Ivory Innocence Read Online Free Page A

college. Oh, my dear, life has been cruel for us all, but I did my best for you. God bless and keep you, my love, and never forget—you're a Meldrum.

    Ivory had been surprised by the amount of the legacy she was due to inherit on her twenty-first birthday, but the money had meant little to her. She went back to college to take her final exams and then went to stay with friends in Bournemouth, on the south coast, far away from memories. She had believed she could never bear to come back to Hedley Magna, but as her grief passed she began to form a plan. Her legacy might be enough to buy the Hall if she could find proof of George Kendrake's treachery and persuade his nephew to sell the estate back to her—if necessary under the threat of revealing his uncle as a heartless villain.
    She did not like the idea of blackmail, but as a last resort she had promised herself to use it.
    But before she had a chance to do anything more, Rob Garth, her childhood friend from Hedley Magna, had written one of his long chatty letters, which included the news that Matthew Kendrake had taken residence in the Hall and was thinking of employing a teacher to help his little daughter. It was the opening Ivory had been needing. She would come back to Hedley Magna and spy out the land before making any further moves.
    Her one regret had been that George Kendrake himself was no longer alive to regret his perfidy toward her grandparents. But now that she had met his nephew, she knew him to be exactly the same sort of man as his uncle. There must be something about Kendrake blood that turned their men into monsters. Ivory was prepared to use any weapon she could think of to settle old scores.

    As she left the church, a bus drew up by the junction and discharged a few schoolchildren. A young girl with golden hair fastened into pigtails over her ears called good-bye to her friends and set off up the lane, her bag trailing from one hand.
    "Becky!" Ivory called, hurrying across the road.
    Rebecca Garth turned, her face puckered in a frown, then her smile beamed. "Oh, hello, Ivory! I'd forgotten you were coming today."
    "Let me give you a lift," Ivory said, indicating the car that waited beneath swaying branches of sticky lime leaves. "I'm on my way back to the farm now."
    "Oh, great!" Rebecca said. "I'm worn out. We've been playing rounders the last two lessons. I was bowler. I'm good at that. I can throw really hard. Is this your car? I didn't know you could drive. Is it true you're coming to work at the Hall? What's the new girl like? I've never seen her. Mrs. Barnes told Mum she's delicate."
    "I gather she's been ill," Ivory said. "But I'm sure she would be pleased to make a friend."
    As they climbed into the car, Ivory remembered that Rob's little sister had always been a happy little chatterer. She was the darling of the family, having come so late after her brother. She had been little more than a baby when her father had died and Rob had taken over responsibility for running the farm.
    "Did you see they're doing your old cottage up?" Rebecca asked as they passed the scaffolded building. "It's been funny, having it stand empty. Martin Ward said it was haunted, but I've never seen anything, though it was creepy going past in the dark last winter."
    She kept up the flow of conversation as the car moved up the hill and turned beneath the chestnuts to the farm, where Ivory parked in the yard close to the house. From the barn came the sound of voices, clatterings and bangs, and the swish of a hose as someone rinsed down the floor.
    Mrs. Garth appeared at the back door, wiping her hands on a flowered apron. A petite, wiry woman with straight brown hair, she had a ruddy face that lit with a smile as she held out her arms to greet Ivory and accept a kiss on the cheek.
    "You look well, dear," she remarked. "It's lovely to see you again. Now, Becky, we're going to have some tea, so don't go rushing out to the pony just yet. Come and sit down, Ivory. Rob'll be