He left the room without further comment.
Louise sucked in a breath and looked at Marcus while bright euphoria sparkled inside her. He’d taken a seat in order to pull on his hose. “Does that mean we finally have his blessing?”
“I’m not entirely sure,” Marcus said. He proceeded to put on his shoes.
“He did mention the two of you getting married,” Hannah said with a look of excitement to match what Louise was feeling.
“At the very least,” Louise said, “he’s given up trying to win this battle. I wonder why.”
“Let’s just be grateful that he has since it makes everything so much simpler.” Marcus stood. He ran his fingers through his hair. “I’d best go and join him.”
“I won’t be long,” Louise promised. She gave him a quick kiss in parting and turned to Hannah. “Let’s make me a bit more presentable, shall we?”
Hanna grinned. “Now there’s an excellent idea, my lady.”
With Hannah’s help it took less than twenty minutes for Louise to be properly attired with her hair styled in a simple but neat coiffure. Praying she’d not arrive downstairs to discover she’d been wrong about her father’s stance with regard to Marcus, she took a few calming breaths to steady her nerves and went to find the men who symbolized both her past and her future.
17
Marcus entered the supper room Grasmere had acquired and claimed the seat opposite him. He didn’t believe the earl’s sudden willingness to be reasonable had anything to do with his revelation regarding Hedgewick’s arrest, but rather that it was based on the threat Louise still posed to the earl’s financial comfort. It saddened Marcus on her behalf that Grasmere could not be more agreeable. She deserved to have a father who truly wished her the best, instead of one who worried how her actions might reflect upon him.
“I wanted more for Louise,” Grasmere said once they’d received a pot of coffee. “Her siblings have all married well. Naturally, I expected her to do the same.”
“You may not like who my father was,” Marcus told him, “but my income is decent, and I’ve powerful friends and family. After all, my sister is the Duchess of Windham.”
Grasmere studied him with a mulish expression. “I suppose so, although it is her very marriage to a duke that blots out the stain of her parentage.”
“Even though her husband used to be London’s most dangerous crime lord?”
Grasmere shrugged. “A title does seem to change public perception.”
“Losing it certainly has for me.” Marcus felt no bitterness over it, but fact was fact and could not be denied.
“In spite of everything, I’m sorry for what you’ve been through. It can’t have been easy.”
Surprised by the earl’s show of sympathy, Marcus straightened in his seat. “It hasn’t been, but sometimes it takes a downfall for a man to appreciate the finer points of life. Everything used to be so bloody easy for me, but without the need for accomplishment or that drive to better oneself, there’s no sense of fulfillment either. Now, on the other hand, I can be proud of myself in a way I never could be before. I’ve changed people’s lives for the better, and for that reason alone I have no regret over how things turned out.”
A soft snort escaped Grasmere’s throat. He poured them each a cup of coffee and took a sip of his own. “It eases my mind, knowing you brought Hedgewick down.”
“Like I said, it was the right thing to do.”
“Nevertheless, he was your father. Deciding to turn on him must have been a difficult choice.”
“Not once I learned what he’d done.”
Grasmere frowned. “Everything is very clean cut for you, isn’t it?”
“I like to think I have a good moral compass.”
“There’s a good chance you have the most accurate one I’ve ever encountered.”
Marcus couldn’t quite hide his smile. The compliment was so unexpected and so subtle, it warranted some small sense of victory. “In the end, I believe we’ll all be judged by our actions rather than who we might be from a social standpoint.”
“You may be correct,” Grasmere agreed. “Perhaps I should try to do better.”
The door opened before Marcus could comment, admitting Louise. She took a seat between him and her father. “Everything all right?”
“Good enough,” Marcus assured her while Grasmere called for a maid so they could order some food. A pot of tea arrived for Louise and they settled in for the discussion they all knew they had to get through. Deciding to get on with it, Marcus told Grasmere, “Please know that I love your daughter with all my heart and will do what I can to keep her safe and happy.”
