“Sir John! Sir John!”
I flinched at the sound. Helena, my second wife, had a strident voice. Odd I hadn’t noticed that when I courted her. I struggled to contain my expression as she burst into the conservatory.
She came to a halt and scanned the area until she spotted me. Her stride was mannish and no nonsense as she hurried to where I sat beneath a lemon tree, a book of cosmographical treatises on my knee.
“Yes?”
“The most dreadful thing, Sir John.” Her cheeks were flushed an unbecoming shade, and I wondered how I ever could have considered her features similar to my beloved Elizabeth. “There are rumours flying throughout the countryside.”
I sighed. There usually were. “Who are the poor souls being subjected to gossip-mongering this time?”
Her eyes were lit by an evangelical fervou
