“Now that your father is dead, I intend to indulge in scandalous behavior.”

Leo choked on the sandwich he’d just bitten into. He’d been back from London for only one day, and his mother was already trying to kill him. His gaze shot to her face. The Dowager Countess of Hampton slid into a chair opposite him at the large oak dining room table where he was currently eating luncheon. She smoothed her lace tea gown over her lap and fixed him with a steady gaze.

Blood roared through his ears as he struggled to dislodge the bit of sandwich from his throat. Damn cucumber…can’t get it out…He coughed violently and was finally able to get a bit of breath back in his lungs.

“Breathe, my dear, breathe,” she intoned gently as though instructing a child of four, not her grown son of thirty-two. He adored his mother, but she had the uncanny ability of rankling him when he least needed to be rankled.

He reached forward and snatched his water goblet, hastily gulping the liquid. A cold nose nudged his other hand and he glanced down, seeing Ladybird, his chocolate-colored English cocker spaniel, lean against his knee. She whined softly when their eyes met. At least there was one sympathetic female in this house that wasn’t determined to do him in.

“Mother,” Leo finally got out. “What on earth are you talking about?” Could a man not enjoy a simple meal in peace? His eyes flicked heavenward as he prayed for patience. He supposed he should count himself lucky.

Before his father had died, he, Owen, and Jack had been constantly treading the line between propriety and scandal. He had caused more than one lady’s father to eye him askance during a house party or a ball. Leo openly admitted he loved pleasure and the challenge of wooing a woman into his bed. But those days were gone. He was supposed to be keeping out of trouble to restore the family name. The last thing he needed was his mother getting into more trouble than usual.

The dowager countess perched regally, and one hand brushed a few loose hairs back into her elaborate coiffure. The light threading of silver amidst the gold was the only hint of her middling years having just passed. Considering how unhappy her marriage had been to his father, it was impressive that she still looked so well. It never ceased to upset him to think his father had spent nights in the arms of another when he had a beautiful wife at home. But then again, his father had been quite a fool.

“We are finally out of our year of mourning, and I wish to enjoy life.” Her words were wistful in a way that made his chest tight. Her eyes narrowed as she continued. “I wasn’t allowed to do so while the old tyrant still lived.” The biting edge to her tone made him wince.

He had known his parents suffered through a loveless marriage, but her frankness about it was a little unsettling. One was not supposed to talk of such things so openly, but his mother had always been open. She was wild where his father had been cold and calm. He’d taken after her in that regard, and she’d never once challenged him on his rakish ways or his tendency to break the hearts of young ladies. But that was because he was a man; a lady had a higher duty to herself and to society to avoid scandal. If his mother was talking of living recklessly, he did not want to know the details. Leo dreaded whatever scheme she was planning now that she could enter society again without violating the strict dictates of her mourning period.

“Well?” She lifted a teacup to her lips, sipping it patiently.

“Well what?” He drank his water and studied her over the rim of the crystal glass. Since his father had died, he’d grown closer to his mother and he’d learned to read her. Right now, she was waiting for him to make the first move in this game she was playing.

For the last few months she’d been working tirelessly to get him away from Hampton House and to return to London. He knew he should be suspicious of her schemes but he wasn’t going to fall back into old habits, no matter how tempting it would be to call upon his friends, spend nights at his club, live the life of a wild bachelor as he’d done well enough before his father died. Things were different now.

I cannot be that man anymore, the carefree fool who didn’t know his life was on the brink of collapse.

His father’s passing had left a hefty amount of death taxes that could bankrupt Hampton, and it was Leo’s duty to find a way out from under that crushing weight. After the last three days in London and his continued failures to find a source of additional income, he was afraid for the future of his family. His estate wasn’t the only one in danger of being broken by debts.

Only last week he’d visited the neighboring property to the west and learned that the Ashfords were selling their house because Lord Ashford’s death had left them deeply in debt. An auctioneer had been examining family portraits and the collection of china and silver while Lady Ashford wept quietly in the corner of the drawing room, her two children sitting beside her, faces drawn tight with grief. It was a bloody bleak affair and Leo would not let that happen to Hampton. Even if it meant sacrificing his own happiness, he would see the estate remain intact.

His mother cleared her throat when he failed to respond. “Let’s hear your objections. I know you wish to stop me and will insist we both live frugally and quietly.”

Those very words had been on the tip of his tongue. He was a man of business and was keeping the Hampton estate alive based on such notions. Still…he preferred not to face his mother’s obvious scorn over the valuable life lesson his father’s passing had taught him. To care for a vast estate, a man could not simply gallivant about and live like a veritable rogue as he had when he’d been younger. It was even more important that he work to clear the Hampton name in society or they would be in dire straits before long. His father’s mistress and the unsavory way he’d passed in her bed had set tongues wagging and doors slamming in his face so hard that Leo was afraid he might never be viewed reputably.

His days of wildness were behind him. He had his duty to his lands and to his family. They could not let this house be sold or their lives destroyed by losing a home that had been his family’s for three hundred years.

“What”—he paused, hoping his concern didn’t show—“exactly do you intend to do by indulging in scandalous behavior?” It was entirely possible that his mother’s idea of scandal was far tamer than his. They were called the gentler sex for a reason.

“I am going into the village to attend a little political meeting. I’ve arranged to meet some ladies who share my views and—”

“Good God! You aren’t talking about that women’s suffrage nonsense, are you?” Leo set his napkin on the table and scowled imperiously at his mother.

Mina’s brows arched and her spine stiffened. “I most certainly am. I am quite moved by their cause. Did you know we once had the right to vote? Back in the days of feudal society?”

Leo groaned and nearly smacked his palm into his forehead in frustration. God’s teeth, this was not a matter he wished to be dealing with.

“Mother, you cannot go to any such meeting, and I don’t give a bloody damn if women were voting back in the days of mud and squalor. That was the damned middle ages for Christ’s sake. People were dropping dead of plague and nothing in life was certain. Now things are safe; there’s no need for women to have a vote. The men of this country are quite capable of deciding matters of state for you.”

The stark look of pain and rage in his mother’s eyes was startling. He hadn’t expected to see her react so…openly to his words.

“How can you say that…to me? After the way your father made us live, you would continue to deprive me of a voice?”

Leo rubbed his temples. “No, that’s not what I meant, Mother. Please, try to understand. I have much to do and I cannot be worrying about you. People in London are talking…” He didn’t want to continue but he had to make her understand that her actions could make matters worse.

“Talking? About what?” she asked quietly. Her blue eyes were dark and shadowed now.

“Father, about him and that woman. I couldn’t get in to see half the gentlemen I used to before.”

His mother seemed to understand now, her blue eyes wide with worry. “It’s the money, isn’t it? You’re worried and we’ve lost so much face because of…him.”

His throat tightened painfully and he nodded. He had let her down, had failed to do what he needed to in London, and it was destroying him to see her realize that.

She leaned over and placed one hand on top of his on the table, squeezing it. “Then I shan’t go to the meeting. I would like a house party instead. Surely we can afford that?” she asked, hope brimming in her tone.

He smiled a little. “Yes, we can certainly afford a house party, Mother.”

She brightened again, the worries chased quickly away. “Excellent! I wish to have it next weekend. Guests will arrive here on Friday and stay through Monday. I’m planning to invite all sorts of people, including Mr. Leighton. He owns the London News Weekly, which has all of those sensational articles regarding social and political intrigue. He has a lovely daughter—”

Ahh, therein lies her true goal. Not scandal, but marriage. He almost wondered if her plans to join the ranks of the suffragettes was merely to rile him up. No doubt she assumed he would agree to a house party instead because it was much less scandalous…and it would give her a chance to throw eligible ladies at his feet.

Leo’s lips twitched. She was clever, his mother, but not clever enough to fool him into putting himself up for sale on the marriage mart. He waved a hand in the air.

“No. No matchmaking. You know full well that I intend to propose to Mildred Pepperwirth.” He had been planning this for the last two months. He’d been to see their neighbors in Pepperwirth Vale and had made his intentions to Viscount Pepperwirth quite clear. Mildred was a good, solid choice for a wife. Beautiful, intelligent, and with a clean established English pedigree that would raise the Hampton title back up in the eyes of society.

An extremely unladylike snort escaped his mother’s lips. “Bah! Mildred Pepperwirth. Leo, dear, are you determined to give me dull, witless grandchildren? Don’t repeat my mistakes.” Her eyes darkened and the lines around her eyes and mouth seemed more pronounced as she frowned. “Marry for love. Marry a woman who makes you furious, who drives you mad, a woman who makes your heart bleed if you even think of living one day without her. Don’t marry some simpering fool with a hefty dowry simply because you feel compelled to do your duty to your father and this house. She isn’t the woman for you. You need someone forward thinking, dear, and Mildred…well…She is far too traditional.”

“Traditional is exactly what I need, Mother. You’d have me marry some suffragette who’d tear down the laws and rules that keep our society intact? It would destroy my estate.” How the devil had his mother circled back to the topic he wished for her to forget?

“I think those women who fight for the vote are wonderful!” His mother’s voice rose a little and color deepened her cheeks. If he wasn’t careful, he’d upset her again and he didn’t want to do that. Best to concede some battles in order to win the war, as Owen Hadley would say. Owen would know, of course, seeing as how he’d fought in the war where battles had been all too real.

“They are indeed brave ladies, Mother. I wouldn’t disagree on that. I simply think they would not make the most respectable of wives. I need someone I can depend upon to support my decisions for the estate, not undermine them.” A woman with her head in the clouds, dreaming of voting and equal rights was…trouble. He could admire a woman for fighting for something she believed in, but he certainly didn’t want to marry a woman like that.

“You’d doom yourself to a life without love?” Her voice trembled slightly as though she were deeply wounded by his reaction. She made as if to stand, but he reached out, caught her hand, and held it.

“Mother, sit. Please.” Her words stirred something in him, and he wasn’t sure if he liked the idea…to get so lost in another person that you could not live without them. His father had done that with his mistress, a woman who hadn’t cared for him the moment she knew her furnished lifestyle was at an end. Leo wanted to avoid such a fate with every fiber of his being.

Living a reckless bachelor life was one thing, but he’d never been foolish enough to allow himself to fall in love. It would be far too dangerous to open one’s self up to such a weakness. He didn’t want anyone to have power over his heart. His mother had loved his father, and she’d ended up perfectly unhappy when he’d abandoned her for a mistress. Love was a risk he would not take. He shoved the idea out of his mind, focusing on things he knew he could control.

“I think a house party is a wonderful idea, Mother. But do invite some people I know. I saw Hadley at the club yesterday. Drop him an invitation for me. In fact, invite the Pepperwirths as well.” He winked at her. She rolled her eyes and sighed dramatically. He swore she muttered something about Mildred under her breath. Leo stifled a laugh. As long as his mother was in a mood to fence with him verbally, that meant she was all right and he hadn’t upset her too terribly by refusing to let her attend the suffragette meeting.

He wasn’t thrilled about the social obligations that houseguests would create, but he couldn’t deny he had been burdened lately with far too much work. A party might improve his mood if only for the distraction it would provide. It was a pity he was no longer able to indulge in old habits. The Leo Graham he’d once been would have made it his mission to bed every willing and lovely lady under his roof.

Damn being respectable. It was going to kill him.

I’ll have to find some other means of entertainment.

Keeping his mother from marrying him off to someone during the party would be his chief objective, and it would be amusing to see what schemes she came up with.

“You really insist I invite the Pepperwirths?”

He nodded, biting his lip to hide a smile as he enjoyed her squirming. He knew she liked Lord and Lady Pepperwirth, but she balked at his idea of marrying Mildred, simply because she found Mildred boring.

His mother threw up her hands and huffed. “Leo, shame on you. I expected more of a reaction than that. How is it you’re a child of my blood?”

She stood to leave, and he could only sit back in his chair and glance down at Ladybird. Her canine brown eyes met his, and she seemed just as perplexed as he was by the entire situation. Her tail thumped the ground rhythmically and she nudged his hand until he stroked her head.

His mother wanted him to run off with a woman who made his blood burn. He couldn’t afford to. Hampton needed its earl to be calm and in control. Many of his peers were not adjusting to the new age and thus were losing everything their families had built over centuries. His mother was too old-fashioned to see the changes sweeping England. Farmland was less valuable, and the tenancies on the estate weren’t prospering as they had in the past.

Leo couldn’t even begin to count the hours he’d spent working until the last candle burned out in his study. Or the endless meetings he’d arranged with his steward, Mr. Holmesbury, as they tried to salvage what they could of a crumbling way of life. Their way of life. Everything that mattered to him. They could lose it all if he didn’t succeed. Grand houses cost far too much, as did the servants they employed.

Running the tip of his finger over the white china plates fringed with a blue flower pattern, he drew in a deep breath. A heavy weight settled over his chest and shoulders, an invisible burden he could not remove, not so long as he continued to love Hampton House and the people who lived within it. They were a part of this place, a part of its history, just as he was.

If any sacrifices could be made, he would fight to keep Hampton just as it was for as long as possible. He had made his plans. He would marry Mildred, use her fortune to sustain Hampton during the transitions taking place in England, and that would be the end of it. Nothing would change his mind. Nothing.

Wilhelmina, Dowager Countess of Hampton, peered around the door to the dining room, watching her son finish his luncheon in silence. Ever since he’d returned from London a week ago, he’d been glum and predictable in his daily routine. Working from morning till midnight.

Leo took another bite of his lunch before he reached for the stack of letters on the silver tray to his left, a soft sigh escaping as his shoulders drooped. Ladybird sat at his side, tail swiping across the floor in gentle swishes as she waited for crumbs. The dog whined softly and he petted her absently.

He painted a perfectly boring picture of country life, and it deepened the ache in her heart for him. Leo had been a wonderful child, always exploring, always questing for adventures and causing trouble, the way any good lad should. Mina hadn’t been deaf to the rumors of his many paramours or the broken hearts he’d left behind him. At least he’d been a man of passion and action.

Now he was…not. This new Leo was not a son she wished to call her own. He was world-weary, his eyes dark with sorrow and his lips perpetually pursed as he let worries and anxieties drown him. How could he not see that only the bold and courageous men would continue on in this new world, where the ancient houses were crumbling and being broken apart?

She shuddered. The Ashfords had heard their home would be gutted and the grand staircases, the tapestries, even the marble tiles would be sold off to different bidders. Nothing would be left of the grand house or the family who had lived there nearly as long as the Grahams had lived at Hampton House.

We are soon to be ghosts of a forgotten era. We must change; we must adapt. It was one of the reasons she was so determined to attend the suffragette meeting in the small village close to Hampton House. A good number of ladies were coming down from London to attend in order to escape the harsh reactions their gathering would draw in London. Things had to change; people had to change. Men needed to recognize that women were just as smart and as valuable in society.

Leo could not marry a traditional woman. He needed someone who would stand at his side and face the future without fear. Mina would do just about anything to see him married to a fierce Amazon who would battle at his side.

“My lady?” Mr. Gordon, the butler, whispered as he joined his mistress by the door.

She turned and placed a finger to her lips and pointed to Leo.

“Have all the preparations been made for our guests?”

Gordon’s face, usually a study of seriousness, softened with pride, and he puffed his chest a bit. “Of course, my lady. I received a telegram from Mr. Leighton. Miss Ivy is coming down early in her father’s motorcar.”

Mina moved back a few steps from the door as she clapped her hands together in silent glee. Her plan was coming together perfectly. She’d invited Ivy down to Hampton on the pretext of attending the suffragette meeting together, and she’d convinced the young lady that visiting for the house party would be fun.

“Did Mr. Leighton say if he was able to tamper with the motorcar?”

Gordon frowned a little, concern darkening his expression as he handed her the folded telegram. He had known Miss Ivy as long as Mina had and the idea of putting her at risk seemed to upset him.

“Mr. Leighton assured me her motorcar would be close enough to the house but that she’d be stranded. We should make sure to suggest his lordship take a drive around half-past two on Friday. He’ll be sure to come across her on the main road.”

She hastily read the note herself, grinning a little before slipping it into her dress pocket.

Poor Leo. He was most determined to marry that awful Pepperwirth girl. If all went according to Mina’s plans, his intended betrothal would soon be at an end, and her son would fall in love with a woman far more worthy of him. A girl he’d known many years ago, one who’d loved him with all her heart before tragedy had forced their destinies apart.

Ivy Leighton was a modern woman who shared Mina’s views on women’s rights and would be the best match for her son. Assuming he could see past the fact that she was a suffragette. Mina’s lips twitched. No doubt when he met Ivy again, he would find her very grown up and very much changed from the little girl who used to stare at him with stars in her eyes and her heart on her sleeve. She only hoped he would see Ivy as Mina did, as the woman who could save his soul and save Hampton House.

Perhaps I am a meddlesome mama, but Leo should know that I won’t leave his choice of wife up to fate.