Page 2 of Two Secrets to Surrender (Blackwood Legacy #2)

Chapter One

Three months later

“ D o have a care, dear.” Leticia Caldecott’s anxious voice floated up to the top of the ladder, where Gigi was precariously balanced. “If you were to fall from that height?—”

“There is no need to fret, Miss Letty. I have everything in hand.”

Although Gigi spoke in reassuring tones, she wisely did not tempt fate by looking down at her friend. The ladder was rather high and rickety, and she needed to concentrate on her task. She was attempting to clean the walls of the spa’s bathing hall. Nearly a century ago, Letty’s great-great-grandpapa Tobias Caldecott had built the spa. A visit to Bath had shown him the pecuniary potential of water, and he had decided to create his own mecca in Chudleigh Bottoms.

The fact that no Roman had settled in Chuddums did not deter Mr. Caldecott’s entrepreneurial spirit. He believed that his property’s natural hot springs guaranteed success. He built a Romanesque temple around it, and what his design lacked in authenticity, it compensated for in flamboyance. Chudleigh Bottoms’s World Famous Roman Bath boasted more columns and statuary than Bath’s Temple at Aquae Sulis , and in its prime had attracted crowds who bathed in its pool and took the waters in its pump room.

Unfortunately, over the years, the spa’s fortunes had dwindled, and the place had fallen into disrepair. At present, the bathing pool was dry, cracked, and caked with dirt. Letty had drained it so that the stonemason could patch the basin. Behind the pool was a wall covered in a sprawling relief; Gigi was attempting to scrub off the grime that decades had layered onto the sculpted surface. Like the columns around the rectangular bath, the relief was fashioned from wood and plaster rather than expensive stone, and this made cleaning a delicate task. Yet the appearance of hygiene was essential for any business that promoted health, and she was determined to get every inch of the place spotless in readiness for its grand reopening.

As Gigi cleaned, she was getting her first close look at the top portion of the wall. From the ground level, the scene had looked like a typical rendering from Roman mythology. Venus and Mars presided over an idyllic wedding feast in the middle of a forest, with various gods and goddesses present at the banquet table. Cherubs and nymphs danced in celebration.

Upon closer inspection, however, Gigi noted the insidious presence of other guests in the background. Satyrs, horned creatures who were half-man, half-goat, lurked behind rocks and trees. They were lying in wait for the nubile nymphs, whom they chased throughout the scene. Sometimes the females escaped, swimming away in a stream. Other times, the satyrs captured them. Entangled limbs—one pair hairy, the other smooth—protruded from behind several bushes…

The memory of the Viking pounced upon Gigi. Although three months had passed since their encounter, he was a frequent visitor in her dreams. Night after night, he pursued her through the woods. The scenario ought to have been frightening, yet it wasn’t fear she felt as she raced through the forest. Or when he caught her, trapping her against a tree. Caged by his bulging arms and sculpted chest, she would stare up into his tempest-tossed eyes.

“ I have you where I want you, sweetheart, ” he’d growled. “ This time, you’re going to do more than watch… ”

“Are you certain this is necessary?”

Letty’s query broke the spell. Drawing a breath, Gigi shook off her wayward fantasies. She should count herself fortunate that she’d escaped with her virtue intact. For days afterward, she’d both dreaded and anticipated running into the stranger in the village. She hadn’t, and if he was a passing sailor like she suspected, she was unlikely to see him again…which was a good thing.

A young lady did not dally with strange seamen, and while Gigi did not strictly follow the rules of propriety, she was careful to maintain the appearance of doing so. Her family had enough troubles to contend with. Since her brother Owen had gone off to war a decade ago, nothing had been the same, and turmoil had besieged her close-knit family. She yearned to help, but since she was the youngest and a female, her parents and brothers insisted on protecting her. They wanted her to enjoy life, unburdened by its harsher realities.

She tried to be the good and proper girl her family deserved. Yet her energies needed an outlet, and during finishing school, she’d dedicated herself to worthy causes. Deciding to raise funds to help children who were forced to do dangerous factory jobs to survive, she’d sold corsages to family and friends. When she couldn’t make them fast enough to keep up with demand, she’d recruited peers to help. Eventually, she’d added embroidered handkerchiefs and other items to the group’s repertoire. By the time Gigi graduated, she’d organized an annual Charity Bazaar that funded dozens of scholarships for children to learn more desirable vocations.

These endeavors gave Gigi a sense of purpose, and she’d felt that way the first time she had set foot in Chuddums’s Roman Bath. She’d also had an inexplicable feeling that her future and that of the spa were somehow intertwined. By helping Letty and Chuddums, she might also be finding her own destiny.

“First impressions are important, Miss Letty,” she declared. “Now that the spa is gaining recognition for its waters, visitors will be chomping at the bit to visit the site itself. We must put our best foot forward.”

“Thanks to your idea for the ‘Chuddums Water Cure,’ the spa has been more successful in the past month than it has been in decades,” Letty said with gruff appreciation.

Gigi risked looking down and smiling at her friend. A handsome spinster in her fifties, Letty was tall and dignified, her angular figure clad in a practical bombazine dress. Her frizzy, greying hair was bound in a knot, drawing attention to her intelligent blue eyes.

“I didn’t come up with the idea for the water,” Gigi said modestly. “I borrowed it.”

She’d been inspired by her visits to Malvern. The bustling resort town had a dedicated following among the upper and middle classes, who flocked there to partake of the “hydrotherapy cure.” Local businesses flourished, and factories employed dozens of workers to bottle the famous Malvern water for export. Her Majesty the Queen famously refused to travel without a supply of her favorite mineral water.

“Whatever the case, you have given me hope,” Letty said. “For the first time in years, I believe I may be able to save this place after all.”

“You will,” Gigi promised. “The spa’s reopening will be a smashing success. And no one deserves that more than you.”

When Gigi had first seen the spinster in the village, the latter had been dressed in a raggedy frock and bonnet, humbly asking Loretta Pickleworth, the greengrocer’s wife, if there was any damaged produce available. The good Mrs. Pickleworth had promptly filled Letty’s sack, and Gigi saw her slip in a few perfect apples, too. Letty had made the rounds in the village, purchasing cut-rate goods from the merchants. She’d paused to peer wistfully into the window of the Leaning House, Chuddums’s tea shop, before continuing with her shoulders slumped but her head held high.

When Gigi asked about the mysterious woman, Mrs. Pettigrew, the owner of the Leaning House and the village’s kind-hearted gossip, had filled her in.

“ Leticia Caldecott is the last surviving member of one of Chuddums’s oldest families ,” Mrs. Pettigrew had said. “ Miss Letty is a good woman who, through no fault of her own, fell upon hard times. If she sold the spa, her life might be easier, but she refuses to give up her family’s legacy .”

Gigi understood the importance of not giving up on one’s family. The Harrington motto was Ad Finem Fidelis —faithful to the end—and over the years, that adage had been tested time and again. Determined to help, Gigi had introduced herself to Letty, and despite their outward differences, friendship had blossomed. When Gigi had proposed working at the spa, Letty had been surprised but open to the idea.

Gigi’s parents, however, had been less keen.

“ Gigi, darling. ” Mama’s violet eyes—eyes she’d given to Gigi—had shone with concern. “ A young lady of your station does not have a job. It simply isn’t done. ”

“ This is important ,” Gigi had pleaded. “ Miss Letty needs me .”

“ Help her in some other fashion ,” Papa had said. “ A donation, perhaps ? — ”

“ She will not accept charity. Please, let me do this—I have such splendid ideas for how to revive the spa. This will help not only her but Chuddums. Coming here healed Ethan—brought him and Xenia together. Our family is indebted to this village, and it is our duty to help it survive. ”

When her parents had exchanged looks, Gigi had felt a surge of triumph. She knew she’d won with that last point, for a Harrington always paid his or her debts. In the end, her parents had allowed her to volunteer at the spa, but she had to bring along her maid.

“ I know how you love your projects, Gigi, ” Mama had sighed. “ Try not to get too carried away, all right? ”

Gigi had gone to work straightaway, implementing the first phase of her plan: gaining recognition for Chuddums’s mineral water. Malvern’s water had become famous after a physician named Dr. Wall declared that it was so pure that it contained “nothing at all.” Gigi had set about getting a similar testimony from her family’s physician. Once obtained, the next step had involved figuring out the best way to promote the product. Gigi and Letty had tested their ideas on friends and family, but nothing had seemed quite right…until Gigi had hit upon using Chuddums’s famous legend, which involved a murder and a curse.

When her brother Ethan had purchased the local manor known as Bottoms House, he’d had difficulty hiring servants because the original owner, a man named Thomas Mulligan, had been shot dead there some eighty-odd years ago. Mulligan’s ghost, dubbed “Bloody Thom,” was said to haunt the place. According to village lore, Mulligan had offended a witch who’d cursed him and the entire village. In the years since, the decline in Chuddums’s fortunes, which included the malignant growth of a criminal element, had been blamed squarely on the curse.

However, Ethan and his housekeeper-turned-bride Xenia had proven that sightings of Bloody Thom had been a hoax perpetuated by the Corrigans, a notorious gang of thieves and cutthroats. Together with the good folk of Chuddums, they had ousted the villains from the village. Now storefronts that had lain vacant for years were reopening with new businesses, and visitors who had once passed Chuddums by were stopping to sample its unique offerings.

Xenia had also unearthed secrets about the origins of Bloody Thom. According to Chuddums’s oldest resident, Mr. Walford—known affectionately as “Wally”—the witch of the legend wasn’t a witch at all but a beautiful traveling woman named Rosalinda. As a boy, Wally had seen Rosalinda and Thomas Mulligan together by the stream (the one, as fate would have it, where Gigi had encountered the Viking). To Wally’s young eyes, the pair had appeared to be in love. Yet after Mulligan’s murder, the villagers, led by prominent citizen Langdon Pearce, had accused Rosalinda and her family of witchcraft. Soon thereafter, Pearce was found collapsed in his house, the cause of his death unknown. The villagers were certain it was because of the witch’s curse. But Rosalinda and her family had disappeared, never to be seen in Chuddums again.

As an aficionado of gothic novels, Gigi found the legend thrilling. One night, she’d awoken from a feverish dream—one so intense and real that it hadn’t felt like a dream but like a memory . Grabbing her drawing pencils, she’d sketched a scene of Mulligan and Rosalinda standing on opposite sides of the stream, gazing at each other like star-crossed lovers. She’d shown Letty her idea for the label, along with the accompanying slogan:

The Chuddums Cure: water as pure as true love.

They printed the label, affixing it to the bottles of water they’d collected from the spring. On her next trip to London, Gigi had taken the samples with her, distributing them to those who came to call upon her and her family. Everyone seemed impressed when she’d told them about the water’s health benefits (everyone but her eldest brother James, who’d teased her for having the ability to sell hay to a farmer). Ignoring him, she’d focused on her task, and her efforts soon bore fruit.

The first success came with her friend, Miss Amelia Stanley. After four years on the marriage mart, Miss Stanley hadn’t attracted any offers and feared she was destined for the shelf. To inspire her friend, Gigi had shared the tale of Mulligan and Rosalinda, which demonstrated that love could strike when one least expected it. Before she’d finished the story, Miss Stanley had uncorked the bottle of water, gulped it down, and confessed her unrequited feelings for Lord Alvin Neale.

A numismatist, Lord Alvin was known to pay more attention to his coin collection than people. Contrary to Miss Stanley’s belief that Lord Alvin found her unattractive, Gigi suspected that he merely hadn’t noticed her—or any female—and needed a nudge. Thus, Gigi had filched a coin from her papa’s collection and suggested that Miss Stanley use it to strike up a conversation with Lord Alvin. It had taken coaching on Gigi’s part, but her shy friend finally took her advice.

Gigi’s plan worked better than she could have imagined. Within a month, Lord Alvin proposed, and Miss Stanley was over the moon. She thanked Gigi profusely…and, to the latter’s bemusement, attributed her newfound love to the “Chuddums Potion.” Miss Stanley shared her experience with friends, and news spread like wildfire through Society. Before Gigi knew what was happening, debutantes, widows, and bachelors alike were knocking on the door of her parents’ town house, inquiring after the water. While James had rolled his eyes, Gigi had happily dispensed the rest of her supplies.

Seven more love matches took place.

Gigi began to believe that the water did have special properties. After all, when Ethan had retreated to Chuddums after being jilted by his former fiancée, he had sworn off love. Yet within weeks, he’d found his soulmate in Xenia. As Gigi became acquainted with the villagers, she’d also discovered that many of them had found their lifelong loves. Moreover, there was the dream Gigi had about Mulligan and Rosalinda meeting by the stream. The pair had been the most unlikely of lovers, yet their bond had felt so tender and passionate, so real …

The Chuddums Potion craze took hold of London, and in the weeks that followed, Letty could scarcely keep up with the flood of orders. She hired a team of women from the village to bottle the water and glue on the labels. She’d also decided to channel the profits into refurbishing the bath for a grand reopening.

Satisfaction filled Gigi.

Everything is going according to plan.

“I think you’ve done enough cleaning, my dear,” Letty said. “Why don’t you come down from the ladder?”

Gigi eyed the part of the relief she’d yet to clean. The sculpted surface was buried under mildew and cobwebs. Stretching, she managed to reach the corner, wiping away a layer of dirt.

“I shall,” she said. “After I finish cleaning this section.”

“Do have a care?—”

“I’m fine.” She excavated more of the relief. “Tell me how the ledgers look this week.”

“Our profits are up. A young lady from London ordered ten crates.”

“We must be prepared for an increase in demand,” Gigi declared. “Once the Season starts, everyone will want our water.”

“I don’t know how I’ll manage when you’re gone.”

In two months’ time, Papa would be returning to London for the start of the Parliamentary session, and Mama and Gigi would be accompanying him for the social season.

Sensing Letty’s worry, Gigi gave her a reassuring smile. “You have employees to assist you, dear. And while I’m in London, I shall promote the spa.”

“Shouldn’t you be focused on finding yourself a husband?” Letty asked.

Gigi waved her cloth. “There is plenty of time for that.”

At two-and-twenty, she’d had her share of offers from eligible partis , but none of them had interested her. She was certain she would know when the right fellow came along. Marrying for love was a family tradition, and luckily, her parents wanted no less for her. In the meantime, she had more important matters to focus on.

While Letty wandered off to handle correspondence, Gigi continued scrubbing at a stubborn patch of dirt. From beneath the grime, a long, tubular shape emerged… Her cheeks burned when she realized what lay beneath her hand. Attached to the hairy groin of a satyr, the plaster member was huge and meticulously detailed with veins. Its mushroomed tip thrust toward the ceiling. Not long ago, she would have laughed at the ridiculous proportions of the body part. But the Viking loomed in her mind’s eye, and her blood thrummed as she realized that this part of him had been equally sizeable?—

“You’ll never believe this, Lady Gigi!”

At Letty’s voice, Gigi jerked her hand away—too quickly. Her abrupt motion sent the ladder swaying backward, and she held on for dear life as it teetered on rickety legs. Gasping, she leaned forward and tilted the ladder back against the wall. She descended the rungs on shaky limbs. Prepared for an I-told-you-so lecture, she was surprised when her friend didn’t let out a peep. Looking over, she saw why: with her head bent over a letter, Letty had missed Gigi’s death-defying experience.

“What have you there?” Gigi asked.

“It’s a letter from a solicitor,” the spinster muttered, scanning the page. “I’ve had an offer.”

“An offer for what?”

“For the spa.” Letty looked up, her blue eyes glinting with shock. “Someone is offering a fortune to buy it.”