PROLOGUE
Four years ago…
Hmmm, something is not quite right…
Verity couldn’t pinpoint what wasn’t working with her current painting, but it all felt a little… off. She cocked her head to one side, examining the coloring and the brush strokes across the canvas from a different angle, but still nothing jumped out. The landscape she was painting from memory did not depict the view outside her family’s London town house, so it wasn’t like she could remind herself of what the image should look like. She had to do it from memory, which was only making everything so much more challenging.
The painting was a scene she had seen a while back, from her previous trip to Bath. The countryside had truly captivated her, which was exactly what she wished to capture now. So, why was it not working?
“Perhaps it’s the greens,” she muttered to herself. “Maybe I don’t have them quite right.”
She pursed her bottom lip as she squinted her eyes, trying her absolute hardest to imagine what her work would look like with varying greens, but still it felt strange. Perhaps it was more a feeling deep within her, rather than something to do with her work. Verity wasn’t feeling quite right in herself that morning.
With a deep sigh, she placed her paint brush down and stepped back away from the canvas, running her eyes over everything, still trying to see what was wrong…
“Lady Sinclair.”
Verity jumped as her footman’s voice ricocheted through the room, shaking her from her deep contemplation.
“You have a visitor. Lord Cedric Fitzwilliam.”
A smile spread across Verity’s face. She might not have been expecting a visit from her fiancé today, but she always appreciated his presence. Ever since he had started courting her, Verity had found herself feeling a lot lighter and a lot happier. She kept envisioning her new life as a wife, and she knew it was going to be wonderful.
“Good morning, Cedric,” Verity declared the moment she laid eyes on him. “How wonderful it is to see you.” Heat burned in her cheeks. Cedric was so handsome, with his high cheekbones and piercing blue eyes. The sight of him always made Verity’s heart flutter with excitement.
“Verity, thank you for meeting with me.”
The somberness of Cedric’s tone struck Verity. He wasn’t a man often struck with morose thoughts.
“Please, take a seat,” Verity offered, hoping that she would be able to lift his spirts somewhat. “I will get us some tea.”
Cedric shook his head, but Verity would not hear of it. She had ordered some tea and cake from the maids before he could say another word.
She would be his wife soon, and absolutely needed to be able to cheer him up, no matter what his woes were.
“Cedric, something’s wrong. What is it?” she asked when he had settled into a chair.
“I…” He paused for a moment, seemingly with something heavy on his mind. Verity’s heart raced as she waited impatiently for him to start talking. “I have something that I need to discuss with you, Verity. Something that affects us.”
Verity’s smile faltered just a little. “What’s the matter?”
A sense of unease settled over her. She did not like the look on Cedric’s face. He seemed different, somehow. She could not work out why he appeared to have something heavy weighing down on his shoulders. What on earth could it possibly be?
“I need you to know that I have fallen in love with another.”
Shock reverberated through Verity.
She could not believe what she was hearing.
Perhaps she had misheard those words because there was no way Cedric really meant that. Not when they were due to get married very shortly.
She blinked a few times, trying to adjust to the moment.
“What do you mean?” She asked breathlessly.
He hung his head low, like he could not meet her eyes any longer. “I have fallen in love with Lady Daphne Cavendish.”
Daphne?
