Shawna Delacorte - The Sedgwick Curse

She whirled around, her gaze staring into the darkness of the garden. Someone was watching her, staring from the safety of some hidden place. She gasped for air as if all the oxygen had been taken away from her.

“Who’s there? Who…?” The words came out as a whisper then they died in her mouth. Her heart pounded in her chest and the sound roared in her ears. A wall of fear surrounded her. She forced her feet to move, to carry her toward the house. Her plodding steps turned into a run as she headed for the light at the kitchen door.

“Where have you been?” The words came at her from the darkness. A jolt of adrenaline raced through her body before she identified the voice as Donovan’s. Then he grabbed hold of her arm and pulled her toward him….

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Although award-winning author Shawna Delacorte has lived most of her life in Los Angeles and has a background working in television production, she is currently living in Wichita, Kansas. Among her writing accomplishments she is honored to include her placement on the USA TODAY bestseller list. In addition to writing full-time, she teaches a fiction writing class in the Division of Continuing Education at Wichita State University. Shawna enjoys hearing from her readers and can be reached at 6505 E. Central, Box #300, Wichita, KS 67206. You may also visit her at her author page at the Harlequin Web site—www.eHarlequin.com.

Lord Donovan Sedgwick—He inherited the title upon the death of his father, James Sedgwick, though he hasn’t come to grips with his father’s sudden death.

Taylor MacKenzie—She presented herself at Sedgwick Manor as a writer doing research on British country festivals, a ploy to cover her real reason for traveling from Kansas to the English countryside, and specifically to the Sedgwick estate.

George Bradley—Head of staff for the Sedgwick estate, as other members of the Bradley family have been for one hundred and fifty years. There are no secrets in the Sedgwick family history or hidden places on the estate that members of the Bradley family haven’t known about throughout the ages.

Michael Edgeware—The police inspector in charge of investigating the murders has known the Sedgwick family for years. Donovan’s father was responsible for him being passed over for a promotion. Does he carry his resentment over to Donovan?

Jeremy Edwards—Owner of the village inn that has been in the Edwards’ family for generations. Does he know something through his family history about the original murders that was never in the newspapers or part of a police report?

Alexander Sedgwick—Donovan’s cousin, a playboy with a penchant for the gaming tables of London. Donovan has paid off several of Alex’s gambling debts in the past.

Constance Smythe—She has her eye on Donovan as a marriage prospect and covets the status of Lady of the Manor. Could she be the rumored descendent of the illegitimate son William Sedgwick fathered over one hundred years ago and have a legal claim against the Sedgwick estate?

Byron Treadwell—Head of the village newspaper that has been in the family for generations. The Treadwells and Sedgwicks have been adversaries since the original murders committed by William Sedgwick one hundred years ago. Byron has a personal grudge against Donovan Sedgwick.

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

“What the hell—” Lord Donovan Sedgwick angrily slammed the local village newspaper on the breakfast table in disgust, brushing aside the more imposing London Times.

“Look at this, Bradley, right here on the front page. The explosion at the crypt happened at midnight last night, so how did Byron Treadwell get his hands on the story in time to make the morning edition of this scurrilous rag he calls a newspaper? No one asked my permission, no one interviewed me to find out what I had to say. And I know for a fact that Inspector Edgeware did not make a statement to the press. Byron had no right to take what happened last night at the family cemetery on the private grounds of the estate and sensationalize it all over the front page with his lurid speculations. And he’s done it again—splashed his fictionalized version of the family curse all over the front page.”

Donovan took another sip of his morning coffee as he tried to calm his anger. The Treadwells and the Sedgwicks had been at odds for a little over one hundred years, starting with the night Donovan’s great-grandfather, Lord William Sedgwick, had murdered two people in a fit of complete madness.

The Treadwell newspaper had sensationalized the crime, the trial, the execution and the sealing of Lord William Sedgwick’s body inside the specially built crypt. Then the newspaper had turned its attention to the resulting curse that had been placed on the Sedgwick family, and the story of the curse continued to appear in the newspaper for several months following the interment of Lord William’s body. The curse had been uttered exactly one hundred years to the day before the midnight explosion at the crypt.

Donovan allowed a frown to wrinkle across his forehead as he recalled the movement in the bushes at the cemetery following the explosion. A wave of disgust surged through him. It would be just the kind of thing Byron Treadwell would do—stage a sensational incident such as blowing open the crypt himself on the hundredth anniversary of Lord William’s burial so he could sell more newspapers and publicly embarrass the Sedgwick family in the bargain, especially with the annual festival held on the grounds of the Sedgwick estate only two weeks away.