“And that is all?” Heath said feeling a sudden rush of relief. Lady Redmond was right, the situation was not irredeemable.
“All? Heath, you really must think about what you say before you say it.” Not only did she chastise him verbally, but Lady Redmond suddenly reached out across the table and slapped his hand rather hard, narrowly avoiding upturning a coffee cup as she did so.
“Ouch,” he said and looked sharply at her. “What was that for?”
“It may be a simple slip of the tongue to you, Heath, but to suggest that Imogen’s fears are simple or silly, had you done so in her hearing, would have ruined your chances forever. If you have learned anything over these last weeks, Heath Montgomery, then at least let it be the ability to choose your words a little more wisely.”
“Oh, I see what you mean,” Heath said and could not help laughing.
There was something humorously bossy about Lady Redmond. For a moment, he could not help wishing his own mother had been cut from the same cloth; a woman who cared about him deeply enough to slap his hand for his own good. Not a woman who would seek to destroy his life for his own good.
“But it really is something that you must think about, Heath. You cannot say to Imogen that you will let her go on with her charitable works and think that it will be nothing more than a fundraiser every other week. As good at fundraising as she is, that is not where Imogen’s heart lies.”
“No, Imogen rolls up her sleeves and makes her hands dirty,” Heath said, remembering his own mother’s disdain at the very thought. “And I know that very well.”
“And how would you manage it? How would you manage it without demanding more and more of her time once you were married?”
“But she is who she is, Lady Redmond. It is what caused me to fall in love with her in the first place; why on earth would I seek to change any of it?”
“Would you not feel left out of things? Would you not feel yourself neglected as a husband?”
“Because my wife was occupied with her life’s passion during the day? No, I would not. I shall swear it to you now, Lady Redmond, because it is true.”
“You need not swear it to me, Heath. I can see it in your face, and I can almost feel it. You speak the truth,” she said and nodded approvingly.
“Well, it is a relief not to be slapped again, I must say,” Heath said and saw the amusement in her eyes.
“I would like to say that it is a relief not to have to slap you again, but I am afraid that I rather enjoyed it.” And with that, Lady Redmond tipped her head back and laughed heartily. And there it was, the uproarious sense of humour that he had always suspected was there.
“So, what am I to do next?” he said when Adeline had calmed considerably. “How am I to prove to her that I shall not interfere with her work at the shelter when it is running?”
“Oh, you might not have to,” Adeline said and looked sad, almost as if she had been reminded of something she had forgotten in their few minutes together.
“What do you mean?”
“Our attorney has made several attempts to buy a building in Southwark and has been turned down at every offer. The Parish Authority and the businessmen of South London seem to have spoken quite conclusively, albeit silently.”
“You mean somebody has either applied pressure to the seller of the building or the seller himself is one of the businessmen who would lose a little of his profits on account of the shelter?”
“You actually are really good at this,” Lady Redmond said and smiled at him sadly. “And although I have tried to tell Imogen that all is not lost, there will come a time when I shall have to admit to her that we have no hope of securing a building now. For a great distance around Southwark, there is not a man who would sell us a property, whatever price we offered.”
“Yes, no doubt they would not sell to you or your attorney. But that is because they know you,” Heath said and smiled broadly.
“Why on earth are you smiling?”
“Because I have a plan, my dear Lady Redmond.”
Chapter 32
“Have you thought any more about Heath Montgomery, Imogen?” Several days had passed since the two women had received the awful news that all their hard work had likely come to naught.
It was clear that Imogen had been devastated by the whole thing, and equally devastated by her own broken heart. As much as Adeline wanted to push her, she knew that she was asking too much. It was true that Imogen was a formidable fighter, a woman who had proved herself equal to the task of loosening the tightest purse strings in London. And yet, at the same time, she was a most sensitive creature.
It was her very heart and sensitivity which drew her inexorably towards the work she did. The very same heart and sensitivity which had seen her put the lives of others before her own happiness on the day that she had turned down the Earl of Reddington.
“I have thought the thing around and around, Adeline. I realize that I love him so much that if I were to ask him about my continued charity work and he said no, I might relent and marry him anyway. I cannot risk it; I cannot risk everything that I am just to satisfy my heart.”
“Imogen, I cannot help thinking that the more time you spend alone thinking about it instead of talking to the man himself, the darker the shadows you will find. But there is nothing to say that those dark shadows exist in life as they do in the imagination.”
“I understand what you are saying, Adeline. And I know that you speak from your heart with the very best of intentions for my own. I know you want me to be happy, you always have.”
“And I know you to be strong enough not to buckle just because you love somebody. You really must ask him outright. If he says no to you, I know that you will not agree to marry him anyway. After all, have you not already turned him down?”
“I just need some more time.” Imogen was hoping to seal off the conversation neatly with that simple phrase.
“It has been more than a week,” Adeline prodded gently.
At that moment, Simmons knocked the door to the drawing room and walked in.
“The Earl of Reddington to see you, My Lady,” Simmons said, addressing Adeline rather than Imogen.
“Thank you, Simmons. Please do show him up. Oh, and will you ask Violet to fetch some tea?”
“Very well, My Lady.”
“Adeline, I really cannot stay for this,” Imogen said feeling a sense of panic descend upon her.
She wondered how she would react when she set eyes on his handsome face again. When she saw his pale skin and blue eyes and dark hair, would she not just want to reach for him?
“Perhaps it is me he has come to see,” Adeline said and shrugged.
“Perhaps.” Imogen felt suddenly cornered.
“The Earl of Reddington, My Lady,” Simmons said as he walked Heath into the room.
“Thank you, Simmons,” Adeline said warmly.
“Well, do sit down, Lord Reddington.” Adeline smiled broadly and indicated the armchair opposite Imogen.
“Thank you, Lady Redmond,” he said with an easy smile as he settled himself down into his seat. “Good morning, Lady Pennington,” he said with an equally easy smile. “I do hope you are well.”
“Very well, Lord Reddington, I thank you.” Imogen was reeling at the use of her title. Quite why she had expected him to continue calling her Imogen was beyond her and yet, at the same time, it hurt.
In truth, Imogen could hardly believe how easy his manner was. She herself felt as though her heart was breaking as she looked at him, and yet he was comfortable somehow. Could it really be that he had not loved her in the first place?
“Well, I shall not take up much of your time this morning, ladies. I just have some very good news for you regarding suitable buildings for the shelter.” He spoke in such a cheery manner that Imogen began to wonder what was going on.
“Oh, we really could do with some good news. I am afraid we have been hitting brick walls all week, Lord Reddington,” Adeline said ex
citedly. “Tell me we are making progress.”
Imogen was a little confused; it seemed as if Heath already knew what problems they had experienced in purchasing a building anywhere near Southwark. But how on earth had he known about it? Adeline did not seem at all surprised, so Imogen thought there lay her answer.
“Your attorney was quite right in that the Parish Authority and local businesses have closed ranks somewhat with the idea of stopping the two of you opening an alternative to the workhouse.”
“And how did you find out that?” Imogen said.
“I have had my attorney making a few enquiries, and it did not take long to discover the truth of it. Of course, that really gets you nowhere insofar as you already suspected as much yourselves,” he said with a shrug. “And of course, now that they are aware of your plans and know who your attorney is, it seems unlikely that you would be able to buy any building in the area.”
“So, it was all for naught,” Imogen said and felt her spirits sag entirely. Perhaps she did ought to just marry him now since it seemed very likely that her charity work would never be what she had hoped it would be.
“No, not at all.” He looked at her and smiled. It was a wide smile with beautiful straight teeth, and she felt her heart beat just a little faster.
“What do you mean?”
“Well, since nobody suspects the Earl of Reddington of being a charitable sort of a man, I was able to buy not one but three buildings, all very suitable I must say, in Southwark, Kennington, and Vauxhall.”
“You have bought them?” Imogen could not quell the rising sense of excitement. Had he helped them?
“Yes, I have bought three buildings.”
“But we have raised only enough money for one, Heath.” Imogen could not help using his first name. She could not go on calling him Lord Reddington. “We can only buy one of them from you.”
“You need not buy any of them from me, Imogen.”
“I am afraid I do not understand.”
“My attorney is already in the office of your attorney having the papers drawn up to transfer the deeds, which I currently own, into the ownership of the charitable trust you have set up. I am donating the buildings entirely on the understanding that they are under the practical control of Lady Redmond and Lady Pennington. In other words, I donate the buildings with the idea that they are run by the two of you and in the manner in which you had wished them to run.”
“But we have raised so much money.” Imogen could hardly think straight.
“Yes, and you can spend it on having the buildings worked upon until you have them as you need them to be. You must decide what it is you want to do with them. Once the buildings are signed over, they belong to the charitable trust. They are not in my control, ladies, but yours.”
“Heath, I do not know what to say,” Imogen said in a voice which broke just a little.
“Well, I shall take no more of your time,” Heath said and began to get to his feet. Hurriedly, Imogen rose to hers also.
“Heath, thank you,” she said, and her eyes welled with tears.
“No, thank you,” he said and stared into her eyes. “Thank you for making me a better man.” He smiled at her and turned to leave.
However, Imogen was overcome, and she knew she could not let him go. She raced towards him and threw her arms around his neck, clinging on tightly.
“Heath, can you forgive me? I love you so much, and yet I was scared that if I married you, you would not allow me to continue working. I should never have doubted you, for now I see that you would have denied no such thing.”
“Of course, I would not. If I wanted a woman who spent all day prancing around and obsessing about herself, I would have married Jemima Ravenswood.”
“Oh dear, I really have made a very big mistake, have I not?”
“Yes, you have,” Heath said and grinned mischievously. “But we all make them, do we not? I have made my fair share in the short time I have known you, and yet you seem to have found a way to forgive me. And I will, of course, forgive you.” Heath was still grinning. “On one condition, of course.”
“And what is your condition?”
“That you agree to marry me.”
“Of course I shall marry you,” Imogen squeaked as Adeline sobbed noisily with happiness. “I do love you.”
“And I love you too.”
“Oh, how wonderful,” Adeline said and then blew her nose loudly.
Epilogue
“Have you had any breakfast, Prudence?” Imogen said in a motherly tone as Prudence hastily threw her cloak around her shoulders and made ready to leave their Belgravia mansion.
“Yes, I rose very early. I am due to meet Mrs Forsdyke this morning. I think I might have forgotten to mention it.”
“No, you did not. I remember now, you are helping today in her soup kitchen.”
“Prudence, have you had any breakfast?” Heath suddenly appeared smiling, his eyes still blurry with sleep.
“Yes, yes, yes,” Prudence said and laughed. “And now I must leave, or I shall be late.” And with that, she darted out of the room.
“My sister really has found her calling in life, has she not?” Heath said as he slid his arms around his wife’s waist.
“She is an absolute natural, Heath. I was thinking, when the work on the Kennington shelter is finally done, and it is up and running, I might speak to Adeline about handing the reins of running the place over to Prudence. She really is very organized, and she seems to have boundless energy. What do you think?”
“I think you will make her a very happy young lady.” He smiled.
“And you will not mind both your wife and your sister being out of the house so much?”
“No, course I do not. You talk as if I do nothing, my dear. Let us not forget that I am the poor soul who has to spend the rest of his day with Lady Redmond.”
“Oh yes, so you shall. But do not look like that because I know how well the two of you get along together. I have no doubt there will be a lot of silliness and inappropriate humour that I would sooner not hear about.”
“I do hope so. Otherwise, escorting your dear friend all around London and watching her bullying people into providing cheap supplies for the shelters would be rather a long job, would it not?”
“Yes, I am sure that it would.” Imogen laughed and reached out to stroke his bristly chin. “And you are right; I ought not to forget just how much you do for the shelters. I know you do not claim it, but I do see it.”
“Well, I am a changed man, am I not?”
“You are changed in little ways, but in the essentials, you are very much the same.”
“Is that not a bad thing?”
“No, not at all. You were already a good man, Heath. You just needed a little prod in order to reveal it, that is all.”
“Perhaps we were not so different after all. Even in the beginning, when we seemed as if we were each other’s opposite. Perhaps we were not so.”
“Perhaps not.” Imogen stood on tiptoe to kiss her husband.
“And whether you were my opposite or not, I do believe I loved you all along.”
“And I loved you too. I will always love you, Imogen.”
THE END
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Table of Contents
A Lady for the Brazen Earl
Table of Contents
Free Exclusive Gift
A Lady for the Brazen Earl
Introduction
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Cha
pter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
A Lady for the Brazen Earl: A Historical Regency Romance Book Page 26
