Lord Frederick’s Return
by Catherine Kullmann
An older hero, an enigmatic heroine and a delightfully outspoken four-year-old. Throw scandal into the mix for a gripping and tender Regency love story.
August 1816.
Lord Frederick Danlow returns to England after spending 18 years in India. He plans to make a home for himself and his motherless, four-year-old daughter, Ruperta. Unsure where to start, he accepts an invitation to stay at Ponsonby Place, home of Colonel Jack Ponsonby who made his fortune in India, and his daughter Susannah, the mistress of the household.
Soon Frederick finds himself in need of a governess—and a wife? The more time he spends with Susannah, the more his admiration of her deepens. Is she the woman with whom he will share his life?
He is resolved to court her, but then his younger brother Henry engulfs his family in an appalling scandal that could prevent any lady from agreeing to a connection with it. Now Frederick must support his family during this ordeal.
But what of Susannah? What will she say when she hears of the scandal? Should he, dare he offer her his heart and his hand?
The Main Characters
An older hero, an enigmatic heroine and a delightfully outspoken four-year-old. Throw scandal into the mix for a gripping and tender Regency love story.
This tweet captures the appeal of my new novel, Lord Frederick’s Return, but who are these three characters? You will get a good impression of Frederick and Susannah from the two miniatures on the cover. I was lucky to find them at auction last year and knew at once that here were my hero and heroine.
Let us start with the title role. Lord Frederick Danlow is the younger son of the late Marquess of Rickersby and brother of the present marquess, George. Now thirty-eight, he has not seen his family for eighteen years while, due to the vagaries of the post between Great Britian and India during the Napoleonic wars, contact between them has reduced to roughly one letter a year. The novel opens as Frederick sets sail to return home. He is bringing with him his three-year-old daughter Ruperta, whose Indian mother died at her birth. Frederick immediately resolved to bring Ruperta to England as soon as she is old enough to manage the six-month-long voyage.
Frederick’s character reveals itself over the course of the book. He is a man of honour, who is not prepared to abandon his infant daughter. He loves deeply; his devotion to Ruperta and her mother are clear. He is loyal to the Indian servants who made the voyage with him, and will not abandon them on arrival in England, and also loyal to his birth family although he has not seen them. He is very unsure of how to go about settling in England again and is not above seeking or taking advice. This takes him to the home of Colonel Jack Ponsonby and his daughter Susannah. He is soon taken by Susannah.
A dinner-table conversation causes him to contemplate marriage:
“Was he doomed to seek a bride among the widows and old maids? Had he left England a young man and returned an aging bachelor? Nonsense! He may have seen more than half of his allotted life span but he was no dotard but a man just past his prime, a seasoned man, not a callow cub.
He cast an appraising glance in the pier glass. His back was straight, his hair dark, his shoulders broad, and he had no need to pad his calves as some gentlemen did. His clothes were very probably outmoded—fashions in India would always be at least a year behind London, and these had been made two years ago. When he went to London to see his man of business; he would take the opportunity to replenish his wardrobe and have his hair trimmed in a newer style.”
Frederick is a thoughtful and considerate suitor. When his world is turned upside down, he manages to right himself. He is not afraid to show his vulnerability or to assert his claim on the woman he loves.
At twenty-eight, Susannah Ponsonby is ten years younger than Frederick. Here is how he sees her at first acquaintance:
“Miss Ponsonby was as tall as her father, slim, with black hair, almond-shaped, striking blue eyes under beautifully arched brows, a straight nose, and a generous mouth. Her mother had been Indian, Frederick thought, from the north, probably, going by Miss Ponsonby’s pale skin. A striking woman, he thought. The blue eyes, unusual in an Indian, must have come from her father.”
She was thirteen when her father decided to return to England from India, taking her with him but leaving her mother, his mistress, behind. The transition was not easy for her and it was only with the arrival of a new governess, Miss West, that she began to settle into her new role of a young English lady. The realisation, at eighteen, that her first suitor was chiefly interested in the fortune her father made in India forced her back into her shell. She maintains a well-mannered, composed façade but keeps her inmost thoughts and desires to herself. By now, she has settled into spinsterhood, happy to be the mistress of her father’s house. Miss West, who married a local gentleman, and her children are dear friends and Susannah is part of local society although there are a few who look down on her Indian heritage.
The arrival of Lord Frederick with Ruperta cracks the shell that has grown around her guarded heart. It brings back memories of her own arrival in England.
The open affection between father and daughter moves her and the growing connection she feels for both of them makes her wonder whether there might be a different future for her after all. Her instinctive support of Frederick when his family is engulfed in scandal throws her heart wide open enabling her to risk loving and being loved.
Ruperta Danlow is three when she leaves India and four when she arrives in England with her father and ayahs—the Indian nursemaids who have cared for her since her birth. She has led a sheltered life before they set sail but has blossomed under the shipboard regime of daily lessons and the company of other children. She has her father’s enquiring mind while he enjoys answering her questions. She copies his matter-of-fact approach and enjoys setting people to rights, something that is not always appreciated by her interlocutors. She and Susannah quickly take to each other, leading to a charming denouement.
On a visit to Danlow Castle, Susannah compares Ruperta’s appearance with that of Frederick’s two nieces:
“While the adults exchanged polite nothings, the three children eyed each other. Susannah was relieved to note that Ruperta’s new white muslin dress caught with a dark blue sash at the waist mirrored those worn by the Danlow girls. Here the resemblance ended, however. Where the elder two wore simple satin slippers, Ruperta’s Indian ones turned up at the toes. In contrast to the fair curls confined with ribbons and piled high on Matilda’s and Caitriona’s heads, her dark hair was drawn severely back and plaited in a long braid that hung down over one shoulder, exposing her fine features and pretty earrings of gold wire and pearls. Her skin, although pale by Indian standards, would never be white tinged with pink or scattered with freckles. She would always be different. As am I, Susannah thought, as Lady Allenby and her daughter entered the solar. But Frederick loves us, Ruperta and I, as we are.”
© Catherine Kullmann 2025
Catherine Kullmann
Catherine Kullmann was born and educated in Dublin. Following a three-year courtship conducted mostly by letter, she moved to Germany where she lived for twenty-five years before returning to Ireland. She has worked in the Irish and New Zealand public services and in the private sector. Widowed, she has three adult sons and two grandchildren.
She has always been interested in the extended Regency period, a time when the foundations of our modern world were laid. She loves writing and is particularly interested in what happens after the first happy end—how life goes on for the protagonists and sometimes catches up with them. Her books are set against a background of the offstage, Napoleonic wars and consider in particular the situation of women trapped in a patriarchal society.
She is the author of The Murmur of Masks, Perception & Illusion, A Suggestion of Scandal, The Duke’s Regret, The Potential for Love, A Comfortable Alliance, Lady Loring’s Dilemma and The Husband Criteria.
She also blogs about historical facts and trivia related to this era. You can find out more about Catherine’s books and read the blog (My Scrap Album) at her website where you can also subscribe to her newsletter.
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