A Time for Honour

Chapter 1

October 1813

Cassandra Stanford, or Cassie as she was known to her close friends and family, was, at the grand age of seventeen, in love. The object of her affection was the handsome Major Ellington, who had appeared, like all good heroes from a romantic novel, on the doorstep of her family residence after a carriage accident. He was everything she had dreamt a man should be; tall, dark and incredibly handsome. He walked with a slight limp, but in her eyes, that did not matter. He was, after all, a war hero, who had sustained his injury on the battlefields of Spain.

He had arrived on the doorstep of Hadlands, her family home on a stormy night, along with his companion Major Mitford, looking every inch the storybook hero. There was a trickle of blood running down his cheek from a deep gash above his left eye. Cassie thought that this made him look, if it were possible, even more heroically handsome. She could not help but look at him with a look of admiration in her eyes.

After the two strangers had been shown into the hallway, her sister, Verity, had instructed Cassie to tend to Major Ellington's injury. 'Follow me,' she had said to him as they walked towards the drawing-room, with only the flickering light of one candle to guide their way.

As Cassie walked towards the drawing-room, with Major Ellington following close behind her, she felt a little nervous. Apart from her brother and father, she had never been alone with a strange gentleman. But her nervousness was also touched with a frisson of excitement. She had always led such a dull life; firstly, as a pupil at the Bristol Academy; and then more recently as a teacher, that she longed for a thrilling adventure. And it would not be long until she was leaving her old life behind her and travelling up to Scotland to start a new position as a governess for a young family in the Highlands.

As Cassie reached out her hand, so that she could turn the handle of the drawing-room door, she realised that Major Ellington was standing directly behind her and had also reached for the handle of the door. 'Please, let me open that for you,' he said, in a deep low voice. Cassie felt a quiver go up her arm and into the core of her body as his fingers slowly brushed against hers. As their hands remained on the door handle, Cassie turned her head and looked into his eyes that were the deepest shade of brown she had ever seen. As she continued to stare at him, she could feel her heart beat a rhythmic tattoo inside her chest as he continued to slowly caress her fingers.

'That will not be necessary,' she had managed to say breathlessly.

'But, I insist,' he said smoothly, still looking into her eyes.

She slowly removed her hand and let him open the door. He stood in the doorway, and she felt a little nervous when she realised that she would have to brush past him in order to enter the drawing-room. When they touched, as she walked through the doorway, she once more felt that frisson of excitement ripple through her. 'Please make yourself comfortable,' she had managed to say, once they were inside and she, at last, had regained some of her composure.

He walked over to the fire and held out his hands towards the flames. 'Thank you, Miss Stanford,' he said as he warmed his hands.

'Please, Major Ellington, call me Miss Cassandra, or even Cassie or Cass,' she said nervously. 'Miss Stanford is my sister's name, and I always feel a little strange when people use it when addressing me.'

'I will call you Cass,' he said with a smile as he walked over to her, 'but only if you will address me by my given name; Stephan, in private, of course.

Cassie nodded and smiled. 'My sister would find it shocking if she heard me call you Stephan, and would no doubt give me a scold.'

Major Ellington laughed. 'I am sure she would,' he said as he touched the cut on his forehead with his fingers. 'Do you have a fresh handkerchief?' he then said, 'so that I can clean my cut.'