Ewan stared at him a moment, then reached into his pocket and withdrew a small silver notebook. He scribbled on it and handed it over.
“‘Luckily I have a large fortune,’” Baldwin read softly. “‘I insist.’”
He handed the notebook back and dropped his head. “I’ve become a charity case for my family and friends.”
Ewan caught his arm, and when Baldwin looked up, Ewan was shaking his head. He signed furiously as Charlotte translated. “Never! This is not charity. It is a gift, just as this family has been the greatest gift of my life.”
“Ewan,” the Duchess of Sheffield breathed. “That you would do this for my son…”
Ewan continued to sign without breaking his gaze from Baldwin. Charlotte’s voice was thick as she translated, “My brother.”
Baldwin nodded. Oh yes, Ewan had been his brother long before his marriage to Charlotte. And now he offered the lifeline in this storm. Would it be easy? No. Never. But now he had a chance at survival.
“I accept your generous offer. If the worst happens, I will do everything in my power to repay it, though I know there is no way I can truly offer recompense for your kindness, nor the wonderful life you’ve given my sister,” Baldwin said as he reached out to embrace Ewan. “You don’t know how much it means.”
When they parted, he turned back to find his sister and mother standing together, their arms around each other. Both had eyes sparkling with tears. He could see Charlotte’s approval in what he was about to do. It really came down to their mother.
“Mama,” he said softly, coming forward to take her hands as Charlotte stepped away. “In the end, this is your name as well as mine that will be on the line. I cannot promise that Father’s sins will not still come out. That there won’t be a scandal.”
She stared at him a long moment, then over to Charlotte and Ewan. “I have only ever wanted your happiness, my two loves. I can see that if I denied you the chance to marry Helena, I would watch you live a life of misery. That would be far worse a consequence, I think, than having my friends whisper that my husband was a debtor. Half of their husbands are no better. If this is what you need to be happy, I will support it with a full heart and at full voice to anyone who questions it.”
Relief washed through Baldwin, and he lifted both her hands up and kissed each one in turn. “Thank you, Mama.”
“It sounds like you have someone to go talk to,” Charlotte said, her laughter filling the room like music. “Go do it quickly. I would love to celebrate with our friends before this country party ends.”
Baldwin looked at them, his family, his everything. He’d spent years trying to protect them, trying to protect himself. Fearing the worst-case scenario that they would blame or reject him for the things he’d done.
Now that seemed like such an empty fear, because of course they would love and accept him. He’d been so wrong to expect anything less of them.
“Thank you,” he said. “And yes, I think it’s time to see if any of this matters and talk to Helena.”
Ewan waved him out of the room while his mother and sister beamed after him. And as he strode down the hall toward his study to gather himself and plan what he would say to the love of his life, for the first time in years he felt happy. He felt free.
He could only hope that what he offered would be enough for Helena. Because what mattered in that moment was giving her everything he could, and praying that she would take it, and him. Flaws and all.
Chapter Twenty
Helena stood at the window beside the settee she’d called a bed and sighed as rain streaked down the glass. It was a fitting thing, the storm. It matched the rioting emotions in her own heart. She rested her head back and shut her eyes with a shiver.
How had things come so far from a night counting stars on the terrace to…this? With a guillotine hanging over her head and her future so uncertain? Not that she’d change a thing. She’d had those stolen moments with Baldwin, and they meant the world to her.
There was a light knock on the chamber door behind her and Helena stiffened. After the past twenty-four hours, she wasn’t equipped to deal with any more drama. Not that drama normally knocked so gently.
She moved to the door and opened it, and was surprised to find Walker standing there. The butler smiled. “I’m sorry to trouble you, miss, but His Grace has requested that you join him in his study, if you are not otherwise occupied at the moment.”
Her heart throbbed as she tried, and failed, to read Walker’s expression. “His Grace wants to—to see me,” she said.
He nodded. “At your earliest convenience. Do you have a message to return to him?”
“I will join him momentarily.” Her voice shook, and she blushed, for it was very noticeable.
Walker inclined his head. “Very good, miss. And you know where the study is?”
“Yes,” Helena whispered as she thought of the night she had shared with Baldwin there. The butler smiled again and then slipped away.
She stood staring into the empty hall for a moment, then shook off her surprise. She had no idea why Baldwin would call her to him. It was ten in the morning, early by the standards of many. Her cousin was still abed, after all.
After their last encounter, he could want to say anything to her. He might want to check on her. Or perhaps he wanted to tell her that Tyndale disapproved of what he’d walked in on the previous day. He might even want to end their affair.
