by Jane Charles
“Luncheon will be served shortly, if anyone still has an appetite,” Bianca announced with a tight smile.
Hannah continued to watch Ashton who hadn’t even bothered to come forward and greet her. Her throat tightened as her heart began to pound.
Roxburg pressed a snifter of brandy into her hand and it was then that she realized that most everyone who had already been present were also partaking. Nobody drank brandy in the afternoon unless circumstances were dire.
“I see you’ve met your brother,” Sam announced.
“It would have been nice if you or Roxburg had warned me,” Ashton ground out.
Was he upset that he had a brother? Unless…oh dear. His father had fathered a child by someone else. Though she was aware of the circumstances of Isabella and Bianca’s birth, most people were not happy to learn that they had a bastard sibling. However, Ashton welcomed his cousins. Was he simply angry that this man was a closer relation than that of the Valentines?
Bianca quickly stepped forward to make the introductions.
“Hill was my mothers, name,” the brother explained.
“Grell Hill Plantation,” she muttered.
“Yes, she and the man who fathered me made it their home,” Mr. Hill explained. “She and I did anyway, when he was in England.”
Roxburg produced a chair. “Please have a seat, Lady Hannah.”
She glanced up at him. If they wanted her to sit, then it was very bad news that she was about to receive. “I’d rather stand, thank you.” She then looked to Ashton again. “What has happened?” she demanded. Something terrible or they wouldn’t be looking at her as if she might collapse.
It was then that Ashton explained that he did not own the plantation as everyone had previously believed. As such, he had no idea how he would find the funds to pay Mr. Palmer. As he spoke, Miss Palmer paled, but Mr. Hill took her hand in his.
Odd that. Why would she allow such familiarity if she was going to marry Ashton in the end?
As his words sank in, Hannah also slipped into the chair.
“Miss Palmer and I are in agreement that we do not want to marry the other.”
Hannah took a sip of the brandy when she realized that their wants meant nothing if the debt could not be paid.
“Can Palmer truly force you to marry his daughter?” Isabella asked.
“No,” Ashton answered.
“Palmer was counting on Wingate panicking at the amount of debt and do Palmer’s bidding to be free,” Mr. Hill explained. “But he cannot force Wingate to marry.”
“He assumed that given my precarious financial situation I’d be happy to marry an heiress since gentlemen do so when necessary in England and he assumed I’d be no different.”
“He’s threatened prison if you cannot pay,” Jillian stated. “Would he truly make good on this threat?”
“Yes,” Mr. Hill answered. “He’s done so before and he’d most certainly do so now.”
Hannah frowned. “I’ve heard speak of debtors’ prison and what lords should be sent there, but it’s hardly ever done, if ever,” she reminded them. “Lords simply aren’t forced to do so, unlike a commoner in similar circumstances.”
“That is in England, Lady Hannah,” Mr. Hill advised. “Mr. Palmer will happily see Wingate rot until he agrees to give his daughter a title. He’s seen men rot in prison for lesser reasons and nobody would stand against him.”
She was going to be ill and in fear of tossing up her accounts, Hannah set the brandy aside.
“So, you will need to marry Miss Palmer,” she finally acknowledged aloud as the pleasant dreams of her future slipped away.
“No, Hannah. I will marry only you.” He looked to Mr. Hill. “Besides, she loves my brother and he her. I will not stand in the way of their happiness.”
“Except, Palmer will never allow Francine to marry me. Not only am I not the marquess, but I am a bastard as well.”
He stated it in such a nonchalant manner that Hannah assumed the circumstances of his birth mattered little to Mr. Hill, other than it prevented him from marrying Miss Palmer.
She glanced to Ashton. “You intend to allow Palmer to put you in prison?”
“If necessary,” he acknowledged. “However, we are still trying to find a way out of this madness.”
If he was going to be sent to prison, in Barbados, then Hannah decided then and there that she’d not return to England until he was free. To do so would leave her vulnerable to her mother and Danby, and Hannah refused to marry anyone else.
Of course, she could marry him before he was imprisoned, then Palmer couldn’t force the marriage. Except, it might enrage him more and he could possibly trump up charges so that Ashton was never free, not that she knew how he would do so. She only knew that everyone swore that Palmer was not to be trusted.
“What are you thinking?” Ashton asked. “You left us in your thoughts?”
Her face heated. “No, I was simply considering ramifications of our marriage and your imprisonment, though I wish I could find a solution.
It was then that he finally crossed the room to stand before her and placed a hand on her shoulder. “We’ll figure out a way. Somehow, we will find a way out of my father’s mess.”
She looked up into his blue eyes, searching for signs of confidence that he believed what he said but found none.
“We can loan you the funds,” Samuel offered. “After using Hannah’s dowry, you don’t need much more.”
Ashton pulled away. “That will be a last resort, but I thank you.”
He returned to the opposite side of the room and took up his glass of brandy once again.
Why distance himself from her, unless he feared that they may be permanently separated. If so, she’d not allow it.
“I’ve read through the agreement and contracts several times, but cannot find an escape,” Mr. Hill announced.
“May I,” Hannah found herself offering.
“Hannah, Mr. Hill is a solicitor and man of business, if he cannot find a way out of this, how can you,” Sam condescended.
Hannah stood. “Perhaps a new set of eyes and a fresh perspective.” With that she marched to the sitting area. “Do you have the documents with you?”
Mr. Hill gathered up the papers strewn across the table and handed them to her.
“Thank you.” She marched back to her seat.
“Shall we adjourn to the dining room for luncheon,” Bianca asked.
Those gathered glanced around and Hannah suspected nobody had much of an appetite, but soon they stirred from their seats and followed Bianca and Roxburg.
As much as she wished to read the documents now, Hannah set them aside and joined the others. Even though Mr. Hill couldn’t find answers within, she was certain she would. Though what it would be, she didn’t yet know, but an answer would come to her. It had to.
Chapter 26
There was more pushing food about the plate than eating, Ashton observed. He certainly had no appetite and was not certain he would again. Not until this business was behind him, but as much as he had read the agreement his father had signed, he had found no way out.
Perhaps he should enjoy the meal and any other meals he received because he was quite certain prison food would be less than appetizing.
“Despite the circumstances, Mr. Hill, it is my pleasure to meet you,” Isabella announced.
He simply nodded in acknowledgement.
“Though I find it odd that Wingate, the former Wingate, acknowledged you as he’d not do the same for his sister’s children.”
Ashton nearly winced at the bitterness in her tone.
“I’ve no answer for why he did so, other than I was his son,” Mr. Hill offered.
“And I was merely a niece,” she said with irritation.
“Isabella,” Bianca warned. “We both know the way of things. We are lucky that the family we do have no longer deny us the relation.”
“Yes, of course, you are correct,” Isabella said with
reluctance.
It was Roxburg who leaned back in his chair and studied Hill. “She’s right. While he tried to hide the fact that the Valentine children existed, he made no such denial of you.”
Hill started to color under his censure. “I wasn’t aware you had met the man who fathered me.”
“Not in Barbados, no, but I had in England.” Then Roxburg leaned forward. “In fact, when I first arrived and purchased my plantation, I was told that if I needed a man of business or solicitor that I should call on you.”
“Which you did,” Hill acknowledged.
“I had also been told that you were Wingate’s son. At first I was surprised, as I thought I was aware of all his children.”
“Yes well. Those were the English children,” Hill tried to make light of the matter.
“It was a short time later I learned the truth, yet it was no secret as to who you were to Wingate, the former Wingate, and he openly acknowledged you as his son.”
“There was no point in hiding the fact. This isn’t a large community and he was often seen in my mother’s company when he visited. In fact, I’d be surprised if there was a single soul who didn’t know of our connection, and despite the circumstances, when on the island, he referred to me as his son, as if there was no disgrace in my birth.”
“When I first questioned my housekeeper, she admitted that Wingate was quite proud of his son and often bragged about your accomplishments and that he had great hopes for you. His only regret was that his oldest son would not be the heir.” Roxburg shook his head and frowned. “I’d forgotten the conversation until now. Had I remembered, when I met Isabella and wished to marry her, and he objected, I would have pointed out the hypocrisy of his words.”
“It wasn’t necessary, and best forgotten,” Isabella insisted. “Besides, it was the former Duke of Eldridge who had objected the most.”
Roxburg frowned. “No, the former Wingate also paid me a visit, after the others. We had words, but there was nothing he could do to sway me.” He smiled at his wife.
“It appears you are the son father really wanted all along,” Eve piped in with a grin. “I daresay, he never approved of the rest of his children. In fact, I’m quite certain he didn’t like any of us.”
“I’m certain you are mistaken,” Mr. Hill politely argued.
“No, she isn’t,” Ashton confirmed. “He hated our mother and we were a product of a miserable marriage. The necessary heir and such. He hated being in England. He hated his duties. He wanted to be here.”
Eve leaned back as if realizations were just coming to her, as they were to Ashton.
“Do you think he let everything go, not caring, because he hated his circumstance?”
Ashton shrugged. “He certainly was unhappy, a tyrant, and nothing was ever good enough. I wouldn’t be surprised if he intentionally ruined everything that he had inherited out of some form of spite against his father.”
“It certainly makes sense to me,” Eve added. “In fact, the only person I recall him ever caring about was Aunt Corliss and him telling me once that he felt sorry for her because she’d been denied the only thing she’d ever wanted, as had he.”
“Even if he intentionally allowed his properties in England to run to ruin, that doesn’t explain why he allowed the same to occur here,” Sam offered. “Especially if this was the place he wished to be and the family he truly wanted relied on the plantation.”
“If what you are saying is true,” Mr. Hill added. “Though, I’m not saying it is, perhaps he miscalculated in England and allowed the losses to be too grand to assist in Barbados.”
“Except that was fifteen years ago. Father would have been completely ruined in England if his finances were so poor then.”
“I’ve no answer.” Mr. Hill shrugged. “Other than he miscalculated or in truth, he simply made poor decisions.”
“Or, he no longer cared,” Eve offered.
“We could probably spend hours trying to decide why Father made the decisions he had when in truth, it matters not as it does not change our current circumstances,” Ashton finally announced.
After they returned to the sitting room, Hannah retrieved the documents so that she could read them for herself and found a seat behind a desk with good lighting.
The legal wording was enough to nearly give her a headache, which grew as she read, unable to find anything that would free Ashton from Palmer, until she came across an addendum.
Her heart started to pound, and she quickly re-read the document, but she was not mistaken and one simple phrase might be her answer.
“Why are you smiling?” Ashton asked.
She glanced up.
“I think I’ve found your answer.”
He and Hill both frowned.
“We’ve read through the documents quite carefully but read nothing that would release me,” Ashton said.
“Sam and I did as well,” Roxburg offered.
“Well, I believe I did.”
Ashton and Mr. Hill quickly crossed to where she was seated, and Hannah traced her finger beneath the line with the words that she believed could change everything.
“Bloody hell!” Ashton stated in amazement. “Perhaps Father did know exactly what he was doing when he signed this document.”
“I’m certain he could not foresee the future, but his intent was clearly to prevent Palmer from getting the only thing he ever wanted.”
Hannah glanced up at Ashton. “Do you think it will work?”
He took the documents and showed them to Sam and Roxburg who, after reading, started to laugh.
“I can’t wait to be present when he learns.”
“Would someone please tell me what is going on?” Miss Palmer insisted.
With that, Roxburg read the words Hannah had located.
Miss Palmer’s eyes widened, but slowly she began to smile. “He is still using me, but I find I no longer care.”
Mr. Hill turned toward her. “You won’t say anything until Wingate can take the information to him, will you?”
She shook her head. “No. I don’t want him to find another way to keep us apart.”
“I’m still a bastard, that is enough as far as your father is concerned.”
“It matters not to me. I’ll run away if I must.”
“You’ve suggested that before and I will not allow you to do so,” Mr. Hill insisted.
“We may not have a choice.”
“If it comes to that,” Ashton announced. “I promise that you will always be welcome at Maywood Manor.”
Where, if all went well, Hannah would reside as well.
Chapter 27
The secret had held for nearly a fortnight. Ashton even called on Miss Palmer often enough that Mr. Palmer assumed that Ashton had accepted the inevitable and he announced that a ball would be held in his daughter’s honor to announce her betrothal.
Ashton never agreed to the betrothal and reminded Palmer that he still had two months to find the funds in order to pay the debt.
Palmer laughed, often in his face, because he knew that Ashton could not do so, especially when he made a point of informing Ashton that he already knew that Ashton didn’t own the estate, but that the worthless bastard son did.
With each meeting, Ashton hated Palmer more and more, but he continued to take supper with the father and daughter and he and Francine came to know each other very well. She was not the timid and shy woman he had assumed her to be. Not that it had changed his mind about marrying her. The two of them would never suit, but he was glad to come to know his brother’s future wife and they would soon be family.
When he and Miss Palmer took drives, it was often to meet Milan so that the two of them could see one another. However, Ashton was never far away for fear that they’d be caught or seen by someone who would report back to Palmer, but no one had. For a fortnight, the information that Hannah had discovered remained a secret among those who had been in the parlor that afternoon and now they were about to ascen
d on Palmer’s home where the ball he insisted upon having was taking place.
“What is he doing here?” Palmer pointed to Hill as the two entered, along with Eve.
“He is my brother,” Ashton stated, as if he didn’t understand the concern.
“He was not invited,” Palmer hissed.
“As he is my family, I invited him, given the importance of this evening.” It was all he could do not to smile at the shock their host was soon to receive.
For a moment Palmer stared at him with narrow eyes. “Maybe he should be here. Then maybe he’ll stop sniffing around my daughter’s skirts.”
Ashton looked to Hill with amusement. “Is that what you’ve been doing?”
“He won’t leave her alone,” Palmer complained.
“You know that isn’t the case,” Hill ground out.
“I’ve eyes and ears all over this town but soon, she’ll be removed from you for good.” He turned his focus to Ashton. “And, if you wish to avoid being cuckolded, I advise keeping your wife away from the likes of him.”
Ashton laughed. “Yes, I’ll remember that.” He turned to Hill. “Please don’t sniff around my wife’s skirts and all will be well.”
“Bloody bastard,” Hill whispered as they removed themselves from Palmer.
“Are you referring to me or him?” Ashton laughed. Oh, he was enjoying this evening far too much and just prayed all concluded as he planned.
“Both of you. His arrogance and your insinuation that I’d even think about sniffing any skirts.”
To that Ashton merely chuckled. “Had I a concern, we’d be having a much more serious discussion.”
Across the room, he noted Hannah standing with her brothers. She was paler than usual, but of course, she worried over much. Not far away stood Francine, who also was a bit pale. Then again, there was a lot riding on this evening and if they a failed, all their futures would be upended. But, just in case, the trunks were already packed so that Hill and Francine could run away if necessary, so they could be together. Ashton would not run, but face the consequences of his father’s decision, even though the Storm twins and Roxburg had insisted that he be prepared to leave.
