An Earl to Save Her Reputation

by Laura Martin

  Now, even shivering in her damp clothes, she found she couldn’t keep the smile from her face. Nothing had been resolved, they still didn’t know who was sending her the horrible packages, but the memory of the time she’d spent with Harry was in the forefront of her mind.

  ‘Dreadful weather,’ Mr Maltravers bellowed as he came bursting through the door without knocking. Normally Anna would stiffen at his presence, but today she even managed to smile at her business rival.

  ‘Good morning, Mr Maltravers,’ Anna said, wiping the wet tendrils of hair from her face.

  ‘What are these rumours I hear about you being engaged to some blue blood?’ he asked abruptly, without any of the normal pleasantries.

  ‘Lord Edgerton. He’s a good friend.’

  ‘But are you engaged? I saw the chap a couple of weeks ago and he didn’t deny your connection, but I’d hoped you’d have seen sense by now.’

  Mr Maltravers had proposed to her formally three times, but managed to bring up informal proposals in almost every conversation they had. Anna wasn’t sure if he wanted her or her Shipping Company more, but he was determined to pursue her despite the multiple rejections.

  ‘Yes, we are engaged,’ Anna said. Perhaps this would finally discourage him from proposing yet again.

  ‘Man like him won’t have any business sense,’ he said, shaking his head. ‘The company will be run into the ground within six months.’

  ‘What makes you think he will take over?’ Anna asked.

  Mr Maltravers barked a harsh laugh. ‘Of course he will. No man would let his wife run a shipping company. It’s unheard of.’

  ‘We live in modern times, Mr Maltravers.’

  ‘If you care about the company you should marry me. I’d whip it into shape in no time and you have to admit we rub along pretty well.’

  Anna couldn’t stand the man and had made it quite clear that they didn’t rub along well at all, but he was just so persistent.

  ‘I thank you for your proposal, Mr Maltravers, but you see I am engaged to Lord Edgerton,’ Anna said, wondering what she would do once they broke their sham engagement and Mr Maltravers proposed again.

  He moved towards her, dripping rainwater all over the wooden floorboards, and took her fingers in his large hand.

  ‘I’ve admired you for a long time, Lady Fortescue. Your beauty and grace do not belong in this office, and I will make it my goal to be the one to free you from this work. I will not give up hope that one day you will be my wife. I hate to see a woman alone and vulnerable. There are too many terrible people in this world ready to take advantage, ready to hurt a woman who doesn’t have a strong man to protect her.’

  Anna was saved from answering as the door flew open and Harry came bounding in, grimacing as he wiped the water from his face.

  ‘Am I interrupting?’ he asked, his eyes flickering from Maltravers to Anna, resting on their linked hands, but his smile never slipping.

  ‘Ah, the fiancé,’ Mr Maltravers said, summoning a small bow of his head and a polite smile for Harry. ‘You are a very lucky man, Lord Edgerton.’

  ‘I am thankful every minute of every day.’

  ‘I shall leave you,’ Mr Maltravers said. ‘Consider what I said, Lady Fortescue. You know where I am.’

  They waited until Mr Maltravers’s footsteps had faded into the distance, covered by the hammering sound of the rain on the roof before moving.

  ‘Should I be concerned?’ Harry asked, shrugging his soaking overcoat from his shoulders and draping it over the coat stand.

  ‘Mr Maltravers has been suggesting marriage almost every week for the last six months. I haven’t been tempted so far.’

  ‘He’s a man of good taste.’

  Anna shrugged. ‘I’m not sure if it’s me or the company he wants more.’

  ‘Trust me,’ Harry said, moving closer and lifting her hand to his lips, ‘it’s you.’

  Anna’s heart was pounding in her chest as he lingered with his lips on her skin and she imagined those very same lips tracing a path up her arm and across her body.

  ‘What are we doing, Harry?’ she whispered. ‘We both know this can’t lead anywhere.’

  Slowly he dropped her hand and stepped away, his eyes never leaving hers.

  ‘You are a very difficult woman to resist,’ he murmured.

  Anna couldn’t hold his gaze, moving away and shuffling papers on her desk, not even noticing when the water droplets from her hair smudged some of the ink on her important documents.

  ‘I was hoping to steal you away from your work for a couple of hours.’

  Ever since she’d met Harry she had been spending a little less time at the Shipping Company office and a little more time socialising. In truth, she didn’t mind. The company was beginning to do well so didn’t need such close supervision and Anna knew it was healthy to have a more balanced lifestyle. All the same she hesitated.

  ‘Just two hours,’ Harry said, ‘and then I’ll deliver you back here myself and offer my services as your personal scribe, accountant and odd-jobs boy for the afternoon.’

  It was hard to resist him.

  ‘Two hours?’

  ‘Two hours, no longer on my honour.’

  * * *

  Harry ran first, dashing to his waiting carriage and flinging the door open, waiting for Anna to make her way down the stairs before helping her up. Once she was seated he bounded inside, giving a shout for the coachman to set off, sparing a thought for the poor man sitting in the pouring rain.

  He swept his hair back from his face, brushing the droplets of water from the tips and realising he was fighting a losing battle; his entire body was wet, a few more drips weren’t going to make much difference.

  Across from him Anna was tentatively touching her own hair as if wondering if any kind of style could be salvaged from the sodden tendrils.

  ‘Where are we going?’ Anna asked, settling against the backrest while rearranging her skirts.

  ‘I have a surprise for you. Did you know we’ve been engaged for an entire month now?’

  ‘You’re proposing that we celebrate the one-month anniversary of our fake engagement?’

  ‘We may not get to two months,’ Harry reminded her softly.

  She turned her head to look out the window then, studying the empty streets with an air of nonchalance and not for the first time Harry wished he could tell what she was thinking. Every day they spent together she warmed to him more, so much so that Harry was certain that she liked him, even cared for him, but he just couldn’t tell if there was anything more to it than that.

  On his part he knew he was falling for her. Ever since their kiss in the clearing at Halstead Hall he’d fallen asleep dreaming of her body pressed beside his and woken up tight with desire. And more than the physical attraction was his need to see her every day, to just be with her. He found himself making up excuse after excuse to call on Anna at home or at her company’s office. It would only take one little slip and he would be professing his undying love for a woman he could never marry.

  ‘Will you be attending the piano recital this evening?’ Harry asked, steering the conversation to neutral ground.

  Anna sighed. ‘I’m not sure I’d be very welcome. I think Miss Wright only invited me because your sister insisted.’

  ‘What does it matter why you were invited?’

  ‘I think Miss Wright would prefer to have your attention to herself,’ Anna said quietly.

  ‘And I would prefer it if you were there.’

  This earned him a little smile before she turned back to the window and continued her perusal of the empty streets.

  ‘Harry, where on earth are we going?’ Anna asked after a few minutes.

  Instead of heading towards the more illustrious part of town their coach was weaving its way through the back alleys of Sout
hwark, an area no sensible aristocratic lady would ever venture and gentlemen only went to have their vices satisfied.

  ‘Nearly there,’ he said cheerfully, poking his head out of the window for a second.

  Two minutes later the carriage stopped and Harry instructed Anna to wait while he jumped down and rushed towards a nondescript door. After a hurried conversation with the occupant he ran back to the carriage and motioned for Anna to get down.

  ‘If you’re trying to sell me into service in a brothel, I won’t be pleased,’ Anna grumbled, but underneath it he could tell she was intrigued.

  They ran inside where a young woman waited to show them into a tiny kitchen with a welcome fire.

  ‘Anna, meet Miss Polly Proctor, daughter of the very talented cook in my London house.’

  ‘Pleased to meet you, your ladyship.’ Polly bobbed a curtsy, looking completely overwhelmed to have two titled visitors in her home.

  ‘Lovely to meet you, Polly,’ Anna said kindly.

  ‘Would you like a cup of something warm, your ladyship? And please take a seat by the fire.’

  Anna took the proffered seat, thanking Polly for the warm cup she pressed into her hands a few minutes later.

  ‘What beautiful girls,’ Anna said, motioning to the two toddlers who were gripping on to Polly’s skirt and following their mother around the kitchen closely.

  ‘My twins. Gilly and Kate.’

  ‘They’re lovely. A credit to you.’

  As the two women talked about children Harry sat back and listened contentedly. If there was any topic of conversation that could unite women from all different backgrounds it was the subject of children. Soon Polly had relaxed enough to giggle and chat freely and one of the two girls was sitting happily on Anna’s lap.

  ‘Shall I bring them in now, sir?’ Polly asked as Anna finished her drink.

  ‘Yes, please.’

  ‘What are we doing here?’ Anna whispered as Polly left the room.

  ‘Just wait.’

  A minute later Polly came back in, carrying a large wicker basket which she set down in front of the fire. Harry watched as Anna craned her neck to see what was inside.

  ‘I saw how much your cat meant to you,’ he said quietly, ‘and thought now might be the right time to consider another little companion.’

  Anna sank to her knees in front of the basket and peeked inside. Harry saw her face light up at the sight of the kittens, all sleepy and curled up next to their mother, and wanted to capture how she looked right at that moment, the radiance and happiness that emanated from her.

  ‘I need to find homes for them,’ Polly said. ‘My sister will take two and my next-door neighbour will have one, but the other two don’t have anyone to take them. Sir said you might be interested...’ She paused, looking hopefully down at Anna.

  ‘I’d love them,’ Anna said, stroking the soft fur and murmuring at the tiny kittens.

  ‘You’ll take both?’ Polly’s face lit up. ‘Truly?’

  ‘Truly. I wouldn’t want to leave one homeless. Which two?’

  ‘Your pick, your ladyship.’

  Harry wasn’t surprised when she picked out the two smallest, handling them with as much care as if they were her own babies. Both had a distinctive tortoiseshell pattern on their backs, but one had white feet and the other a white tip of tail.

  After bidding Polly farewell they ran back to the carriage and climbed up, Anna sheltering her two new kittens from the rain as best she could with her cloak.

  ‘That was a very sweet thing to do, Harry,’ Anna said as she settled back into her seat, stroking the two sleeping animals in her lap. ‘I don’t think anyone has ever been as thoughtful.’

  She reached across the gap between them and grasped his fingers in her own, her eyes filled with happiness.

  Chapter Twenty-One

  ‘They’ve been engaged a month and there’s still no sign of a wedding date.’

  ‘He’s probably realised who he’s tied himself to and can’t bring himself to go through with the marriage.’

  ‘The Edgertons are a good family, and he’s an earl. Of course there was that unfortunate business with his sister last year, but it’s hardly his fault. He could do so much better than Lady Fortescue.’

  ‘It’s a disgrace, such an eligible bachelor being snapped up by a woman who’s already got through three husbands.’

  Anna suppressed a smile as she listened to the two middle-aged women seated in front of her gossip with no idea she was sitting behind them. She knew both the women vaguely, had been introduced on a couple of occasions, but she had no qualms about embarrassing them for their unkind words.

  ‘I heard she’s already lining up husband number five for after she’s got rid of Lord Edgerton,’ Anna said, leaning forward and inserting herself into the conversation.

  Both women spun in their seats, realised it was Anna who had spoken to them and turned varying shades of crimson. They gave her disgust-filled looks and moved away quickly, muttering behind their fans as they found new seats.

  ‘Making friends?’ Harry observed as he slipped into the seat next to her.

  ‘Just fuelling the gossip about us.’

  He raised an eyebrow. ‘Trying to prolong the scandal and therefore our engagement, Lady Fortescue? If I didn’t know better I’d say you were falling for me.’

  ‘Well, according to the gossips you could do so much better than me.’

  Harry pretended to preen, then bent down to whisper in her ear, ‘Ah, but they don’t know what a good kisser you are.’

  Anna considered this for a moment. ‘I think that’s probably a good thing.’

  ‘Perhaps.’ Harry’s eyes flickered to her lips and Anna felt an all-too-familiar shiver run down the length of her spine. All he had to do was look at her in a particular way and she was ready to disgrace herself in front of a room full of witnesses.

  ‘Where’s your sister?’ Anna asked, trying to distract herself.

  ‘She went to talk to Miss Wright.’

  ‘I’m glad she came.’

  ‘Me, too.’

  ‘Lord Edgerton,’ Beatrice, Anna’s cousin, said as she flopped down into a seat beside Anna. ‘It’s lovely to see you, although I’m still miffed I didn’t get an invitation to your little party.’

  ‘Blame your cousin,’ Harry said, settling back in his seat.

  ‘I do. Anna said your sister was coming tonight.’

  At that moment Lydia joined them, greeting Anna and slipping into her seat as Harry introduced Beatrice.

  ‘Come sit with me,’ Beatrice said. ‘I’d love to hear all the juicy details of what occurred at your brother’s house party and Anna is not very forthcoming.’

  Anna watched for any sign of discomfort from Lydia, but she seemed happy enough to link arms with Beatrice and allow Anna’s cousin to start gossiping.

  She caught the flash of hope in Harry’s eyes as he realised Lydia was slotting right in during a social situation and gave him a reassuring pat on the forearm.

  ‘Beatrice will be kind,’ Anna whispered. Her cousin might be confident and outspoken, but she was sweet underneath it all. Just the sort of friend Lydia needed.

  At the front of the room Mrs Wright clapped her hands, smiling at her assembled guests. All in all there were about twenty-five people in the room, mainly women, but with a smattering of men.

  A tall man with a neat little moustache took his place at the piano and began to play. He was talented, hugely so, and within minutes he had the entire room enthralled. As Anna listened she felt the music washing over her and taking her back to simpler times.

  Her fingers sought out Harry’s and they sat side by side with their fingertips just touching, hidden from the view of everyone else by their position between the chairs. She dared not turn her head sideways, knowing o
ne glimpse of Harry’s smile, one twinkle of his eye, and she would do something they would both come to regret.

  Too soon the first piece was over and Harry stood, breaking the contact before anyone could see them. Quickly he moved away, ducking out on to the terrace. Anna was just about to follow him when Mrs Wright came and sat down beside her and launched into a long history of how she’d come to discover the talented musician playing for them today. As she spoke Anna kept glancing at the door to the terrace, expecting Harry to reappear. She was completely trapped, unable to go to him, and it felt like torture.

  * * *

  Harry took a long, deep breath of the cold evening air and steadied himself. They’d only been holding hands, not even that, just the gentlest touching of the fingertips, yet here he was about to burst with desire like some green boy.

  The door opened and he spun, smiling, expecting to see Anna, knowing that he wouldn’t be able to keep his hands from her, but not caring.

  ‘Miss Wright,’ he said, trying to keep the disappointment from his voice.

  ‘Thank you for coming this evening, Lord Edgerton,’ Miss Wright said, crossing the terrace to him.

  ‘My sister was most eager,’ he said.

  ‘I found myself missing your company after we spent the weekend together.’

  He wanted to move away, but knew he had to tread carefully.

  ‘I am glad you enjoyed yourself, even with the unpleasantness of the second day.’

  ‘I think you handled that unpleasantness very well, Lord Edgerton. I admire you very much.’

  ‘And I you, Miss Wright.’ It was perhaps the wrong thing to say and he realised it as he noticed the flare of triumph in her eyes, but he was just trying to be polite.

  ‘I have been talking to my select group of friends,’ Miss Wright said, changing the direction of the conversation so abruptly Harry wasn’t sure what was going on. ‘I thought it might be prudent if we welcome your sister into our group. We are regarded in society as respectable debutantes, we all involve ourselves heavily in charity work and ensure no hint of scandal touches our names.’