The Ice Lady...
She is not the most charming. In fact, she is too cold, too frank, and too flat.
Worse, the only home she has known all her life has been taken away from her and she has to find a way to keep it.
Upon her mother's strong suggestion...
THIS STORY IS A PREQUEL TO THE EVERARD FAMILY SERIES.
*****
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"Why do we have our ears pressed against the door?" whispered Alice's friend, Eva, as the two of them leaned against the hard wood, facing each other.
"Hush," Alice shushed her friend, placing one finger over her lips as she intently focused her attention on the conversation at the other side of the door.
Eva merely shook her brown head and sighed, pressing closer.
There were a few very important reasons why Alice found it necessary to break decorum and eavesdrop on her own mother. One of them was her very own future and that of the estate her father and the men before him had always cherished all their lives.
Her father, rest his soul, had merely been dead for less than a month and his distant relatives did not waste time to pack their belongings not to grieve with Alice and her mother, Lady Edwina, but to claim Langworthy as rightful heirs. And they had very good reasons to do so—immediately.
The Lord of Surley, August Kenward, Alice's very distant uncle on her father's side, was rumored to have gambled almost everything he owned save for the Surley estate which he now passed to his only son after acquiring Langworthy. Nicholas Archibald, the now deceased Lord of Langworthy and Alice's father, had died at the most fortunate time where the Kenwards were concerned.
An only child—and unfortunately, a daughter—Alice could not be heir to the estate. The next in line was the closest male relative. The only hope for a male heir is if Alice bore a son, a task she never thought necessary until the moment she and her mother was told that they might have to leave Langworthy soon.
"I would very much wish to see more natural plants in the garden," a woman's voice was speaking behind the door.
"Of course." Alice did not miss the cold and curt reply her mother offered. "If you wish it, then it could be done."
"I have more of my artifacts coming soon," the man spoke again. "I would also have to go through Nicholas' study thoroughly than I have been doing the past few days, my lady."
"Yes, of course," came Alice's mother's cold reply. "You have already started renovations in the study. The entire estate, as a matter-of-fact."
The new Lord of Langworthy chuckled. "It is best we start early than regret it later on."
"By the by, Edwina, I have not seen Alice since our arrival," asked Lady Vivian, the new Lady of Langworthy.
"Oh, she has been staying with the Whitlocks. She is best friends with their daughter who is bound to stay here while her parents vacation in Willowfair for two months. That is, if you do not mind?"
"No, of course not..."
Alice and Eva pushed away from the door and sharply turned to briskly walk back to Alice's room.
