Even from across the room, Prescott could smell horse, sweat, and a hint of Jockey Club cologne; the man must not have even refreshed himself before accosting his daughter. Prescott’s resolve hardened.
The earl shook his fist. “Get your grasping arse out of here! This is none of your damned business!”
“Actually, your lordship, it is. You see I want to settle your concerns, by informing you that I have no intention of marrying your daughter.”
“Bloody well right you won’t!”
Edwina’s face looked stricken.
Prescott stepped deeper into the room. “I’m sorry, Edwina. But I have no title, no money, hell, I don’t even have my own name. I have nothing to offer you.”
Wootton-Barrett’s bristly brows knitted. “What are you about, Devane? Is this about a payoff? For if it is, I’ll not give you a blasted shilling.”
“I don’t want anything from you, your lordship. Least of all your daughter.”
Edwina seemed to sway on her feet and Prescott was immediately by her side, holding her arm. “Are you all right? Do you feel weak? Sick?”
She shook her head. “I’m fine, I was just taken aback by your declaration. I know how you feel about marriage, but…” She blinked as her eyes glistened with unshed tears. “I suppose I didn’t expect it to hurt so much hearing you say it like that.”
“The last thing in the world I would ever want to do is hurt you, Edwina. But the cost is too high and you know it would never have worked out between us.”
“I know nothing of the sort—”
“What do you mean the cost is too high?” Wootton-Barrett demanded. “She’s not paying you, is she?”
Ignoring the bellowing earl, Prescott whispered in her ear, “I can’t have you throw away your life for me, Edwina. I’m not worth it.”
“But this isn’t about you—”
“It is. Establishing the society, living life on your own terms, those your father can handle, but staying with me? That’s something he won’t abide.”
“But if I have to choose—”
Prescott shook his head. “I’m not worth losing your family over. Family is everything, I should know, I have none. And if you lost them, if you were cut off, well, I would never forgive myself.”
“You’re damn right you’re not worth it!” the earl bellowed.
Pushing herself out of Prescott’s arms, Edwina squared her shoulders and rounded on her father. “Don’t you speak to him like that! Prescott Devane is kind and considerate and as honorable a man as I’ve ever met!”
Prescott’s heart swelled at the way she was defending him.
“If I decide never to marry,” she continued, “then it’s for my own reasons, not for any lack on his part.”
A pit formed in Prescott’s middle. She’d decided never to marry? He knew this, Edwina had told him, and although it was completely illogical to be hurt by this intelligence, he was.
“You will marry!” the earl bellowed. “And not to a scurrilous dog like him!”
Edwina’s eyes flashed with fury. “Don’t you dare insult Prescott.” Her voice was low, angry. “You may criticize my actions, but don’t you dare defame a hair on his head.”
“Why you ingrate!” Wooton-Barrett shook his meaty fist. “To take up sides with a lecherous knave instead of your own father! You should be kissing my boot tips with gratitude for all I’ve done for you!”
“I am grateful, Father,” Edwina bit out. “But I’m a grown woman now—”
“Who doesn’t have an ounce of sense in her dippy head!”
“Now see here!” Prescott stepped forward, trying desperately to keep a rein on his temper.
The earl stabbed his finger. “Don’t speak until spoken to!” He turned on his daughter. “You’re an odd one, always were. But it’s high time I stopped indulging your foolish fantasies that you can do as you please. You will marry Viscount Bellwood—”
Edwina’s face was awash in hurt and disbelief. “Haven’t you heard a word I’ve said?”
“And what it cost me to keep Bellwood still interested after all of your shenanigans!” the earl plowed forward as if Edwina hadn’t spoken. “The arrangements have all been made, the special license secured. You’re fortunate that I’m convincing enough to have him still take you!”
“Still take her?” Prescott screeched. “The man is the luckiest sod on the face of the earth!”
“I told you to keep your mouth shut! She’s my daughter and I know her worth down to the last bloody pound!”
Clenching his fists, Prescott closed the gap between them. “You obviously don’t know a thing about Edwina!”
“I know she’s better off without the likes of you! I know she’s cost me more headaches and far too many pounds to unload—”
“Unload? You speak as if she’s a bag of oats! She’s your daughter, for heaven sakes!”
“And I know what’s best for her! And it’s not you! She’ll be married to Bellwood by the end of the week.”
“The hell she’s marrying Bellwood!” Or anybody else!
Besides me.
The idea was in his head before he could stop it; heady, enticing and ripe with the promise of happiness.
The earl brandished his fist. “You have no say in my daughter’s affairs, you…greedy guts! If you try going near my daughter, there’ll be hell to pay! And you’ll be praying you’d never laid eyes on her!”
Edwina’s face blanched white. “Enough, Father! You cannot threaten him with harm! You push too far!”
Wootton-Barrett’s lip curled. “Bellwood’ll teach you to behave like a proper English lady. I don’t care if he has to beat the obedience into you! He’ll have my blessing to do it!”
Something deep inside Prescott went cold. Without thought, he slammed his fist into Wootton-Barrett’s arrogant nose.
The earl staggered backwards and fell onto the chintz sofa, blood spurting out his nose and all over his shocked face.
“Father!” Edwina’s eyes widened, then she rushed toward the toppled earl.
“See what an animal he is? See what you’ve caused?” Pulling a handkerchief from his coat, Wootton-Barrett held it to his face. “He’s a brute!”
Watching Edwina tend to her father, Prescott’s heart fell to somewhere beneath his knees and he might have staggered, if he weren’t so rigid with shock. He’d just cuffed Edwina’s father! There was no coming back from that. His misty hopes burned to ash.
Edwina shot him a glance. “Prescott should not have punched you, Father.”
His heart dropped even lower, if that was possible, as shame overcame him.
Edwina faced her father. “But you were egging him on, insulting him, threatening him and me—”
She was defending him? He looked up as a wisp of hope skated across his heart.
“One cannot insult a scrounger! This is the man you called ‘A gentleman in action if not by birth!’ As if there is such a thing!”
A gentleman? Edwina had said that? Hope budded within him. Still, he’d just corked her father…
“Threatening to have me beaten? Abusing a man who’s done you no harm?” A familiar fury flashed in Edwina’s gaze as she stood, glorious and proud. “Rules of conduct are very different when they apply to you!”
“I’m not the one who resorted to fisticuffs!”
“No, just threats and bullying!”
Wootton-Barrett’s face turned a nasty shade of red. “Why you impertinent—”
“That’ll be enough!” a voice called sharply. “Enough I say!”
Three sets of eyes turned toward the open French doors.
Leaning easily on his gold-topped cane as if seeing a bloodied earl was a common happenstance, Sir Lee nodded. “Wootton-Barrett.”
“Have this man arrested, Sir Lee!” Pushing himself up from the sofa, Wootton-Barrett waved the blood-spattered linen at Prescott. “He accosted me!” Turning to Prescott, he threatened, “I’ll see you hanged for this.”
&
nbsp; “Hanged?” Edwina gasped, stepping over and gripping Prescott’s arm. Her face was drained of color.
Prescott’s mouth suddenly went dry; he knew that many men had been hanged for less.
Wooton-Barrett sneered. “He’ll swing for sure for striking me!”
Shaking his head, Sir Lee stepped forward. “As if you didn’t deserve it, Wootton-Barrett.”
“Wh-what?”
“I know what’s going on here.” The old gent’s eyes glistened and his craggy mouth pinched with sorrow. “All too well, I’m afraid.”
The earl’s eyes narrowed. “What the blazes are you talking about?”
“I sat in your place, thirty years ago, making the same pigheaded declarations, berating my headstrong daughter and abusing the man she loved.”
Prescott’s heart skipped a beat as the shadow of a notion slithered across his brain.
Sir Lee shook his head, his eyes watering. “Barbara was always a headstrong lass. Had pride a mile high, just like her father’s.”
“Barbara,” Prescott staggered. “My…mother…”
Swallowing, Sir Lee looked up, pain and grief evident in his green gaze. “I wanted to break her damned obstinacy.” Shaking his fist before him, tears dripped out of his eyes and trailed down his weathered cheeks. “But I only broke my family. And my heart.”
“What the blazes does this have to do with the fact that his man struck me?” Wootton-Barrett demanded. “I want him arrested, now!”
Edwina signaled her father. “Be quiet.”
Wootton-Barrett blinked, then blustered, “Don’t you speak—”
“Enough, Father! For once think about someone besides yourself!” Turning her back to the earl, she grasped Prescott’s arm even tighter and he was grateful for her support.
He was reeling…But it couldn’t be. It was too much of a coincidence, too much a dream…
Swallowing, Prescott held his hand out to Sir Lee. “What are you…what are you saying?”
Sir Lee brushed aside his tears. “I’m saying that thirty years ago I told my daughter that if she married the man she loved, then I would cut her out of my life. Had I known then what I know now, Prescott…”
“You searched my rooms…”
“Yes. I saw the Bible. I gave it to Barbara when she was a girl. The family name Devane was still inscribed inside the front cover.”
Prescott felt as if the world were spinning on its head. Dropping onto the settee, he pressed his hand over his eyes. “I don’t believe this.” He looked up. “You’re my…grandfather?”
The earl stood. “I don’t give a damn if he’s the Prince Regent’s only heir! He hit me!”
“Didn’t you hear me, Wootton-Barrett? He’s my grandson! And I’ve missed his whole life. I’ve suffered, more than you could know. I lost my daughter, lost my grandson, lost everything because I—was—an—ass.”
Sir Lee pointed his cane at the earl’s chest. “Can you be a bigger man than I, Wootton-Barrett? Can you be wise enough to know that nothing will stop these two because they are truly in love? That your inflexibility will damn you to a hell no father should have to endure?”
Edwina crouched beside Prescott, concern marring her lovely features. “Are you all right?”
Slowly, he shook his head. “It’s a bit too much to grasp…”
Hugging Prescott close, she murmured in his ear, “I’m here for you. Whatever you need. I’m here with you.” Her support was probably the only thing keeping him sane at this moment. Everything he’d known about himself was a lie. Well, part of one. His name was really Devane…
“Can’t you see how much they care for each other?” Sir Lee demanded.
“I don’t give a fig. Grandson or not, I’ll see him hang!” Turning, her father stormed from the room.
Edwina hugged Prescott even tighter, hoping to impart all of her love and caring in that connection, knowing he must be going through hell.
Sir Lee’s steps were hesitant. “Can you ever forgive me, son?”
Edwina held her breath.
Prescott was silent for a long moment, then he slowly pulled away from her. Reluctantly she released him and stepped aside, keeping a hand on his shoulder. Her heart wept for his pain.
With his brow furrowed, Prescott shook his head. “You knew. You knew all along, didn’t you?”
“No, not until I came here. Not until I saw you.” With his eyes glistening with tears, Sir Lee’s brow rutted with grief. “You’re the spitting image of her…” He nodded, fresh tears spilling down his weathered cheeks like rivers of sorrow. “When I saw you I knew. But before then…I didn’t know about you, I swear…”
The old gent dropped onto the ottoman as if his knees couldn’t hold him any longer. His shoulders were hunched, his head dropped to his chin; he looked almost crushed by the weight of his sorrow. “My daughter died hating me. Hating me so much, she didn’t tell me I’d had a grandson. I can’t blame her. For any man who was heartless enough to cut off his own flesh and blood could hardly be trusted with such a precious gift…” He choked, overcome, pulling a linen from his coat and covering his eyes. “She never knew how sorry I was. How much I regretted…”
Edwina’s heart ached for the man, for the tragedy he’d caused, endured, and suffered still.
Looking up, Sir Lee sniffed. “I didn’t even know she was dead until weeks after she’d gone.” He laughed, but it was a cheerless sound. “Me, the commander of a hundred intelligence officers, master of a thousand secrets, and I didn’t even know my daughter lay dying…I didn’t know that my grandson, my only flesh and blood was being left in the care of strangers. I was a fool. A stupid, headstrong fool.”
Sobbing openly, the man hung his head, his bony shoulders shaking with sorrow. “I’m so sorry, Prescott, so terribly sorry…”
Funereal silence draped over them, the pain and heartache of a thousand regrets choking the air.
Shrugging off Edwina’s hand, Prescott moved toward his grandfather.
She stepped aside, her hands clasped before her, prayerful, hoping beyond all hope that this ordeal might turn out well.
“I’ve fantasized about this moment a million times in my head.” Prescott’s tone was flat, emotionless. “The moment when I would tell the man who destroyed my mother’s dreams, left us to die in poverty…that I didn’t need him, that I came out just fine. That he could take his lousy family and bugger off.”
Sir Lee’s tear-stained face was bleak and filled with shame. “I don’t blame you, son…”
“But I can’t.”
Sir Lee looked up, hope in his green gaze.
Blinking as if surprised, Prescott shook his head. “You’re a shrewd sod, I’ll hand you that. You let me know you, like you even. I’ve had the chance to hear your words, to hearken to your advice, to understand you…”
Sir Lee wiped his eyes and sat a little straighter.
“I know you enough now,” Prescott continued, “that I can’t ignore your sorrow. I can’t dismiss your remorse. I can’t doubt…that you truly regret it all.”
Sir Lee rose. “I would give my life ten times over to have done it differently…To have saved you from all you’ve suffered…I know that I’m too late, offering too little…” Swallowing, Sir Lee extended a shaky hand. “But can you ever forgive me?”
Prescott brushed aside his grandfather’s outstretched hand and threw his arms around him.
Sir Lee burst into tears, holding Prescott so closely, shaking, crying and hugging Prescott so tight as if to never let him go.
Edwina’s vision swam with tears.
“There’s been too much overindulged pride.” Prescott’s voice was thick with emotion. “Too much heartache.”
Hugging his grandfather, Prescott looked over his shoulder, his gaze meeting Edwina’s with such intensity her breath caught. “I’m ready for a family to call my own.”
Chapter 33
A few hours later, Edwina stood by the open window in her chambers, staring o
ut at the moonlit sky. A multitude of stars sprinkled the horizon and Edwina wondered if she wished upon them, might her dreams come true.
She couldn’t quite erase the blazing intent in Prescott’s eyes or the ferocity in his voice when he’d said, “I’m ready for a family to call my own.”
The memory alone caused her stomach to jolt and her heart to flutter. Could he have meant with her? Dare she hope to dream?
She knew that it wasn’t matrimony that didn’t suit her, but marriage to Sir Geoffrey. Or anyone who tried to “manage” or control her.
But Prescott wasn’t like that. He understood her, accepted her and wouldn’t ever try to rule her. She knew it deep in her heart. In fact, he supported her and the things that were important to her. He didn’t disdain The Society for the Enrichment and Learning of Females. Instead, he understood the issues she was facing and helped provide her with tools so that she could manage well enough for herself. Like when he’d introduced her to Mr. Leonard to help with the new applicants. His support was remarkable, actually. As was he.
When she was with him, she felt herself, she felt free, she felt respected and cared for, and so blessedly happy she might as well be one of those stars shooting through the midnight sky.
The idea of being married to him, of being with him forever, caused a sweet reverberation deep in her soul. It felt right. It felt better than any hope she could have wished for.
Still, he hadn’t asked. And, come to think of it, he’d been prepared to end everything. Granted he’d intended it to prevent strife with her family. But still, he’d been very willing to make the sacrifice.
She frowned. A little too willing, perhaps? Prescott hadn’t wanted her to marry Viscount Bellwood, but that didn’t mean that he was willing to pop the question himself.
Mayhap she was hearing wedding bells when there were merely chirping crickets? Seeing nuptial bands where there were only the rings of smoke from one of Sir Lee’s cigars? She knew that he cared for her, admired her even, but that might be sufficient for an affair, not necessarily matrimony. Could that be enough? She wondered.
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