The Elizabethans: The Earl's Jealousy — Margaret Brazear

There are three things Lord Michael really wants: a big house built in the fashionable shape of an E to honour the new Queen Elizabeth, the beautiful black stallion which is for sale but beyond his means, and Lady Christine, only daughter of the Duke of Westerbury. But as the second son of the Earl of Melford he has neither the funds nor the status to acquire any of them. When both his father and elder brother are killed in an accident, suddenly Michael is the Earl of Melford himself and can afford his house and his stallion, and he wastes no time in applying to the Duke for Lady Christine's hand in marriage. Despite knowing there is another man interested in her, he does not give him another thought. He is just delighted when the Duke agrees and he cannot wait to make her his countess. But he soon finds her former suitor, Edmund Carstairs, is not so easily dismissed and when he appears at the Melford estate and tells Michael that he and Christine are in love and Michael stole her away, he allows his jealousy to surface and accepts his word instead of asking his wife for the truth. When he finds Christine in the arms of Edmund Carstairs, he thinks he is making her happy by allowing her to leave with him. Later that year, having arranged a suitable match for his young sister, who insists on wearing Christine's wedding gown for her own marriage, he is forced to find his wife and bring her back. His sister declares she will not consent to the marriage unless Christine is there to see it and he is not the sort of guardian to force his wishes on her. Besides, he regrets letting his wife go and is quick to grab this excuse to try to reconcile with her. Against the advice of his younger brothers, Michael takes her back, prepared to forgive her and begin again; he is devastated to learn that she cannot forgive him. As the truth emerges, Michael is forced to face the fact that he let her down, abandoned her when she needed him the most, and fight to recapture what he did not realise they had.