The Convenient Felstone Marriage

by Jenni Fletcher

  Robert came to an abrupt standstill. That last cup of ale had definitely been a mistake. He was still struggling to take in everything Percy had told him, as if his brain were having trouble keeping up with his hearing. He couldn’t comprehend, let alone believe it. It just wasn’t possible. They had to be talking about different women. His prim and proper, respectable wife would surely have never done anything so scandalous. And yet...a faint memory tugged at the edge of his consciousness. Something Percy himself had said that first day they’d met on the train—something about a scandal...

  ‘It’s not true.’ He still refused to believe it.

  ‘We’ve been over this.’ Percy sighed with exasperation. ‘It is true. And now Charles knows it, too.’

  The words acted like a bucket of water over his head, sobering him instantly. ‘You really think she’s in danger from him?’

  ‘I’m not sure, but you know he always liked her. He wanted to marry her before you came along, but I thought he was over it. There was just something odd about his expression when I told him, menacing almost, as if he intends to use it against her.’

  Robert’s brows knit together darkly. Blackmail? That sounded like something the Baronet might stoop to. As for what he’d want in return...

  ‘When was this?’ He spun on his heel, starting up the hill with a sudden burst of energy.

  ‘I say, wait for me!’ Percy trotted alongside. ‘It was two nights ago. I went back to his house the next morning, to ask him not to say anything, but they said he’d already left for Bournemouth. That’s when I really started to worry.’

  ‘So why didn’t you come straight away?’ Robert threw him a savage look.

  ‘I had to go to work. Then I had to practically beg them to let me go today. They’re none too pleased with me, I can tell you.’

  ‘I know the feeling.’

  Percy flushed. ‘So what are you going to do?’

  ‘With Lester? If he touches so much as a hair on her head, I’m going to throw him into the harbour personally.’

  ‘Not with him. With Ianthe?’

  Robert didn’t answer. What was he going to do with her, the woman who’d kept not just a secret, but a whole scandal hidden away from him, one that would destroy both their reputations if it ever got out, not to mention his plans for the shipyard? The woman who’d had the nerve to say that he wasn’t worthy of her love?

  No. His step faltered momentarily, memories of that morning piercing the fog of his consciousness. She hadn’t said anything like that at all. He’d simply assumed the worst for himself. She hadn’t given him any convincing reason for her change of behaviour. She’d actually seemed more concerned about the dinner party than anything else, adamant that it go ahead, as if buying Harper’s shipyard meant more to her than it did to him. She’d said something about fulfilling her side of the bargain, too—words that had struck him as odd at the time—as if she’d been afraid of letting him down. As if she’d felt...guilty?

  ‘It’s not really so bad when you think about it.’ Percy sounded anxious. ‘It’s true that she eloped, but she never shared a room with the man or anything like that.’

  ‘Do you think people care about those sort of technicalities?’ He threw him a scathing look. The thought of her sharing anything more than a handshake with another man wasn’t something he wanted to think about.

  ‘No...I suppose not, but it was really my fault as much as hers.’

  ‘What do you mean?’

  ‘I pushed her away. After our parents died, it was just so much responsibility all at once. I didn’t want to deal with it. I made her feel unwanted, I suppose. I knew she was lonely in Bournemouth, but I didn’t do anything to help. It’s no wonder she ran off with the first man who came along.’

  Robert felt a fresh stab of jealousy. ‘That doesn’t explain why she didn’t tell me.’

  ‘Maybe she thought there was no need. It was all hushed up, after all. I’m the only one who blabbed.’

  ‘Quite.’

  ‘Look...’ Percy sighed ‘...I don’t know why she didn’t tell you, but I know she was a different person after Bournemouth. When she went there she was in mourning, but she was still my sister. When she came back she was someone else, like she’d turned to stone or something. She was so full of life before, always loving and laughing and happy.’

  Robert felt his stomach clench. That sounded more like her—the elusive woman behind the respectable façade, the one he’d caught fleeting glimpses of over the past few weeks. He felt a surge of relief, as if a weight had been lifted. If that was the real Ianthe then perhaps there was a chance for them after all. That was the woman he wanted, the woman who’d gone to bed with him, not the one who’d pushed him away, the woman with a scandalous past and the ability to destroy everything he’d built in less than a day—the woman he loved despite any of it.

  ‘Come on!’ He seized Percy’s arm, breaking into a run. ‘It’ll be quicker if we go in the back way.’

  * * *

  ‘Mr Harper.’ Ianthe fixed a smile to her face as she entered the small parlour, trying her best not to show that her world was tumbling down around her ears.

  ‘Mrs Felstone.’ Mr Harper looked distinctly unimpressed. ‘I was starting to think that you and your husband had forgotten us. Where is he?’

  ‘I’m afraid he’s been delayed at the yard. After the storm and shipwreck last night he had a lot of work to do there today, but I’m sure he’ll be here as soon as possible.’ At least she hoped so...

  ‘I’m hungry. If he wasn’t going to be on time then he should have cancelled.’

  ‘Oh.’ She blinked in surprise. Somehow she’d assumed that saving the lives of twelve men might have been a reasonable excuse for tardiness. ‘In that case, shall we start without him? I’m sure he won’t mind as long as you don’t object to my company? And the Lovedays will be here any moment.’

  ‘Of course we don’t object,’ Violet interjected hastily. ‘Everyone’s been talking about the rescue last night and how brave he was, but you went with the lifeboat, too, I understand?’

  ‘Yes, though I stayed on the shore. I helped to look after the rescued crewmen.’

  ‘Common sailors?’ Mr Harper gave her a disapproving look. ‘Hardly a fit task for a lady.’

  ‘I think you were very courageous.’ Violet’s eyes shone with admiration.

  ‘Thank you, though I’m sure you’d have done the same under the circumstances.’

  ‘Her?’ Mr Harper snorted. ‘She’d have to get her head out of a book first. Do you know she needs to wear glasses now? Glasses! On a woman, ha!’

  ‘I’m sure she’ll look just as lovely as always.’ Ianthe bit the inside of her cheek in restraint, shocked by the old man’s insensitivity. Poor Violet looked mortified.

  ‘Shall we eat?’ She took the other woman’s arm pointedly, leading her ahead into the hall. ‘I’m famished, too.’

  ‘Yes. Thank you.’ Violet’s stricken expression didn’t alter. ‘Though perhaps we might talk afterwards?’ She threw a quick glance behind before lowering her voice. ‘In private?’

  ‘Of course. Is something the matter?’

  ‘I’m not sure. It’s just something my father said.’

  ‘Then of course we’ll...’ Ianthe faltered mid-sentence, distracted by a commotion coming from the back stairs to the kitchen. Raised voices and running footsteps and...

  ‘Robert...! Percy?’ She dropped Violet’s arm as the two men charged, panting and breathless, into the hallway.

  ‘What’s the meaning of this?’ Mr Harper sounded indignant. ‘Mr Felstone, this is most unseemly.’

  ‘Ianthe...’ Percy started towards her first. ‘I’m so sorry.’

  ‘No!’ She put her hands up to fend him off, suddenly realising just how the Baronet had found o
ut about Albert. Until this moment she’d refused to consider the obvious answer, that her own brother had betrayed her. Now there was no way of denying it. But what was he doing with Robert? What were the two of them doing together?

  ‘Why, Percy.’ The Baronet’s distinctive drawl from the drawing-room doorway made her heart sink to her feet. ‘I didn’t expect to see you again so soon.’

  ‘I say...’

  ‘Get out.’ Robert advanced forward threateningly. ‘Get out of my house now!’

  ‘Mr Felstone!’ Mr Harper looked positively outraged. ‘Mind who you’re speaking to, sir! Good evening, Sir Charles. It’s an honour to see you here.’

  ‘I don’t give a damn who I’m speaking to.’ Robert’s voice was tight with barely restrained fury. ‘I told him to get out.’

  ‘I’d think very hard about what you were saying if I were you.’ The Baronet’s confident manner faltered as he took half a step backwards. ‘If our friend Percy here has apprised you of certain events, then you ought to be extremely careful about what you do next.’

  Ianthe felt her heart start to thud erratically, gripped by a sudden rush of panic. Sir Charles was talking as if Robert already knew the truth about her past—as if Percy had told him, too! In which case... She dragged in a wavering breath, feeling as if there weren’t enough air in the room to breathe any more. She wasn’t even going to get the chance to tell him herself. This was awful—more awful than she’d even imagined. If Robert knew, then no wonder he was so angry. He looked absolutely livid, his eyes blazing with fierce, fiery emotion. In another moment, he’d turn that face on her!

  The doorbell rang again and she whirled towards it. This would be the Lovedays—more witnesses to her shame, as if there weren’t enough already! Quickly, she picked up her skirts, unable to bear the atmosphere in the hall a moment longer, charging out of the front door, past Kitty and Giles and down the marble steps, hurtling blindly through the ornamental gardens towards the promenade. She had to get away—couldn’t just stand there and watch as her past brought the present crashing down on her head! It was too late now to undo any of the damage she’d caused. Harper would never sell to Robert now. And Robert...surely he’d never forgive her!

  ‘Ianthe!’

  She heard him call out behind her, but she kept running, her whole mind fixed on escape. If Percy had told him about Albert, then it was too late to make excuses or to defend herself. Not that she could anyway. Everything was ruined and it was all her fault!

  She skidded to a halt at the end of the promenade. Below her the sea spread out like a sparkling green blanket, rippling in gently undulating waves all the way to the horizon. Maybe if she sailed across it then she could find a new home, a place where no one would care about her past, where she could make a new start and try to bury the fact that her heart was breaking...

  ‘Ianthe, get back!’ Robert’s voice sounded alarmingly close.

  ‘Go away!’ she shouted over her shoulder, still refusing to look at him.

  ‘I won’t come any closer, but come back from the edge, Ianthe, please. The soil might be unstable after last night.’

  Edge? She looked down, surprised to find her toes pressed up against the very brink of the precipice. In her haste she hadn’t noticed how very close she’d come to the edge, but now she was alarmed to find that he was right. The rim of the cliff looked as if it were sagging, in imminent danger of collapse, with small fragments of rock and soil already starting to crumble into the waves below.

  She shifted her weight backwards, turning around to find Robert standing only a few feet away. He was watching her intently through the drizzle, his whole body poised as if making ready to spring forward and catch her.

  ‘Take my hand.’ He advanced another step closer, moving slowly as if he were afraid of startling her.

  ‘No.’ She ignored his outstretched hand. ‘I’ll come back from the edge, but you need to go first.’

  ‘Just take my hand, Ianthe.’

  ‘You don’t understand!’ she wailed at him. ‘I’ve ruined everything. I didn’t mean to, but I have. It’s over, Robert! Just leave me alone, please.’

  ‘No.’ He shook his head stubbornly. ‘Percy told me everything and it’s all right, I don’t care.’

  ‘What?’ She felt her heart leap into her throat.

  ‘He told me what happened in Bournemouth and I don’t care.’

  ‘How can you not care?’

  ‘Because I don’t. Not as much as the thought of losing you anyway.’

  ‘But I behaved so shamefully.’

  ‘You made a mistake.’

  ‘I’m not respectable!’

  ‘Neither am I!’ He gave a strained smile. ‘I never was, not really, but I don’t care any more.’

  ‘Aren’t you angry?’

  ‘Furious, but that doesn’t matter.’

  She shook her head, resisting the temptation to believe him. ‘I should have told you. I knew I should have, but I couldn’t bear to talk about it. I didn’t realise how important respectability was to you at first and then...then I thought that if I could be the woman you wanted, it wouldn’t matter.’

  ‘You are the woman I want, Ianthe. I love you.’

  ‘But Sir Charles knows, too, and he says he’ll tell everyone. There’ll be gossip!’

  ‘Let them gossip.’

  ‘Harper won’t sell you his yard!’

  ‘If he thinks we’re not good enough for him, then he can keep his damn yard. We can’t help our pasts, I know that now, but we can bloody well decide our own futures. I won’t let the likes of Harper and Lester ruin it.’

  ‘So...you still want me?’ She could hardly believe it...

  ‘Yes! With all my heart, Ianthe. Just take my hand.’

  She let out a sob of relief, stretching her fingers out towards him just as the ground beneath her feet started to quake and disintegrate. Startled, she tried to fling herself forward, but she was already falling, sliding into thin air as the edge of the cliff gave way.

  ‘No!’ Robert’s hand clamped around hers in mid-air. ‘Hold on!’

  ‘Ah!’ She cried out in pain as she swung against the side of the rock face, her fingers already slipping through his.

  ‘Reach up to me!’ He lay face down on the ground, straining to hold her.

  ‘You’re too far!’ She swung her empty hand up and missed. ‘Robert, you need to let go. I don’t want to drag you down!’

  ‘If you fall, then I’m coming down with you!’ His tone was implacable. ‘You’re not giving up, Ianthe.’

  ‘I don’t want to give up!’ She looked down, catching a glimpse of the waves crashing against the rocks two hundred feet below. They seemed to be getting taller and more threatening, as if they wanted to reach up and pull her down with them. No, she didn’t want to give up. If Robert still wanted her, then she wanted to show him how very much the feeling was mutual. He was right about the past. She’d made a mistake with Albert. One stupid mistake. Why should it have the power to ruin the rest of her life? If Robert could forgive her, then maybe she wasn’t so bad after all. Maybe she could let go of all the shame and self-recrimination and be herself again after all—the her she wanted to be...

  She swung her hand up again, throwing all her strength into one last desperate attempt to reach him as their fingers touched. And held.

  ‘Hold tight!’ Robert heaved on her arms, hoisting her up and over the side of the cliff, back on to the grass.

  ‘I thought I was going to lose you.’ He caught her in his arms the moment she was safe, rocking her back and forth as she clung to him, waiting for the fearful trembling sensation to subside.

  ‘It was an accident. I didn’t mean to get so close to the edge. I was just running, trying to get away.’

  ‘You have to stop running,
Ianthe.’

  ‘I know.’ She pulled her head back. ‘But I was so scared that you’d hate me. That was why I behaved the way I did this morning. I didn’t want to deceive you any more, but I was too afraid to tell you the truth. I knew that I had to, but I thought that if I could just convince Mr Harper to sign the papers first then I wouldn’t have failed completely.’

  ‘You haven’t failed me, or if you have, then I’m glad that you did.’

  ‘You’re glad I deceived you?’

  ‘I wouldn’t go that far.’ He gave a terse laugh. ‘But if you’d told me the truth at the start then I might never have taken the chance to get to know the real you. I thought that it mattered what society thought of me, what men like my father thought of me, but it doesn’t. All that matters now is what you think of me. Tell me the truth, Ianthe. Tell me how you really feel about me. If you can love me, then I don’t give a damn about anyone else’s opinion.’

  ‘Of course I can love you!’ She tightened her arms around him. ‘I do love you!’

  ‘So do I.’ His voice sounded hoarse. ‘Strange as it sounds, I think I did from the first.’

  ‘You called me a schemer!’

  ‘A schemer I still asked to marry me. I must have had a reason, even if I didn’t realise it at the time. The only mystery is why you said yes.’

  ‘Oh...’ She bit her lip, reluctant to tell him the story, but knowing that she owed him the whole truth. ‘It was Sir Charles. He followed me to Pickering Castle the morning after the ball and attacked me. He said he’d been in love with my mother for years—that if he couldn’t have her then he’d have me instead. He was obsessed.’

  Robert clenched his jaw angrily. ‘Percy said something similar.’

  ‘Percy? Wait till I get my hands on him...’

  He pulled her close again, pressing kisses into her hair. ‘I wouldn’t be too hard on him. If it hadn’t been for him, I’d probably still be drinking in a tavern on the quayside.’

  ‘Is that what that smell is?’