The Timely Gift

By Suzy Stewart Dubot

Ivan Tait, Lord Palmer, has a gift. One might suppose that it is his astounding good looks but one would be wrong. His gift is not visible. Just when he could use it, it does nothing to prevent him from opening the wrong door and ...?
A novella that takes place against the backdrop of the historic Forty Hall in Enfield, England.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Suzy Stewart Dubot
• Release date: Oct 3, 2011
• ISBN: 9781513005362

Suzy Stewart Dubot

An Anglo/American who has lived in France for nearly 40 years, she began writing as soon as she retired. She moved to London in 2012 and spent more than a year there with family. The spring of 2014, she returned to France, Her laptop has never had any trouble following her.Before retiring, she worked at a variety of jobs. Some of the more interesting have been : Art and Crafts teacher, Bartender, Marketing Assistant for N° 1 World Yacht Charterers (Moorings), Beaux Arts Model, Secretary to the French Haflinger Association...With her daughters, she is a vegetarian and a supporter of animal rights! She is also an admirer of William Wilberforce.(If you should read her book 'The Viscount's Midsummer Mistress' you will see that she has devoted some paragraphs to the subject in Regency times.)PLEASE BE KIND ENOUGH TO LEAVE A REVIEW FOR ANY BOOK YOU READ (hers included).

Book preview

The Timely Gift

by

Suzy Stewart Dubot

Copyright © 2011 by Suzy Stewart Dubot

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events or locales is entirely coincidental.

License Notes

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

This is dedicated to my friend Isabelle Duquennois,

now living with her family in Australia.

A little of her ‘joie de vivre’ has rubbed off on me.

Thank you Isadu.

(This is also a nudge to one of my daughters, known to her family as ‘Libby Dibby’!)

Author’s Note:

The author has taken the liberty of including water closets in this story. The first was invented in Elizabethan times and then improved during George III’s reign, but were not of common usage. Perhaps, we can imagine some of the wealthy having them? Forgive her for offering this convenience to people she has created. She worries about them.

Table of Contents

Prologue

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

About the Author

Prologue

Once upon a time, there was a beautiful child who had been born with a gift (or a curse, depending on your point of view). Looking at the boy, it would take no time at all to arrive at the conclusion that his astounding good looks were certainly the gift he had received. They say that each of us has his own idea of beauty but the boy had something to appeal to everyone from an early age. However, a handsome appearance is not always to be desired as it draws jealousy from those lacking it.

Fully grown, he was six feet tall with a thick head of curly black hair which added yet another inch. Aquiline features, including amber coloured eyes, gave him the masculine look of power which was agreeably enhanced by a wide mouth with perfect teeth. His passion for horse-riding and martial arts had assured him of a body honed to perfection. However, the benefits drawn from being handsome, notably that a great number of women and men fall at your feet, is largely counter-balanced by those wishing to trip you up. Ivan had decided long ago he would have preferred to be quite ordinary, as it was really too much trouble sifting through his superficial admirers and shifting from one position to another to avoid his detractors.

If ten good men agreed that his gift had been his physical attributes, none of them would have been right. His gift was not visible. The day he had mentioned it to his nanny, she had been prompted to give him the name of ‘Ivan the Terrible’ as she quietly said a prayer.

Chapter 1

Ivan Tait, the 3rd Viscount Palmer’s heir, did not know the meaning of peace. If he were not being pestered because of his looks, his intelligence or his personality, his own innate energy prevented him from ever being perfectly tranquil. The ‘gift’ was certainly the most wearing of all,