A Lady for the Brazen Earl: A Historical Regency Romance Book

by Bridget Barton

  “But you are the Earl, my dear.”

  “Mother, the title means nothing if the man who holds it cares for none other but himself. You raised me in selfishness, and it is to my shame that I took that teaching without question. It has taken a woman who was previously a stranger and my younger sister to turn me around fully and faithfully in another direction altogether.”

  “Again, you talk of that Pennington woman!” Veronica spat the words angrily. “And all of this is her fault. If only she had let you be and not tried so hard to win your approval.”

  “And again, you have it wrong, Mother. Imogen Pennington did never once try to win my approval. And why would she have? She did, quite rightly, despise me as a boring, selfish, and entitled man. And yet it was easier for you to blame her, even now it is easier for you to blame her. If only you could see that she has changed me for the better.”

  “For the better? Do you think an Earl should spend his time ladling soup for paupers? Or perhaps you would like to scrape out every penny from our coffers and hand it out to people who are too lazy to work?” Veronica was returning to her old self and was settling into the fight like a true professional.

  “And have we not been handed money that we were too lazy to work for? Just because we have not had to ask for it, does not make it somehow more noble. And you assume too much, as have I all these years. The poor do not choose to be poor. They do not choose to be born into a lifetime of work that results in nothing but hardship. For the most part, they work tirelessly for little more than food and the most meagre of roofs over their head, if they are lucky.”

  “She has turned you,” Veronica said dismissively.

  “I am not going to argue this with you a moment longer. It is not worth my time and effort to speak to a woman who will never spend a single minute in self-reflection. I have never heard you apologize for as long as I have lived, and I do not expect that you will do so now, however much the situation warrants it. But you must expect some very great changes when we return to the country. I shall always provide for you, Mother, but I shall not have you in my life. The moment we return home, you are to move into the Dower house on the edge of the estate. You will not have the freedom of Reddington Hall.”

  “But I am not the Dowager. You are not yet married, and I am still the Countess.”

  “Well then wish me luck, Mother, for I am determined to return to Regent’s Park this very night and ask for Imogen Pennington’s hand in marriage.”

  “And you will regret it for the rest of your life.” And with that Veronica clearly knew that she had lost; she scrambled to her feet and darted out of the room.

  “Then I shall wish you luck, Brother,” Prudence said before throwing her arms around her brother’s neck and kissing his cheek.

  “Good heavens, I had not expected to see you again this evening, Lord Reddington. I do hope that nothing has gone wrong,” Adeline said with a voice full of concern.

  “No, nothing has gone wrong, Lady Redmond. All is now dealt with, and I am confident there shall not be a resurrection of any such plan again.”

  “Well, I must admit myself very glad to hear it,” Adeline said and let out a great sigh of relief. “And so, you must be here to speak to Imogen. I am right, am I not?” Adeline fixed him with a knowing look.

  “If she is still awake, yes,” Heath said feeling suddenly nervous.

  “She has been in her room for a short while, but I know that she has not put herself to bed. Stay here in the drawing room, and I shall see if she will come down.” Adeline turned to leave the drawing room and stopped for a brief moment to take his hand and silently squeeze it before leaving.

  By the time Imogen had made her way into the drawing room, Heath felt a nervous wreck. So much had happened in that day, and he had not expected for a moment that he would make so speedy and determined a proposal. And yet he could do no other; he felt drawn, almost propelled, to do the thing, and he knew he would not rest until he had asked her.

  “Excuse me for a moment, I must just speak with Simmons. I shall only be gone a few minutes,” Adeline said and hastily retreated from the drawing room.

  “Heath, is there something wrong?” Imogen said, looking tired but very much less tense than she had been before the Duke had made his scandalous visit.

  “No, there is nothing wrong at all. Nothing in the world,” Heath said and knew that he must ask his question before he lost his courage. “Imogen, I know that I have not always been your ally in this world, but I should like to be that now. And not just now, but for the rest of our lives.” He had not finished his sentence before he realized she knew exactly what he was about to ask her. “Imogen, would you do me the honour of becoming my wife?”

  “Oh, Heath,” she said, and her beautiful blue eyes filled with tears.

  “Does that mean you will?” he said, desperate for her answer.

  “I am so sorry, Heath. I cannot marry you.”

  As Adeline cautiously made her way back into the room, Heath could only watch in desolation as the tears rolled down Imogen’s face.

  “Forgive me,” she said and darted away into the dark corridor.

  Chapter 31

  “How pleased I am that you are home again, Adeline. Do tell me everything the attorney said. Do we have a building? Have we finally made it?” Imogen was already on her feet.

  She had been sitting in the window seat of the drawing room gazing sadly out across Regent’s Park all morning and had missed her friend dreadfully. Ordinarily, Imogen would have gone with Adeline for a meeting so very important; after all, it was undoubtedly the culmination of the efforts of the last month.

  However, Imogen had been laid very low in the days which had followed Heath’s proposal. Even as she had said the words to him, she could hardly believe that she had so quickly turned him down. After all, she knew her feelings for him to be great, despite all that had passed between them in the early days.

  “I am afraid it is not quite as simple as we had hoped, my dear,” Adeline said, and her pained expression told Imogen very clearly that her dear friend did not want to say anything else that would upset her.

  “Has something happened, Adeline?” Imogen said as Adeline settled herself down into her armchair after ringing the bell for tea.

  “Yes, I am rather afraid it has.”

  “Do not spare me the details. I am quite well, Adeline, and I must know. What has happened?”

  “The attorney has made three attempts to purchase the building in Southwark on our behalf. However, he was immediately told that the building was no longer for sale. However, subsequent inquiries have revealed that the building is still for sale. It would simply seem that it is not for sale to us.”

  “You mean the Parish Authority have had some hand in things? Surely there can be no other reason?”

  “I have no doubt that the Parish Authority has had some hand in it. Perhaps not directly, but think of all the businesses in the area who are set to have lowered profits if they are forced to pay proper wages.”

  “So, we shall never be able to prove it. There are hundreds of businesses in South London, thousands even. We shall never be able to find out who exactly brought pressure to bear.”

  “That is precisely as the attorney put it to me.”

  “Then we must simply look to another borough. We must look a little further afield.”

  “Unfortunately, the business world moves a little quicker than we had anticipated, and word has spread far and wide. We cannot attempt to buy a building for ourselves, and our attorney is now well known to be acting on behalf of our charitable trust. We would not, the attorney fears, be able to secure a property within a twenty-mile radius of Southwark.”

  “But there would be little point in going so far away,” Imogen said and felt the ready tears springing to her eyes. “We would simply be building a shelter in a wealthy borough of London. They have destroyed us.”

  “It certainly feels that way at the moment, but we must not
give up hope.”

  “Adeline, you must see as I do that there is no hope. We cannot overcome this.”

  “We must not give up. Today we let the awful news settle in. We get angry, and we grieve, and we come to terms with it. And then tomorrow we get up, and we start again. That is all there is to it, Imogen.”

  “I can hardly believe this is happening.” Tears rolled down Imogen’s face.

  “Come here.” Adeline was on her feet and had her arms around Imogen in a heartbeat. “It is too much, especially now. You have enough to tear at your heart without adding this disappointment to it. In truth, I hardly wanted to come home for I could not bear to be the bringer of such awful news. I cannot bear the truth that I am here now adding to your pain.”

  “But we are both in pain, Adeline,” Imogen said so quietly she could hardly be heard.

  “Imogen, you know what I am talking about.”

  “I have made my decision, and I shall not lie; it was not an easy one to either make or to live with afterward. But it is made, and I have my reasons.”

  “But you have not talked about those reasons. You did not tell him why you would not marry him when even I was convinced that you would, and you did not tell me, although heaven knows that you do not owe me any explanations. And yet, at the same time, I should very much wish to know. I should very much like to be able to help you, to do something that would make it better instead of being the person who has walked in this drawing-room and made it worse.”

  “I know I should have given him a reason but could not say it. I could not quite put it into words for I hardly knew what it was myself. It was only afterward when I came to think about it that I realized that it was something that I have known all along.”

  “And what was that?”

  “One of the reasons I have hardened my heart to Heath Montgomery these last weeks, ever since I have met him in fact, has been because I knew, always knew, that I would fall in love with him. I knew I would fall in love with him as I would fall in love with no other man in my life.”

  “But that is a reason to marry, not a reason to reject him,” Adeline said, and Imogen could see the spark of hope in her dear friend’s face.

  “Not if I wish to continue to live my life in a certain way. There is a very great reason why I became so annoyed with the idea that charity work simply fills my time as I wait for a suitable husband. And that reason is that I would not wish to relinquish my charity work.”

  “It is understandable that you would want to continue to help even when you are a married woman. But I am sure that many married ladies continue to work in charity. Look at Mrs. Forsdyke and the other ladies who help.”

  “And you, of course. Lord Redmond never put a stop to your activities.”

  “But if I am truthful my activities have increased greatly since he passed away. I suppose it is that I had more time.”

  “And that is what I do not want to relinquish. And as much as Heath has changed these last weeks, and as commendable as that has been, I cannot believe he has changed so much that he, as an Earl, would be happy to entertain the idea of a wife who spent so much of her week carrying on much as I carry on now. Even though we have suffered this dreadful blow, even though I say there is no hope, I shall not truly give up. I should do exactly as you say and grieve this one day, rising up tomorrow morning renewed and ready to begin the fight again. That is because this is how I wish to spend my life. I know that I cannot truly give myself to a man whom I do not trust to allow me to continue.”

  “But you have made so great a decision based on what you do not know,” Adeline said quite incredulously. “You have decided that Heath Montgomery would deny you the right to continue as you are without even asking him. Ought he not to at least be given the opportunity to tell you for certain one way or the other? After all the effort he has put in, is he to be dismissed summarily?”

  “I would not wish to dismiss him so, but I would not wish to blackmail him either. I know that he loves me; I have no doubt of it. And I trust him now in a way that I never thought I ever possibly could. I could not bear to lay the ultimatum before him and hear him tell me no. It would destroy everything I have come to feel for him in these last weeks; it would destroy my good thoughts and memories.”

  “And so, it is better to torture yourself with the thought of a lost love. It is better to live out your life in unhappiness?”

  “But do you not see that I would be unhappy if I could no longer continue my work?”

  “I know that to be true, for I know what is in your heart. And I know how much you love Heath Montgomery. Surely there is a case to be made for at least having this conversation with him. Look at how he has changed these last weeks; surely you cannot think him entirely immovable, especially when the subject has not even been broached. I would beg you to reconsider, Imogen. And I would beg you to do so for your own sake. I love you dearly as if you were my very own daughter, and it will break my heart to see you unhappy, especially if there is even the tiniest hope that it can be avoided.”

  “Adeline, I am so tired. I cannot even think in a straight line anymore; it is as if these last days have held so much disappointment and pain.”

  “Perhaps you cannot think of it now, my dear, but I would urge you to think about it as soon as you are able. As soon as you are able,” Adeline repeated her words firmly.

  “I think I shall retire for a little while, then I promise you I will think about it,” Imogen said and seemed to drift out of the room as if she was simply a ghost.

  “Lord knows I have tried to make her see sense, my dear boy, because I know that she loves you.” The very next morning, Adeline met with Heath Montgomery in Lamont’s Coffee House in Kensington.

  He had arrived early, having received Adeline’s message the night before. The coffee house seemed curiously very much smaller when it was empty. There had been but two or three other people seated in it when he had arrived, far from the great throng which seemed to have squeezed its way in through the doors to listen to Imogen speak.

  He thought vaguely that it ought really to make the room look bigger to have fewer people in it, although he knew his musings were simply a way to keep his mind off his own desolation. As nervous as he had been on his speedy ride back across to Regent’s Park that night, he had never expected that she would turn him down. Part of him had thought that she might beg some time to think, but when Imogen had turned him down outright, rejected him so instantly, Heath had to admit to himself that he had been entirely surprised.

  “If she loves me, Lady Redmond, why did she turn me away? Why did she not at least think about my proposal?”

  “You must already have noticed that Imogen is not quite as other young ladies are. She does not attend to her work simply as a means of filling her time. It is not a hobby to her; rather, it is a great passion and almost a compulsion.”

  “Yes, I have long since realized that, Lady Redmond. You will know, of course, that I made a grave error of accusing her of doing just that. Of biding her time until a suitable husband came along. But even then, I knew it was not the truth; I was a victim of my own jealousy when I was stupid enough to think that there might be any hope for the Duke of Dalton in securing her hand. If only I had not spoken so foolishly. Tell me, she still blames me for it, does she not?”

  “No, Heath. She was angry at the time, but she has forgiven you. No, it is not that.”

  “Then what is it? Lady Redmond, I would beg you put me out of my misery. Whatever it is, I must hear it.”

  Heath felt almost as if he were not quite living in the same world in the days which had followed her rejection. He knew that he would spend the rest of his life alone, knowing that he could never love another even half as much as he loved Imogen. In truth, he could not believe how badly things had gone.

  He had wandered about his Belgravia mansion as if in a dream with Prudence hardly daring to speak lest she upset him any further. When he had admitted to his neglect of Prudence and
firmly asserted that he would ask Imogen to marry him, Heath had never felt more sure of anything in his life. And he had never felt so free and so happy, thinking that everything had all come right at once. Little had he known that within the hour all of that would be dashed against the rocks. He had tried to tell Prudence what had happened and had seen the pity in her eyes. The whole thing had been quite unbearable.

  “And I shall tell you, Heath, for I do not think the situation irredeemable. That being said, I do not wish to raise your hopes so high and find myself in error.”

  “I understand entirely, Lady Redmond. But you simply must tell me.”

  “As much as Imogen loves you, and I know that she does for she has told me so, she loves her work also. And although you have changed much in your opinion in so short a space of time, she is quite convinced that you would not allow her to continue in her charitable work when the two of you are married.”