Fountains Cuckoo

Lucien FitzHarris, acknowledged second son of Lord Farrant, had known since boyhood that he was a cuckoo in the nest. It no longer bothered him, he had his own life away from the Fountains estate. When Lord Farrant tried to coerce him into collaborating with an arranged marriage for William, the elder son and heir, Lucien was appalled. He knew his half-brother's temperament, and the young lady involved was too sweet and innocent to suffer a fate worse than death. In the England of the 1860's, young women of aristocratic birth had little control over their destiny. Eleanor Fordingbridge, niece of both Viscount de Havermuire and the Earl of Edesbury, had a stark choice, marry the man her callous father had sold her to, or run off with his brother, who offered a means of escape. The brother seemed the lesser of the two evils. Out of desperation, she went with him. For a few weeks the future looked hopeful, but things went awry. Only then did she realise how little she knew, and once again she fled in panic. The die had been cast; she was married, the choice was to live with it, or face a life in the shadows. She was ruined whatever course she took. Could such an inauspicious beginning ever have a happy ending?