Her Sudden Groom (Groom Series, BOOK 1)

by Rose Gordon

  “Come on,” Marcus called to the little girl.

  The little girl looked up at Marcus and moved to wrap him in a hug. Marcus squeezed her back, whispering something in her ear.

  Over Marcus’ shoulder, the young girl looked at Alex hesitantly, and the sadness in her eyes ate at his heart. Marcus murmured a few things to her before lifting her in his arms and carrying her down a different hall. They went to a room with a balcony that was three stories above where they’d tied their horses to a tree when they’d arrived.

  Marcus handed Alex the little girl, then went to the railing of the balcony and threw his leg over. Alex hadn’t asked too many questions until then, but as it was becoming more apparent they were about to kidnap this little girl, he’d questioned his friend’s decision. Marcus paused only for a second to tell him earlier that day he’d overheard her father talking with a brothel owner about selling her into the trade when she was twelve and asked for an advance on the funds. Alex’s stomach tightened at the thought, strengthening his resolve. He would help Marcus get this girl out of there at any cost.

  Marcus scaled down the brick wall, leaving Alex to hold the trembling girl. Having a three-year-old sister at the time, he didn’t feel too terribly awkward holding her, but couldn’t think of a single thing to say to calm her trembles or stop her silent tears. He just held her close and ran his hand along her back, trying to comfort her any way he could.

  At last Marcus reached the bottom and tossed up a rope to Alex. Alex set the little girl down, telling her it’d just be a minute while he tied his end of the rope securely around the handrail of the balcony.

  Lifting her up, he wrapped her arms around his neck and told her to hold on tightly as he grabbed the rope in one hand and maneuvered them over the railing.

  Using his feet against the wall to support their bodies, he scaled down the rope. Less than two feet from the bottom, a sharp click broke the eerie silence. Alex looked over to see man with a pistol standing about three feet away. The man demanded Alex put his daughter down. Risking a glance at a frozen Marcus, Alex complied. The little girl immediately ran and hid behind Marcus. That was the last he saw her.

  In the minutes that followed, Griffin and a few of his friends hauled Alex and Marcus inside, stripped them to their drawers, and, using a horsewhip, lashed them each at least a dozen times before hiring a hack. He then shoved their almost naked, blood soaked, and nearly unconscious bodies into the hack and sent them to Alex’s parents at Watson Townhouse.

  Alex had no doubt he’d gained the maturity of a man that night. He’d seen the ugly side of the world. A man who cared so little for his daughter that he’d locked her in a dark closet and made arrangements to sell her into a life of prostitution—only to be free of her and get the funds to further his addiction. That was the night Alex had made the unconscious decision to never visit a brothel. He couldn’t even pass one without the image of a scared little girl popping into his head. He’d also learned the harsh reality that sometimes doing what was right could make things worse.

  Until earlier today when Marcus told him that the little girl had grown up and married for love, he’d always believed his and Marcus’ misguided intervention that night had made her life worse. And maybe it had, for a time. But never again. Never again would he let a day pass where she was forced to cower in the shadow of her past.

  “Yes, he’s my father,” Caroline said weakly, pulling him back to the present.

  Fury like he’d never known took over, and when he turned back to see Griffin’s devious grin, he couldn’t keep himself from wiping it off his face. Pulling his free hand back, he made a fist, and before Griffin could react, Alex hit the man straight in the nose. A sharp, cracking noise rent the air and blood sprayed from Griffin’s nose, accompanied by a strangled gurgling noise.

  Alex released his hold on the man’s throat and let him fall to a heap on the floor. “Where’s the letter?”

  “It’s gone,” Mother said evenly.

  “Gone?”

  Mother raised her chin a notch. “It suffered an untimely meeting with a flame.”

  “I burned it.” Caroline’s eyes shone with tears she hadn’t cried while tears she’d already shed coursed down her cheeks, making his heart ache for her all over again. She cleared her throat. “He wanted money. I—I—I’m sorry, Alex. I know I should have told you after we married who my father was, but I was ashamed.” She swiped at the tears on her cheeks. “Then his letter came yesterday and I was too upset to tell you at first, but then I thought you knew this morning when you said—”

  Alex nodded. Though her voice broke off, he took her meaning. That’s what she’d been upset about last night when she’d gone to bed, not his “experiment.” A crushing weight settled in his chest. He tore his eyes from her. Now wasn’t the time to try to set things to right between them. It wasn’t the time to assure her there was not a single reason for her to be ashamed for having this good-for-nothing addict as her father.

  “Always money with you, isn’t it?” he asked Griffin, kicking his body with the toe of his boot.

  “You owe it to me,” Griffin cried, holding his bleeding nose with both hands. “If it weren’t for you, she’d have fetched me a fortune when—”

  Alex stomped down on his chest, halting his words. “Not another word.” He applied more pressure with his foot. “I’ll not even hear the rest of that sentence spoken in my presence. Nor will you ever again contact anyone of any relation to me. Understood?”

  Griffin grabbed Alex’s boot and tried to push it from his chest. “I should have killed you when I had the chance,” he ground out, grunting as he struggled to move Alex’s foot.

  “And I should kill you now.” Alex rocked back on his heel to give an extra amount of pain just below Griffin’s sternum.

  Griffin grunted in pain again, then relaxed his hands and rested his head on the floor. “But we both know you won’t. Not only are you Arid Alex, but you wouldn’t dream of going into exile and having to leave your breeding wife behind.”

  “How did you know?” he breathed, stunned.

  Twisting his lips, Griffin said, “Caroline might be my only living child. But being married to her ever-spawning mother for almost twenty years, I learned to recognize the early stages of when a woman is increasing. Especially when they appear ready to cast up their accounts.”

  Alex glanced at Caroline. She didn’t look so different to him. A bit paler than normal perhaps, nothing else though. Next to Caroline, stood his mother, a small smile slowly forming on her lips. She’d just learned Caroline’s news.

  “I predict five weeks,” Griffin continued. “Though I’ve no doubt in my mind, like that whore she called a mother, she’d have anticipated her wedding vows, you wouldn’t have.”

  Without taking his eyes from Caroline, Alex picked up his foot and brought it back down as hard as he could on Griffin’s groin, grinding his heel against him a few times before having mercy and putting his foot back on the floor.

  Griffin’s hands flew between his legs, and he pulled his knees up as he rolled around on the floor, wailing in pain.

  “I’ve heard enough from you.” Alex nudged him in the ribs with the side of his boot. “Your comments and presence aren’t needed here. Quit pretending your nonexistent ballocks hurt and get your arse the hell out of my house. And don’t even think of coming back, or this will look like child’s play compared to what I’ll do to you then.”

  Griffin made no move to get up. Alex bent down, grabbed two fistfuls of his clothes, and dragged him from the room, passing a frantic-looking Marcus just outside the door.

  “Open the front door, would you?” Alex asked gruffly.

  Marcus opened the door and stood back as Alex deposited Griffin outside. Alex turned to Johnson and asked him to see to it that Griffin was removed, post haste.

  “Alex,” Marcus said softly. “I didn’t know he was coming here. I only found out he was in the area about an hour or so after you left
. I came because I didn’t realize until earlier this morning that you didn’t know...” He trailed off and shrugged.

  The corner of Alex’s mouth tipped up ever-so-slightly. “I should have known. The clues were all there. But as you said, I’m a bit obtuse.”

  Marcus chuckled. “Is she all right?”

  “I honestly don’t know,” Alex said, crossing his arms and leaning his shoulder against the doorframe. “I don’t know what was said before I got here. Nor do I know to what extent she’s been hurt.” And not just by Griffin, but by him, too.

  Marcus ran a hand along his scarred jaw. “All she needs is love, Alex. Just love her.”

  Alex nodded. “I do.”

  Marcus smiled and put his hat back on. “Good.”

  Alex stood on the porch and waited until Marcus mounted his horse and rode off before going back into the parlor only to discover it empty.

  Chapter 26

  Caroline’s nerves were much calmer after a nice warm bath and nearly an entire day of rest.

  Unfortunately, Regina had been wrong in her ascertainment of Caroline’s father’s intentions. Not that Caroline blamed Regina for the events of yesterday morning. She didn’t. Caroline was just as much as fault for nobody being properly prepared for their unwanted guest. She’d chosen to believe he was only trying to scare her and was caught unawares when only two hours after her terrible fight with Alex, her father showed up. With both of Alex’s brothers gone and her father refusing to leave until he was allowed to see Caroline and Alex both, Caroline went down to talk to him. Regina went with her and asked a footman to be ready to see their guest out if things got nasty.

  An argument soon broke out, causing Caroline to become more upset by the minute. She was beginning to fear Rupert was about to physically hurt one of them when, out of nowhere, Alex stormed in. The following argument between her husband and father brought up old sparks of a memory, but it wasn’t until after Alex had left to throw Rupert out and Regina followed Caroline up to her room that she learned the whole truth.

  She remembered vague snatches of the night when Marcus and his friend had taken her from the closet and tried to carry her away. In truth, she’d have never remembered Alex or his part in it, had Regina not told her the story. Like every other night since her mother had died, she’d been too scared to notice anything about anyone except those she knew. It was the following night, however, that Edward had come for her while her uncle was distracting her father in the drawing room—arguing about money, if she had to guess. That, or bribing him to give up legal claim to Caroline.

  She wiped her eyes. She was done crying about it. For as upset as she was at receiving that letter from her father and the painful details that soon followed, she was also relieved. She finally had the information she’d always wanted. She knew the truth about her mother’s decision to marry such a man, and how it had nothing to do with the reasons she’d always been told. Further, she now knew who’d saved her and why they’d stepped in. It was now time to truly put the past behind her and move forward with her life. Sadly, there was nothing to move forward to. Alex had told her in not so many words that he’d never love her. She shut her eyes to stop the onslaught of tears that once again filled her eyes. She loved him and he didn’t want anything to do with her ever again.

  She shook her head and opened her eyes. It shouldn’t matter. She wasn’t ready to forgive him yet anyway. She’d eventually forgive him, of course. It was her nature; she forgave everyone. But she wasn’t ready just yet.

  She rolled out of bed and pulled on her dressing gown. It was nearly noon already. It was well past time to start the day. She’d stayed in her room in complete solitude since shortly after her conversation with Regina yesterday. She needed to do something else and stop wallowing in misery. Misery had never suited her before, and it wasn’t going to start now.

  An hour later, she was bathed and dressed in one of her nicest mourning dresses. She dismissed Annie and went down to eat luncheon.

  After lunch, she locked herself in her private sitting room with a book from the library she’d paid a servant to go get for her. The library was Alex’s favorite room in the house; she didn’t want to chance running into him there.

  “Caroline?” Edwina’s unusually loud voice drifted through the door, startling her.

  She opened her door. “Yes?”

  “Are you all right? I’ve been out here knocking for nearly ten minutes.” Edwina pushed her way inside the room.

  “Sorry,” Caroline murmured, holding up a book to show her sister-in-law her reason for not hearing her knock.

  “Must be one excellent book,” Edwina muttered, plopping down on Caroline’s settee. “You sure have a lot of candles.”

  Caroline smiled at the girl’s complete lack of decorum. That was one of Caroline’s favorite things about Edwina. They both struggled terribly with remembering how to act in polite society.

  “I sure do,” she agreed, looking at the dozens of candles that had been set up in her private sitting room. Her bedchamber, however, didn’t have an overabundance of candles. In there, the staff had set up half a dozen lanterns for her to use at night. “I have a feeling you didn’t come here to discuss my candles. Is there something I can help you with, Edwina?”

  Edwina bit her lip. “I need to ask you a favor.”

  “Anything.” Caroline sat down next to her, crossed her legs, and rested her folded hands on her knees.

  Edwina glanced to the floor for a second then back up to Caroline. “Do you promise not to tell anyone? Especially my brother?”

  Caroline sucked in her breath. This was not good. Edwina’s face had trouble stamped all over it. “I can’t promise that,” she said quietly. “If you’re in trouble, he may need to know.” She prayed that wasn’t the case.

  “I’m not,” Edwina assured her, shaking her head.

  “Then why do you not want him to know?”

  Edwina stared down at her fingernails. “I love Alex to death. He’s actually my favorite brother, but...” She shrugged.

  “But?” Caroline prompted.

  “Don’t tell him I said this, but sometimes he lives up to his nickname, Arid Alex,” Edwina said quickly, a forced smile on her face.

  Caroline had to catch herself from laughing. “All right. What’s going on, Edwina?”

  “I’ve taken an interested in astronomy, and I’m afraid if I ask Alex for help, he’ll ruin it.”

  This time Caroline did laugh. She couldn’t help it. “And you think I can help you?”

  Edwina nodded. “Alex told me you know a lot about astronomy.”

  “I don’t know that much,” Caroline admitted.

  “But you do know something about telescopes, don’t you?”

  Caroline nodded sadly. “I know some.”

  “Good,” Edwina said cheerfully. “One of my friends at school loves astronomy and she got me interested to looking at the different constellations and reading England Astronomy. This morning I was reading this month’s addition, and it said tonight, Uranus will be visible in the southern sky. I’d so dearly like to see it, but my study of astronomy is fairly new and I’m not positive I’ll be able to find the planet. I know Alex would help me, but I just want to see it, not hear all about its rotation patterns, size, and who knows what else he might think my astronomical education would not be complete without knowing.”

  Caroline smiled at her. Edwina was correct in her ascertainment about Alex. He’d not only love to show her the planet, he’d also want to give her as many details as her brain could hold. He’d probably insist on giving her an examination afterward, too. “I think I can find it for you. Why don’t you meet me here about eleven, and we’ll walk out to the gazebo together?”

  “Thank you, Caroline,” Edwina said, giving her a hug.

  Like Caroline expected, at precisely eleven, Edwina showed up at the door to her sitting room, lantern in one hand, England Astronomy in the other. “I thought I’d bring this just in c
ase.”

  Caroline grabbed one of her lanterns and closed the door. “Let’s be off.”

  The two talked of Edwina’s recent interest in astronomy and what her favorite constellation was as they walked to the gazebo.

  “Oh dear,” Edwina said when they reached the gazebo. “I’ve got all sorts of mud on my slipper. Go on in and look for it. I’d better scrape this off or Alex will know I’ve been in here and he’ll want to talk me to death about astronomy.”

  Caroline chuckled. Most people would have been concerned he’d be upset she’d tracked mud inside, not worry he’d want to talk about astronomy.

  She went in and hung her lantern on a nail that was poking out of the wall. She remembered Alex’s telescope was directly to the right of the entrance because she’d nearly tripped over the bottom of the ladder when he’d first brought her here. She frowned. The ladder wasn’t there. She looked around and her eyes caught on the sight of the ladder across the gazebo. How odd.

  Her eyes followed the ladder up to the top and collided with the eyepiece-end of the telescope. She blinked. Surely he had not moved and remounted his telescope. She walked forward and climbed the ladder.

  At the top, she froze in shock. This wasn’t his telescope at all. This was hers. How had he gotten it? And why had he bothered to mount it? Besides it being broken, he seemed to have no feelings whatsoever for her.

  For reasons she couldn’t identify, she put her eye to the eyepiece. It was broken, of course. She just wanted to pretend for one minute it wasn’t. She moved the lever on the bottom and aimed it at the sky, then took her face away and blinked. Was it just her or had the images appeared clear and close? She looked through it again and moved the telescope around. “Well, I’ll be,” she muttered. He’d fixed it. How or when, she’d never know, but he’d fixed it and mounted it for her. Her traitorous heart swelled. His father had been right. He cared for her. He just did an awful job of showing it.