The Scarlet Bride

by Cheryl Ann Smith

  “Thank you,” she said and managed a weak but very grateful smile. If not for him, she’d be dead. He could have ridden off, minding his business. Instead he’d provided her assistance, protection, and a haven from her demons. “You truly did save my life.”

  He tipped his black hat and bowed slightly. “I shall leave you now in capable hands.” Without another word, he crossed the room and vanished out the door.

  Laura felt slightly bereft with the absence of her savior. Still, she couldn’t ask for more than he’d already given.

  “I’m sorry to cause such trouble,” she said softly.

  Sophie patted her hand and stood. “Not to worry. We are used to dealing with the misfortunes of women here.” She tightened the tie at her waist and darted a quick glance over Laura. “When is the last time you’ve eaten?”

  Laura scrunched up her face. The veil of exhaustion kept her from an immediate answer. “Two days. I think.”

  It was clear that Sophie wanted to ask questions about her history, but wisely held her tongue. Laura was relieved. She was too tired to think, much less speak, of her horrible ordeal. She needed rest, food, and dry clothes. Tomorrow she would explain everything with a clear and rested mind.

  Now that she was free, she would die before she’d ever return to the clutches of the Earl of Westwick again, the vile bastard. She’d kill him first.

  “Let me help you up.” Sophie assisted her to sit, then stand. Sophie wasn’t large but she was surprisingly strong. She bore much of Laura’s weight as the two women gingerly crossed into the hallway and up the stairs, to a room halfway down the narrow corridor. Sophie had no difficulty managing the distance without a candle or while supporting the wobbly Laura.

  Sophie walked her inside a tiny room, lit with a single candle. The man at the front door had clearly prepared the space for her. There was a nightdress on the bed and a tray of hot, fragrant broth and biscuits on a bedside table. A shudder racked Laura’s body, her wet gown clinging to her every curve.

  “Let me help you undress.” Sophie quickly stripped her to the skin with quiet efficiency. Once her chemise and drawers were removed, Laura heard Sophie’s breath catch. She knew exactly when the woman saw them—black and purple bruises, some old, some still fresh upon her skin. She’d felt every blow.

  “Whoever did this to you needs to be horsewhipped.”

  Laura smiled wryly. “Or worse.”

  Their eyes connected and held. Sophie pulled the nightdress down over Laura’s head and helped her into the bed. Laura felt understanding and sympathy in this stranger. She wondered if their stories were not so different.

  “I do not know your name.” Sophie collected the tray and settled it over Laura’s lap. The aroma of the broth caused her stomach to grumble with anticipation of the simple meal. At this moment, even biscuits would be a delicious feast.

  There were many things his lordship had taken from her—her innocence, her dignity, and nearly her life. But he could not take the one thing from her she’d held on to during all these months of torment and torture at his hands. Her name.

  “I was called Sabine,” Laura said softly and felt a thin thread of hope and strength rise beneath her battered ribs. She smiled into Sophie’s eyes. “But you may call me Laura.”

  Chapter Two

  Simon. What have you done?”

  His cousin Noelle’s sharp voice caused Simon to stiffen. He turned away from the window to see her angry amber eyes pin him against the windowpane with a hard stare.

  Expecting the wrath of Eva when he arrived the next morning, he wasn’t sure if Noelle’s surprising presence at the courtesan school was better or worse than facing Eva.

  When they were children, Noelle used to take a nip of flesh out of his hide if he crossed her or teased her too much. He had several scars to prove it. Hopefully, she’d outgrown biting.

  “I didn’t expect to see you today,” he said, sighing. “I thought you were in Kent.”

  “My husband is in Kent on business. I stayed home,” she said through gritted teeth. “Do not change the subject. Answer the question.”

  What could he say? When he’d heard family gossip about a new cousin that Noelle had uncovered, he had to find out more. Unfortunately, all leads led nowhere. Cousin Eva was a mystery. Adding this information to the fact that Noelle was keeping Eva largely a secret further notched up his curiosity. The only way to gain information was to spy on Noelle and discover what she was hiding.

  Through his investigation, he’d discovered that not only was Eva a duchess but she disguised herself as a spinster and ran a courtesan rescue school. The bigger surprise was finding out that Noelle was secretly helping Eva with the courtesans.

  “I suppose you deserve an explanation—” he began, but she cut him off midsentence.

  “How could you? Eva trusted me to keep her secret.” Noelle stalked across the room and looked up. She had one hand on her hip and the other uplifted to his chest, one finger pointing in the direction of his heart. “How did you find out about this place? I’ve told no one about its existence, save Gavin, and I trust my husband completely.”

  Of all his cousins, Noelle was more like a sister to him than a cousin. Though she was several years his junior, he’d always felt a special bond with her, as they were both the mischief makers in the family. And as she’d grown, she’d flaunted convention where she could, and accepted people not because of their monetary worth but by their character. And gads, she’d actually married a man in trade.

  Simon admired her for her independence, and he and her husband, Gavin Blackwell, were quickly becoming fast friends.

  “I didn’t follow you exactly.” He rubbed the side of his neck. “I followed your mysterious cousin Eva one afternoon after I saw her leaving your town house. I’d heard of her through family gossip and had to know if she truly was kin or some sort of charlatan intent on causing trouble.” A smile crept across his face. “I must say, I was shocked to learn that my newly discovered cousin ran a school for wayward courtesans.”

  Noelle’s lids lowered to narrow slits. “What else do you know about Eva?” she demanded, her voice brittle. “How long have you been spying into our affairs?”

  “Not long, I assure you.” The little spitfire had certainly grown into a formidable adversary. Simon wanted to discuss his courtesan but knew Noelle would not be put off until all her questions were answered. “I know she is a duchess.”

  Her small hands closed into tight fists. “What else?”

  He braced himself. Noelle was teetering on irate. “And she might be your long-lost bastard sister.”

  “Do not call her that,” Noelle snapped, and one surprisingly hard fist made contact with his breastbone. “Don’t you ever call her a bastard.” Fury welled heavily in her eyes, and she pulled back for another whack. “I do not care if she is the natural daughter of my father and his mistress. She is my sister and I’ll not have you disparage her.”

  Simon caught her hand. Regardless of Eva’s questionable parentage, he felt like a cad for his unfortunate choice of words. Clearly, Noelle loved Eva.

  “I apologize, Noelle. I shouldn’t have pried into your business.” He placed her hand over his heart and tapped a finger under her chin. “I do find having the duchess-matchmaker as kin amusing, no matter her unusual connection to our family.”

  With his apology, Noelle settled from enraged to merely bristling as she dislodged her hand from his grip. The matter of Eva had been settled somewhat amicably with his apology.

  “But will she accept you as her family?” she said, frowning. “I have shared with her how difficult you can be. Your latest adventure will not put you on firm ground with my sister.”

  He settled back on his heels and crossed his arms. “So you heard about the courtesan rescue? I should have known Sophie would not keep quiet about my part in the adventure.”

  “Eva sent me a note this morning after Sophie sent her a note. I rushed over ahead of Eva, expecting your
chivalrous nature to override your good sense. I knew you’d return here to check on your distressed damsel.”

  Noelle turned and walked over to a chair. She slumped into it and pressed her fingertips to her scrunched brow. “Eva is livid. The school and her connection to it are supposed to be her secret.”

  “But she will protect the courtesan?” Simon asked. After her ordeal, he’d been unable to shake his concern over her continued safety.

  Noelle’s eyes snapped up. “Of course she’s being protected. I assured her myself this morning. Eva would never leave a courtesan in danger.”

  He sighed, relieved. Despite her vigorous fight to save herself from the footmen, the woman had been terrified. Whatever she’d been through had been more than just a squabble with a lover. He believed her when she said the man would kill her.

  “I must thank Eva for her assistance.” He met Noelle’s eyes and his mouth twitched. “Besides, I think it is high time I meet this mysterious duchess-cousin of mine.”

  “Do so at your own peril, Simon. My sister is with child and ornerier than an injured wolf. You breached her sanctuary without invitation, even if your motive was pure. She will not allow you to get away without a much-deserved dressing-down.”

  Simon grinned. Why couldn’t the Harrington family have one single simpering miss among them? Did they all have to possess fire in their britches?

  “I shall take my chances.” He winked and Noelle pressed her mouth into a disapproving line. “I shall enjoy sparring with the ornery duchess.”

  Simon wanted to take back those words when faced with the outraged courtesan-rescuing duchess. Her amber eyes, so like Noelle’s, pierced him with an icy stare. He suspected any attempts to charm her would fail miserably.

  “So you are Simon?” Eva walked into the parlor, her face tight. She pushed her spectacles up on the bridge of her nose and stared. “The same man who terrified Sophie and my courtesans with your midnight visit?”

  He enjoyed a good verbal sparring as much as anyone, but his new cousin was with child and needed to be treated with care. The sober disguise only added to her grim demeanor.

  Simon knew she disguised herself at the school and passed herself off as a spinster to keep her two lives separate. However, he also knew she was a beauty beneath the dull costume.

  Gossip about the duke’s beautiful new bride had covered all of England, although the pregnancy was still a secret. For now. It would only be a matter of time before her full skirts could no longer hide evidence of her condition.

  It would also be a difficult matter for a spinster to explain to her courtesans.

  “I did not mean to frighten them,” he said, contrite. “I was in fear for the life of the courtesan. I had to find her a safe haven.”

  “And you discovered this school how?”

  “Through curiosity and a desire to protect my family,” he admitted. “I had to learn about you for myself.”

  “You thought I was trouble?”

  He nodded slowly. “Yes.”

  She crossed her arms. “Noelle found me. I did not seek her out. She insisted we know each other.”

  “I’m not surprised. Noelle is not one to let a small thing like the wishes of others deter her from her wants.”

  For a long moment, he watched her watch him. She wasn’t nearly as put out as he’d expected. Yes, she was annoyed. And yes, she wasn’t happy he’d taken it upon himself to put his aristocratic nose into her privacy. But as she laid her hand over her belly, he saw in her a level of contentment and calm.

  “And did you discover I am all you expected—the grasping bastard daughter of one of your long-dead uncles, come to cause havoc on the Harrington good name?”

  A second hand followed the first until she was protectively guarding the life growing in her womb. Simon knew then that this thorny duchess would be a fierce and devoted mother.

  “Truthfully, you aren’t at all what I imagined,” he admitted. “I’d expected to find a crass and lowborn wench without scruples who’d taken advantage of Noelle and somehow hooked herself a duke. What I discovered was a woman who truly cares for her courtesans and wants a better life for them.”

  “And my marriage?” she asked tightly.

  “A love match by all accounts,” he said. He leaned back on his heels and squarely met her gaze. “I see the joy you’ve brought to Noelle and her sister, Margaret. How can I fault their happiness?”

  He watched her eyes well with tears before she turned away. Though he had very little experience with expectant mothers, he knew their emotions ran pell-mell from one day to the next.

  “It is my sisters who have brought me great joy.” She swiped her hand over her face, sniffed, and turned, composed again. She looked him over and grimaced. “I am not entirely certain what I feel about you, however.”

  Simon frowned back. “I can be difficult.”

  “So I understand.”

  He grinned. “Welcome to the family.”

  The grimace dissolved into a look of exasperation. “I’m not so certain counting me as kin is a worthy idea. My history is quite scandalous. If not for my sister and husband, I would have lived my life quite contently with just my mother for company.”

  “Then we shall let this play out naturally, one relative at a time,” Simon conceded. He brushed a piece of lint off his black coat. He suspected his family would welcome the duchess. With a long history of Harrington rakes and bounders to choose from, the bastard daughter of his uncle and a former courtesan wouldn’t be highly scandalous.

  Perhaps a connection to the Duchess Evangeline could also lift his sister, Brenna, in the eyes of society. But until Eva decided to publicly claim her twig on the family tree, he was left to continue his hunt for a suitable wife.

  Eva’s posture loosened. “We’ll see.” She uncrossed her arms. “I’m certain you didn’t invade my school, again, to discuss your family. I assume you have come to see Laura?”

  Laura? Pretty name. “I’d like to assure myself that she has suffered no ill-effects from last evening’s unsettling adventure. She was quite weak when I left her.”

  There was a slight hesitation in her face. Eva was clearly worried about the courtesan. “You must not upset her. She has already suffered enough unhappiness.”

  He shook his head. “Upsetting Laura isn’t my intention. I promise my visit will not cause her any distress.”

  It took her a moment before she agreed. “She is in the upstairs parlor, the last door on the left.” She scanned her eyes over him. “And if you pass a courtesan along the way, I ask that you refrain from flirting. They should not be distracted from their studies.”

  Simon bowed. “I will be a pillar of propriety.”

  A slight smile tugged Eva’s mouth as her hand returned to her belly. With a nod, he left his new cousin to ponder his foibles privately. He’d gotten through the meeting without injury. Noelle would be sorely disappointed.

  Per Eva’s instructions, he found the parlor with no difficulty. As with the rest of the house, it was bland and functional. The walls were papered a muted green, with paintings of birds hung to add interest. A narrow desk sat against one wall, a faded rug lay near a small fireplace, and two narrow settees faced each other and took up much of what was left of the space. But it wasn’t the lack of finery in the room that caught and held his interest.

  It was the woman who stood at the parlor’s one window. The side of her head rested against the glass in a relaxed stance. She was framed by the late morning sun and the green backdrop of a large tree just beyond the windowpane.

  He was taken aback by the change in her. She was no longer the bedraggled waif of last evening who smelled of inexpensive perfume, damp clothing, and fear.

  Her thick sable hair was pulled back into a loose braid that fell to mid back. Her dress was a pale gray and a size or two too large, yet it didn’t distract from her graceful curves.

  Simon didn’t need to see her full face to realize she was lovely—a fact
he’d missed previously. And she didn’t appear to possess the hardness one usually found in women of her profession. Truthfully, she seemed almost…innocent.

  But it was the deep sadness in her eyes and wistful expression that held him silent and still in the open doorway as a stunning desire to protect her welled inside him.

  He knew he should make his presence known, but he couldn’t speak, for this lovely courtesan caused his breath to catch deep in his lungs.

  Laura watched the courtesans from the window above them as they laughed and chatted while enjoying tea in the garden. They seemed so carefree, as if they hadn’t a single concern to worry them. Soon they’d be matched with husbands and on to new lives. They’d have children, or travel perhaps, and their futures would be full and happy.

  How she envied them.

  A small sigh escaped her. Not one of them would suffer the nightmare of misuse and abuse. Miss Eva would see them well cared for.

  From what she’d learned from Sophie, Miss Eva chose their future husbands with great care. If she even suspected a man had darkness in him or possessed a less than sterling character, he was forever banned from her Husbands Book.

  If only Miss Eva had been at their ramshackle cottage when her father eagerly matched her with the earl, thinking he was doing right by her. Miss Eva would have quickly seen into the earl’s black heart and done her formidable best to dissuade Father from his course.

  Bleak images flashed unbidden into her mind of the long months that followed the marriage agreement. She closed her eyes and bit her lip to fight a whimper. A prickle of revulsion raised gooseflesh on her skin, and she rubbed the chill from her flesh with her hands.

  She would not think of him! She could not think of him!

  When the earl slipped unwelcome into her thoughts, it was as if he still controlled her mind. She wouldn’t allow it. Fourteen months of suffering were now behind her.