Page 62 of The Marquess’s Forbidden Bride

Although the visit would be painful, too, with her younger sister Cecily eager to talk about the Season. Emma had told the family only the barest of details about why she’d come back to Wellingford, but as all her siblings knew well her desire to delay marriage, they were not overly concerned by her return before the Season’s end.

Emma hoped her rapid departure from London would quiet some of the gossip emerging from the incident at Oak Knoll. She could only hope that Sarah would be able to limit the damage Emma’s disgrace caused the family’s reputation so that a Season next year for Cecily would be feasible. No point her going to London if she were going to be snubbed or ignored.

Yet another evil to lay at Aldersby’s door, if his venal actions made more difficult, or even impossible, the Season her sweet little sister awaited with such anticipation.

Sighing, she’d bent down to clip the first of the herbs when she heard the soft tread of footsteps on the brick walkway.

Probably Aunt Felicia, come to urge her inside. Dismissing the sound, she continued clipping until some undefinable stirring in the air made her pause. Then she gasped as a dearly familiar voice, laced with amusement, said, ‘I thought I’d find you here. I didn’t even bother to go up to the house first.’

Almost dropping her shears in shock, she whirled to face him. ‘Charles? Why—what are you doing here?’

‘Visiting you, it appears,’ he said. ‘Will you walk with me?’

Intensely sensitive to his touch as she laid her hand on his arm, she breathed in with guilty delight the scent of his shaving soap. Trying to calm a heart exulting at his presence, she said, ‘What brings you here?’ A sudden fear seizing her, she said, ‘Nothing is wrong, is it? Hartley and Susanna have recovered from their illnesses, surely? And Claire continues healthy?’

‘Yes, all is well with Hart’s clan. But there have been some…developments, which I thought you should know about.’

She couldn’t imagine what would be of such import that he would travel all the way to Wellingford to tell her in person, but she was too overjoyed to be walking on his arm to worry about what brought him.

‘Then tell me.’

‘It seems your former suitor, Lord Aldersby, has found it necessary to leave London. Apparently, his finances were in more dire straits than anyone realised. He owed not just every merchant and purveyor of goods who caters to the ton, but also a few rather unsavoury cent-per-centers who loaned him money to pay his considerable gaming debts.’

‘No wonder he was so desperate to force me into marriage.’

‘Desperate, yes, but that can never excuse the means he tried to use.’

‘I don’t sympathise with him! I’m only glad he was forced to leave, so he can’t try to cajole or entrap some less-well-protected maiden into wedlock.’ She stopped short, becoming suspicious. ‘Just how did he suddenly “find it necessary to leave”?’

‘It seems an assiduous individual tracked down and bought up all his debts. This person’s solicitor then confronted the baron, informing him if he didn’t have the means of redeeming the debt, the holder of the notes would have him thrown into Newgate until such time as the full sum was repaid. Or he could accept fare to sail off to some city on the continent. Once assured that utter ruin and the ignominy of prison faced him in London, he found within himself a great longing to explore foreign climes.’

She gazed up at him. ‘How much did it cost you?’

Charles laughed. ‘Only some blunt. And I have lots of it now, remember? I can’t think of a better use for it than ridding England of his miserable carcass. Especially since a certain person absolutely forbade me to employ a more satisfying means—like a horsewhip or a sabre. And as you also wished, unless Aldersby chose to linger long enough to try to discover who employed the solicitor, which under threat of incarceration in Newgate he was not inspired to do, the identity of that public-spirited citizen will never be revealed.’

‘Goodness, a shocking development indeed! I’m grateful that you were able to exact the retribution on Aldersby I had no way to effect—especially since you were able to do so without involving yourself in the scandal. There…was no further scandal?’

‘Nothing except a bit of gossip about me encountering you when you came in from the garden at Oak Knoll. With Aldersby gone, the whole incident at the house party will gradually fade from discussion.’

‘Not from the memory of the lady who deplored my wantonness!’

‘You may be surprised. I recently informed Lady Routham that if the gossip did not die out, I would hold her responsible. I did a little research as well into the state of her husband’s finances, and it isn’t good. He—and she—have outrun their income by a sizeable degree for several years now. I offered her a choice. I could pay off their debts and provide a modest sum to support the rest of this year’s Season, in return for her squelching the talk now and never again spreading rumours about you. Or I could use those debts to provide she and her husband a friendly stay in Newgate.’

‘You would do that to your half-sister?’

‘After what she did, trying to ruin you? Without compunction. Not surprisingly, she accepted my conditions. I further informed her that, though I would be cordial if we chance to meet in public, I want nothing further to do with her. She is barred from setting foot on any property I own. If she wants to see her mother or brother, they will have to visit her.’

Emma sighed. ‘Harsh measures. But given what she tried to do to me, I can’t summon much sympathy for her, either.’

‘Ah, and her mother—Lady Richland. To my great surprise, she called on me. Apologised for her daughter’s actions, saying she held herself partly responsible for her irrational enmity, as she’d glorified the memory of her brother all during her daughter’s growing up and expressed too often her bitterness over her inability to win my father’s love, which he had given once and for all to my mother. Lady Richland, at least, offered a truce, which I accepted. So… London should not be so unwelcoming, if you decided to return.’

Relief, amusement, shock, all ran together in her head with the delight and torment of his nearness. How could she go back and be only a friend? ‘I… I’m not sure I could return to London.’

‘Can you not consider it? I should have realised earlier that it isn’t ties of blood, but the love and care one shows for another that makes for true family. The love and care of my foster parents, who raised and cherished a penniless infant of unknown heritage. The love and care of friends who saved my life at Badajoz and continue to support and defend me. It seems all my life, since I learned as a small boy that I’d been adopted, I’ve wondered where my real home was. Not with my foster parents, loving as they’ve been. Not as Marquess of Richland. Home, where I feel comfortable, where I feel able to be just myself—is with you. With you, I know who I am.’

Before her astonished eyes, he dropped to one knee. ‘I made an utter botch of my previous proposal, but I shall try to do better this time. It took only a couple of weeks without you to make me realise that only with you beside me will I ever be truly “settled”. You hold my heart, all of it, now and forever. I love you, sweet Emma, with dirt under your fingernails and a tart comment on your lips. Oh, those lips—how I burn to taste them every day for the rest of my life! I want you beside me, whether in London or Stratton Hall or Harding Glen. I know you care for me—I hope you can learn to love me. Will you come with me as my wife, and make wherever I am truly a home?’

Though everything within her shouted at her to say ‘yes’, she made herself say, ‘But you can’t marry a disgraced woman. We wouldn’t be received by Society. You have a place, a position to uphold. And…you needn’t worry about my future. Aunt Felicia is going to leave Tricklebook to me, so I will always have a home.’