At First Sight Saturday with Author Caroline Warfield

Welcome back to At First Sight Saturday. Today’s guest is author, Caroline Warfield who gives us a glimpse of her newest release, The Wayward Son. Please leave Caroline a comment and share your thoughts about The Wayward Son.

Excerpt: Ever since the old earl died leaving a piece of choice land to his bastard son, a man no one had heard from in fifteen years, Lucy Whitaker the caretaker has been plagued with imposters trying to claim the inheritance. Sooner or later the real one was bound to turn up.

*****

“Oh Miss!” The door slammed against the wall, and Cilla bobbed in on a wave of nerves.

“I hope this is life or death Cilla, because you’ve been told never to—”

“Oh, it is, Miss. There’s another one, and Agnes is in the attics.”

“Another what?”

Cilla rattled on ignoring the question. “I saw him stop at the end of the lane, but he’s coming, I just know it. One o’em will kill us in our beds some time. I know it, I just know it.”

Him. One of them. Another imposter.

Lucy rose to her feet, walked calmly to the foyer, and parted the curtains to see a stranger riding up to the house. She removed her musket from behind the potted palm at the foot of the stairs, before returning to her surveillance out the window. “Cilla, kindly inform Agnes that we have another unwanted visitor,” she said without turning. The girl bounded up the stairs.

The rider paused in front of the steps and peered up at the house, examining it slowly from right to left as if counting the windows.

This one’s a cut above the rest of them. Arrogant, though. He probably wants to come in and count the silver.

She opened the front door and stepped out onto the porch, musket resting in the crook of her left arm. “May I help you?”

The rider jerked upright, brows rising, eyes riveted on the weapon she carried. The color struck her first; his deep green eyes hit a chord deep inside. The intelligence in them and the sense that he weighed her and found her wanting pushed all other thoughts aside.

He likely expected a butler or a footman. She had neither, and she knew how she appeared, a plainly-dressed woman, past the first bloom of youth, straight backed if tiny, standing her ground to address a total stranger. With a musket. Don’t forget the gun. He could make what he wanted of that.

She watched him steadily, and judged his mount a first-rate animal. The man himself projected strength with a military bearing and an air of confidence. Yes, a cut above, this one.

“Is the gentleman of the house in?”

That’s a first. They usually know better.

His deep voice rumbled through her, and an unfamiliar feminine awareness uncurled deep inside. She shook it off.

“He is otherwise engaged,” she answered, wise enough not to advertise that she lived alone. “Kindly state your business,” she added curtly, taking courage from the sound of Agnes coming out behind her. The rider looked from one to the other, and Lucy studied his eyes. Eyes the color of David’s. Caulfield eyes. Her heart sank.

He removed his hat, watching the musket warily. Auburn. Dear God, he has Caulfield hair!

“I’m sorry if I disturbed you, ma’am. I once lived near here, and I thought…” He tapped the hat against one muscular thigh.

This one is too damned attractive for my peace of mind, Lucy thought absently.

The man spoke again. “Perhaps I should introduce myself. I’m Major Sir Robert Benson, formerly of Ashmead on Afon, currently residing in London. I meant no harm.”

All hope fled. The heir had come to claim her home.

About The Wayward Son: Sir Robert Benson’s life is in London. He fled Ashmead the day he discovered the man he thought was his father had lied to him, and the girl he loved was beyond his reach. Only a nameless plea from his sister—his half-sister—brings him back. He will not allow a ludicrous bequest from the earl who sired him to turn him into a mockery of landed gentry. When a feisty little termagant with flashing eyes—and a musket—tries to turn Rob off the land—his land—he’s too amused and intrigued to turn away. But the longer he stays, the tighter the bonds that tie him to Ashmead become, strengthened by the powerful draw of the woman rooted on land he’s determined to sell.

Lucy Whitaker’s life is Willowbrook, its land, its tenants, its prosperity, but she always knew it wasn’t hers, knew the missing heir would come eventually. When a powerful man with military bearing rides up looking as if he wants to come in and count the silver, she turns him away, but her heart sinks. She can’t deny Rob Benson his property; she can only try to make him love the place as she does, for her peoples’ sake. A traitorous corner of her heart wishes Rob would love it for her sake.

His life is London; hers is Ashmead. How can they forge something lasting when they are torn in two directions?

Available: Free with Kindle Unlimited and for purchase https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B09484DC1D/

About Caroline Warfield: Award winning author Caroline Warfield has been many things: traveler, librarian, poet, raiser of children, bird watcher, Internet and Web services manager, conference speaker, indexer, tech writer, genealogist—even a nun. She reckons she is on at least her third act, happily working in an office surrounded by windows where she lets her characters lead her to adventures in England and the far-flung corners of the British Empire. She nudges them to explore the riskiest territory of all, the human heart.