gone, they were. But not now…not ever. Only the thought of finding Katherina drew Zeta to Shrewbury, not any misguided affection or concern for the estate’s servants.

  “I can listen around Shrewbury. Mayhap ask after the babe.”

  Zeta narrowed her eyes on the maid, daring her to toy with
her emotions a second longer.

  “I am not the only one who remembers you and the child. Others were never loyal to the duke and duchess, though none will openly admit it. I can convince them. Together, we might be able to find her.”

  Zeta had never been blessed with anything even close to good fortune—if that were even what Augusta was bestowing upon her now and not another falsehood or thin thread of hope that would soon be severed. Her mind told her to disregard the woman and renew her search, yet her heart…her heart pushed her to accept this simple kindness, even if the maid’s offer proved fruitless in the end.

  “I can send word to you if I hear anything,” the woman promised. “It may take time, but I have faith someone will speak on the matter. Someone will know what has become of your daughter.”

  “Thank you. I will return to Oxfordshire as often as possible,” Zeta offered. The only bit of information she’d been able to gain since the duchess had thrown her from Shrewbury was the mention of a Vicar Elliott. The name had proven useless time and time again. In all her travels, Zeta had never found anyone by that name, nor met a single soul who knew of the vicar or his family.

  However, hope—no matter how small—would not escape Zeta’s grasp.

  Long ago, she’d pledged to find Katherina, or die trying.

  She was not ready to die, nor had she given up on locating her daughter—not in all the years she’d been searching.