Unwrapping a Rogue: A Christmas Regency Boxset

by Samantha Holt

  His words stayed with her, however. She knew well enough that few marriages amongst the ton were as happy as her own parents’, but she refused to believe that accepting that unhappy marriages warranted such behavior could ever improve the unhappy ones. Freddie had experience of life that she would never have. His disillusionment with love and commitment made Maryanne even more sure that it was something she would never compromise upon, even if it meant she remained alone forever.

  Chapter Eight

  As Freddie walked towards The Old Bailey to attend Callender’s trial, he couldn’t stop recalling every word of their conversation. Every tilt of her head, every flash of her eyes, every accusatory syllable was branded upon his memory. He had done as he had said he would, he had arranged for Mr Cooley to approach Mrs Callender to offer her the position at Elmesley. The solicitor had informed Freddie that she had been delighted to accept and had already set out for Derbyshire where she would make her new home, away from the scandal that had followed her husband’s exposure.

  Yet, he still felt as though there was more he should do, more he had to do. He hated that Maryanne thought so little of him. He had brought that upon himself, of course, as much as Callender had brought his fate upon himself too. Freddie realized that he had been living in a prison of his own making. He had convinced himself he was happy, living the life he had chosen, but now when he saw what could have been his, he knew he had been a fool.

  He would never be able to recover Maryanne’s good favor. He had sunk too low in her estimations and she had as good as told him that she could never marry a man she didn’t trust and that she did not trust him. Freddie could almost feel his heart breaking all over again. He knew now just what he had give up, life with the most passionate, bravest. and kindest woman he would ever know because of his own cowardice.

  She deserved so much better than him. It hurt to know he was entirely responsible for her feelings towards him. He had been in the perfect place. They had been the very best of friends. They were a perfect match. Their estates would only be stronger by their joining. Their families would have been delighted at the match. But, more importantly, they had been so alike. They had wished for the same things and had both cared about those around them. They had been so full of plans for how they would improve the lives of their servants and the workers upon their estates once they came into their inheritances. None of it was to be now.

  “I’m surprised to see you here,” Mr Pooley said as he greeted Freddie at the doors of the courthouse.

  “I could not stay away,” Freddie admitted. He hoped that being here for Callender’s trial would help him to resolve some of the questions in his head. Why had Maryanne trusted this rat over him? How had he won her heart? However, he also wished to be sure that the trial was fair as he had told Maryanne. Callender had done bad things and deserved to be punished, but given that all of London was calling for his neck in a noose, Freddie was concerned that the outcome had already been decided.

  Freddie wasn’t surprised to see Maryanne seated in the gallery, a large hat with a dark veil covering her face. He moved to sit beside her. “You need to see this to the end too?”

  “I did,” she admitted. “I still find it hard to believe that it is true. I know that all of London is calling him a cad and a bounder but not long ago nobody did. He was respected, even if he wasn’t accepted amongst the highest circles of society.”

  “I know. None of us at White’s would have considered him a bad man. It only proves just how many of us walk around keeping secrets from the world,” Freddie said, knowingly. Under the veil, he could see Maryanne looking at him with narrowed eyes. “I’m not accusing you of doing so,” he said with a nervous chuckle. “More that there are few of us with pristine enough pasts to be able to not wish at least a part of them away.”

  “There are parts of your life you hide?” Maryanne said drily. “Goodness, given those you show, I dread to think what they might be.”

  He was sure she was teasing, but it didn’t feel that way. Had he really developed such a dreadful reputation, that she couldn’t see past it? Could she not see that he was still a good man underneath it all, one who felt guilt and shame, and fear and trepidation just like any other?

  He was saved from replying by the court being called to order. Freddie watched as Callender was brought into the dock. He looked thinner, smaller and meeker than Freddie remembered him. He stood up when asked and gave his plea.

  “Guilty,” he said, “and to those present here today, that I have defrauded or hurt in any way, I am most truly sorry.”

  “There will be time for that later,” the Judge said peremptorily. “Sit down.”

  Freddie sighed. At least he had been prepared to accept responsibility for his actions. Freddie felt the tension from his body begin to recede. This dreadful affair would soon be behind them all and Callender might yet avoid the noose. Mr Cooley had been sure that a guilty plea and genuine remorse would bring hope.

  Freddie was surprised by the sheer numbers of people that had come forward to make their claim. One by one, each of them detailed the funds that Callender had obtained from them and under what pretenses. As the evidence of the man’s perfidy grew, Freddie grew more and more incensed. These men coming forward were not disgruntled gamblers who’d been duped. They were respectable men of business and it was clear that they feared for their reputations and their enterprises. More than one could sink without a trace due to the funds they were owed by Callender.

  “He deserves to hang, doesn’t he,” Maryanne whispered as yet another of them came forward. “He has lied and cheated all of these people.” She stood suddenly, and hurried from the courtroom, unable to hear any more. Freddie was surprised she had stayed so long. Maryanne was such a good person. He had no doubt that she was blaming herself for not having seen Callender’s guilt earlier and putting a stop to all this hardship.

  Freddie wanted to stay and see the man receive his just desserts, but Maryanne needed him. He followed her out of the courtroom and ran down the stairs, his eyes seeking a glimpse of her dark gown. He did not see her anywhere. He hurried out of the court onto the steps outside. She had nearly reached the street.

  Freddie caught up with her a little way down the road. Without a word, he took her by the arm and steered her along the street and into a small coffee house. He pushed her to a small table in the corner and called for the server to bring them refreshments. “It isn’t your fault,” he said, taking hold of her hand and not letting it go, even when she tried to pull away from him. “Maryanne, dear Maryanne, you could not possibly have known.”

  “But I should have,” she said.

  “Why? When men who had worked with him and known him far longer did not?” Freddie asked. He knew there was little point in trying to flatter or cajole. Maryanne needed to be given rational and logical reasons for why such a thing could occur so she could put the pieces together and hopefully absolve herself.

  “But I knew him... or at least I thought I did.” She took off her hat and removed her veil. Her eyes were red and puffy from weeping, but she was still the most beautiful woman Freddie had ever known. “I should have seen it. I should have known.”

  “Callender is clearly very skilled. He did not practice to create a mere fudge. He openly set out to deceive.”

  “I feel such a flat,” Maryanne said dully.

  “You are not alone,” Freddie said. “Callender duped almost everyone in London. You just saw that. He gammoned you, me, and half the merchants in town.”

  “I know and I can see that it isn’t my fault, but I should have seen. I should,” Maryanne insisted. “I have defended him to my parents, to friends, and those who told me to beware. I dismissed them all and told them they were the ones talking nonsense. I feel such a fool.”

  “Darling Maryanne,” Freddie said, moving close enough so he could put his arm around her shoulder and pull him close to her. He knew it was not proper for him to do so, but right now Maryanne need
ed a brother or at the very least the friend he should have always been for her. “You are many things but a fool is not one of them. You have been a little naïve, perhaps, but you have never been a fool. You are quite the cleverest and most wonderful woman I have ever known.”

  “You are just saying that to try and placate me,” Maryanne said, but she nestled into his side, tucking her head against Freddie’s chest.

  “Oh, indeed, but it is also true,” Freddie said, lifting her chin and forcing her to look him in the eye. “Lady Maryanne Colbert you are the most annoying, the most difficult, and the most infuriating woman of my acquaintance, but, you are also good and kind. I cannot think of a soul alive who deserves your love. You are too good for us all.”

  “I am most assuredly not,” Maryanne said, pulling away from him and moving her chair just a little further away so he could not be so forward again. “But it is nice of you to say so, though I shall try my best to ignore the nasty things you just said and remember the good ones.” She smiled and Freddie knew he had achieved his goal. She had stopped blaming herself and was able to see things with her clever eyes and a clear heart. He need not fret over her any longer.

  After their coffee, he saw her into a hackney carriage and set off to White’s. It had been a long day and he knew that there would be a lot of men discussing Callender’s court case there. He needed to know what had happened after he’d left. He wasn’t sure what he wanted the outcome to be, but he knew that he needed to know that some kind of real justice had been served. There were so many counts against the man and he had harmed so many people’s lives.

  The club was buzzing with excited conversation when Freddie arrived. Everyone it seemed had an opinion, and everyone was determined to make sure their thoughts were heard. Freddie approached his usual table, where Harry, Geoffrey Percy and Captain Stevens were sat, in a fog of cigar smoke. “So?” he asked.

  Harry looked up. “It looks like he’ll be sent to the colonies,” he said, a wry smile playing over his lips. “I’m not sure if such a sentence is a reprieve or is worse than a swift death here and now.”

  “No, I’m not either,” admitted Freddie. “When you read the stories of how dreadful the transport ships are and the disease men face.”

  “He’ll survive. Rats on ships always do, don’t they?” Captain Stevens said with a sardonic smile.

  “Let’s hope it doesn’t go down then,” Percy added. “For we all know that rats leave a sinking ship. I’d not want to see that man again and I’d not like to answer for my actions should I do so.”

  “Nor I,” echoed Harry, Captain Stevens, and a coterie of men around them.

  Freddie did not echo their sentiments out loud, but he nodded. Maryanne was avenged. Callender would not receive an easy, swift death. He would not hang, but he would learn the very hardship he had sought to avoid and in the most brutal of ways. The more he pondered it, the more Freddie was sure that the court had passed the perfect sentence for a man who had done so much wrong by so many people.

  Chapter Nine

  Prinny’s end of season ball had Maryanne in a state of panic. She had not attended any of the engagements she had agreed to in weeks and she did not truly wish to attend this one, but to snub, the royal family was something even a woman in her situation could not afford to do. So, she dressed carefully in a burgundy velvet gown and made Browne pay particular attention to her hair. She rubbed a little rouge into her pale cheeks to give herself some color, and made her way downstairs.

  It was many years now since she herself had been presented at court, but she remembered it as if it were yesterday. Like today, she had been forced to attend when she would really rather not, her heartbroken and her spirit crushed. She had always imagined attending and being introduced to the King, then announcing her engagement to Freddie. It was all that had kept her going whilst she was alone in Switzerland. However, Freddie had not been himself and all her dreams had been dashed upon her return.

  No longer sure of who she was or who she might trust since Freddie had become so distant, Maryanne had sworn to never let another man dupe her into believing she was important to him again. The first and only time she had let her guard down since and she found herself in the same place she had been all those years ago. Yet, something good had come out of all this dreadful mess. She and Freddie were friends again. She did not approve of him or the way he had chosen to live his life, but even she could not deny that the sweet boy was still there within the handsome and devilish man. If only he could let down his walls and let that good and kind boy out, Maryanne thought.

  Mama and Papa joined her in the carriage and they set out for the palace. Prinny loved a party and his ball to celebrate the end of the season was always the most extravagant of affairs. There would be all manner of entertainments, from musicians and masques to fireworks and subtleties that would take the young girls’ collective breath away. Maryanne still remembered an extravagant peacock made entirely of sugar paste at her first ever ball at the palace. It had reminded her of Prinny, but also of Freddie. At least, the Freddie she had returned home to.

  In recent weeks though, he had shown that like that sugar paste fancy, Freddie’s dandyish façade was just that—a façade. He clearly cared deeply about his friends and family, even about her. Every time she had needed him, he had been there. He had looked out for her, even though she had dismissed him as the spawn of the devil and sworn never to have anything more to do with him. But though she could now see him clearly. She wasn’t sure if he saw himself. He wasn’t happy living as he did. He wasn’t that kind of man, not really.

  When they reached the palace, Maryanne made her way to the gallery to witness the presentation of the young girls who had not made their debut at the coming out ceremony at the beginning of the season. There were all manner of reasons why a girl might join the season late, ill health was common, but often it was simply because their sixteenth birthday fell just after the season commenced. Only a few selected guests were invited to attend as the girls were introduced to Prinny by their mothers.

  When she reached the gallery that looked out over the ballroom, Helena and Lord Percy were sat side by side with their eyes glued to one another, but they had saved a seat to their right for her. She sat down, clearing her throat politely to attract their attention. “Maryanne,” Helena cried, a little over-enthusiastically. The two women embraced and Lord Percy kissed the air above Maryanne’s hand. “I am so glad you came. We feared you would not.”

  “We,” Maryanne noted with an arched eyebrow. “Have we become royal or are you speaking on behalf of you both now.”

  “Don’t tease,” Helena said, pretending to be cross. “I meant all of us, not just myself and Geoffrey.”

  “All of us?” echoed Maryanne.

  “Yes, all of us,” said Freddie as he appeared to Maryanne’s right and sat down as Captain Stevens and Miss Ellington took the seats to Lord Percy’s left. “We are all glad to see you out and about again. You have been much missed.”

  He took her hand and made as if to kiss it, as politeness dictated, but instead, he turned her hand over and kissed her palm. A lover’s kiss. Maryanne felt herself color up, but, she did not say a word as he folded her fingers over the spot as if to seal it inside. She wanted to frown at him but found she could not. Her body was fizzing all over at the intimate caress and she longed for him to do it again.

  No, she told herself firmly inside her head. She did not want him to kiss her again, not like that. She was certain that she had given him no grounds to think that she might be keen to begin an affair. She was simply not that kind of woman and she knew that he did not ever consider anything more serious, as he was not that kind of man. Yet, she couldn’t help thinking of that kiss, over and over again, especially when his leg would so casually brush against hers from time to time as they watched the presentation.

  With the young girls all having received Prinny’s approval, the party could begin in earnest. Those in the gallery troo
ped into the grand ballroom below. The women were handed their dance cards and a frenzy of men seeking to gain their preferred dances with their preferred partners ensued. Maryanne was relieved by the crush as it gave her time away from Freddie, so she could clear her mind and try to rationalize why he had done that. Why had he kissed her that way? Especially as he seemed more than reluctant to claim even a single dance with her. It simply did not make any sense.

  Suddenly the grand doors at the other end of the ballroom burst open and a troupe of players emerged. They were dressed as troubadours and carried lutes along with other ancient instruments. They sang a lively tune and encouraged the young debutantes to join them in their revelries. A large maypole followed them into the ballroom carried by two young footmen. “Surely that is bad luck to have a May dance so early?” Helena whispered to Maryanne.

  “I think Prinny makes his own luck,” Freddie said. The young girls, all clad in white gowns, as they would be on Mayday morning, were each handed a ribbon that was attached to the maypole. The footmen affixed the pole in the very centre of the ballroom and then disappeared. The troubadours struck up a popular mayday tune and the girls, urged on by everyone in the room, began to weave in and out, creating a colorful latticework of ribbons around the pole. A jester seemed to be directing them, calling out the steps, and soon everyone was smiling and clapping along to the music.

  The troubadours took an extravagant bow and jubilantly kissed each of the debutantes before they disappeared back out of the room leaving their maypole where it stood. Everyone clapped loudly and some called for more. The young girls, flushed with color, looked delighted to have been a part of Prinny’s plans, even though they had not known anything of them. They had most certainly been seen as their mothers would have so wanted for them.

  Maryanne was glad that she had not been introduced at court when Prinny presided over such events. Naturally, she was a little reticent and she would have hated to have been the focus of all eyes. It was why she had avoided attending the soirees and parties in recent weeks. She did not doubt that all of the ton would have been talking about her foolishness.