Falling for the Heartbroken Duke: A Historical Regency Romance Book

by Bridget Barton

  “Papa, the Duke of Lytton is an old man,” Eliza said and felt suddenly hot and sick.

  “He is in his middle years, it is true. But he is not old. He is but five-and-fifty.”

  “And I am but nineteen. Surely you do not think that I should marry this man, whatever is at stake.”

  “As I said, when a family is in our sort of trouble, it is incumbent upon us all to pull together and do what we can.”

  “But the family is not expected to throw away their lives. Only I am expected to do that. Only I am expendable in the Ashton family. How is my sacrifice an example of a family pulling together?” She felt a well of anger spring up in her chest.

  “Because it will cause the rest of us great pain to see you go into a marriage you did not want. But there is no other way.”

  “Surely you have not forgotten that I am due to be married to Miles Gainsborough. Do you now demand that I put an end to our engagement? Do you demand that I turn away from the man I love so that I might be married to an old man I have no feeling for?” She knew she was beginning to punish her father but could not stop.

  Why was it down to her to solve it all? Why should she make her family safe and happy at the expense of her own heart, her own life even?

  “You know that I would not demand it.” He seemed a little angry himself. “You know that I have never treated you that way in all your life, and I am a little insulted that you would speak to me so.”

  “It is true that you have never treated me badly for a single day, Papa. But you must look at what you ask of me and feel the fear and pain that I am feeling before you allow your own feelings to be hurt. You cannot be more insulted than I am at this moment. I am no more than cattle to you now, however well you have treated me in the past. In the end, you would see me sold off at the market, and so now you have an idea of my own feelings of insult.” Tears began to roll down Eliza’s face.

  “I would never have wanted to hurt you.” Her father’s own eyes shone with tears, and she felt the true weight of the impossibility of their situation.

  “Why can Henry not marry someone else, someone who would bring in more money by way of a dowry than his current choice? Why must it be me?” she said, feeling the great gap in the rights of a son and daughter and resenting them more than she had ever had cause to.

  Idly, she picked at the raised little embroidered flowers on her gown and knew that she could not do what her father wanted.

  She loved Miles Gainsborough with all her heart and had always known that he was the only man she could ever share her life with. He was so handsome and had such maturity and intelligence beyond his five-and-twenty years.

  In truth, she could not entirely pinpoint her reasons for loving him, she just knew that she did and that she had since she was a girl of sixteen, and he had seemed like an impossible wish.

  “Henry has his heart set on Penelope Arlow, my dear.”

  “And I have my heart set on Miles Gainsborough, so that is no argument at all.” She felt a stab of anger once more. “Surely any number of wealthy fathers would be happy to bestow an enormous dowry for the knowledge that their daughter would one day be a countess. Can you not capitalize upon that and request that Henry be the one to make the sacrifice? Why must it be me?”

  “I am not making your brother more important, Eliza. I am just being practical. No amount of dowry any father in the county could provide would come close to a quarter of what the Duke has promised me. The estate could not be saved with that, so there is no sense in making Henry miserable too.”

  “But every practical sense is making me miserable. And repulsed, Papa, for I cannot bear to think of a married life with an old man I cannot bear to look at.”

  “As I said before, I am not making a demand of you. In the end, it must be your decision.” He looked sad and a little helpless.

  Despite her father’s kindness over the years, still, she had always played second fiddle to her brother, as all young women did. And it was true to say that she had resented Henry for it at times, and with good reason.

  He had always seen his elevated status as his right. Not that he was an unpleasant or arrogant man, it was just that he never questioned his sense of entitlement. In that, he was likely little different from any other young man in such a hallowed position.

  But the thing which angered her most was that she knew Henry would not even think to question it now. He would think his sister’s sacrifice right and proper because she held no power and did not entirely matter to the Earldom.

  She was just a spare part, one who would come in useful, even though she knew her brother did love her.

  Her brother loved her, her father loved her, and her beloved mother loved her too. But that love would do nothing when they stood to face an uncertain future. And rather than weather the storm together, as a family, they were each of them willing to let her shoulder the burden so that they might continue to enjoy the life they had always had.

  And for that reason, Eliza found that she felt suddenly very differently about them all. She had lost something inside herself, some feeling of home and love that would never, ever come back, whatever she decided to do next.

  “You have made this my decision in the hopes that I shall buckle under the weight of the responsibility, Papa,” she said and held up a little hand to stop him when he drew breath to speak again.

  “You know how I love you all, and you are certain that I will end my engagement to Miles and marry the Duke to save you all. And by making it my decision, Papa, you have released yourself from true guilt. You can always reassure yourself that it was my choice and be satisfied. But I want you to know that is not truly the case. You have laid the responsibility of the entire family’s fortunes on my shoulders, and I think you are confident of a positive outcome. Positive for the three of you, at any rate. Perhaps it would have been better if you had ordered me, for I think you should at least suffer a little if I am to suffer entirely.”

  “Eliza, please …”

  “I have not decided what I shall do, but I know that I will never forgive you for this day, no matter what the outcome of it all. I shall never forgive any of you.”

  “Please, your mother need not hear you say that,” he said beseechingly.

  “I see that I am to sacrifice my own feelings but spare all of yours.” She laughed mirthlessly. “Well, I would beg you to release me now, Father,” she said, choosing not to call him the more endearing Papa for the first time in her life. “After all, I have much to think about, do I not?”

  “Very well, Eliza,” he said with a sad nod. “But I would beg you to put such feelings aside and look at it all in a practical way.”

  “There is no practical way to look at a heart unless one is a surgeon and intends to cut it out,” she said, wincing at the brutality of her own words before silently leaving the room and closing the door behind her.

  Chapter 2

  “It is all so awful, Eliza. I have thought and thought, and I still cannot imagine what I would do if I were in your position,” Ariadne Holloway said as her eyes shone with tears, and not for the first time.

  “How would I manage without you, Ariadne?” Eliza handed her dearest friend a crisp white handkerchief from the pocket of her gown. “But you must not upset yourself so. I cannot bear to see you with tears in your eyes. It makes everything seem so final.”

  “Forgive me.” Ariadne dabbed her eyes and looked around the drawing room of Tarleton House, the fashionable home of Lady Dearborn.

  The two young women were attending their standing invitation to play bridge with Lady Dearborn and her large circle of friends, just as they did every Thursday.

  That long-standing engagement meant so much to Eliza, for it was where she was first properly introduced to Miles Gainsborough almost two years before.

  She had admired him from afar for so long that she could hardly believe it when he asked their hostess for an introduction to the shy, dark-haired young daughter of the Earl of Bex
ley.

  It seemed like such a long time ago to Eliza now. She had long since been at ease in the company of Miles and his family that the transition into marriage and becoming a part of the Gainsborough household would have been the most simple and seamless thing.

  At first, they had met only once a week in that very drawing room at Tarleton House, every time trying to spend as much of the afternoon together as possible without leaving themselves exposed to gossip.

  But as the weeks and months had moved on, they began to take little walks together on other days, meeting here and there as if by chance. Eventually, they had each introduced the idea of the other to their own families, and it was a move which had proved pleasing to all.

  Lord Gainsborough was more than happy that his son was to make a fine match in the daughter of an Earl, and the Earl himself found much to admire in the son of the Baron.

  In truth, there had never been a moment’s hesitation from either father in the developing courtship of their offspring. And for Eliza, that simply served to make the whole upset so much harder to bear.

  “Did you speak to Miles? Did you tell him it all?” Ariadne said in a whisper as the pair kept themselves apart from the rest of the room on a small couch just large enough to accommodate them.

  It seemed very unlikely that either one of them would partake of a game of bridge that day; there was simply too much to talk about, and neither woman could have concentrated fully in any case.

  “Yes, I sent a message to him immediately to tell him that I wanted to meet him at Bagley Wood the very next morning, and that was when I told him everything.”

  “And what did he say?” Ariadne said, her eyes wide.

  “He was wonderful; he really was so calm and poised. He displayed every quality that I love about him.”

  “Yes, Miles certainly is a very steady sort of a man.” Ariadne nodded furiously in agreement.

  “He said that I would be understandably upset, that my father had given me a terrible burden, one that I should never have been handed.”

  “And I can only agree with that,” Ariadne said sagely.

  “But he was not cruel about my father, not for a moment. I have to admit that I was rather relieved about that, for as angry as I am with my entire family, I cannot help feeling that old loyalty and love.”

  “That is to be expected, my dear. As awful as it all is, I cannot think that your father came to this conclusion lightly.” Ariadne sniffed. “Which is not to say that I think you should consider his request.”

  “I do love you for your fierce loyalty, Ariadne,” Eliza said and meant it. “Miles made it all seem very much easier as if something would turn up. He said that he could not manage without me, that he would not let me go without a fight. I must say, I truly felt loved at that moment.”

  “Oh, how wonderful.” Ariadne’s gaze had softened, and Eliza, who knew her of old, instantly recognized her descent into the romantic.

  “He told me that it was not for me to put an end to my family’s troubles. And he said that if my father had never had a daughter, he would have to find another way. I must admit, I had never thought of it like that.”

  “Well, that certainly does make a good deal of sense. It is clear that he loves you, and he would never let you go.”

  “I did walk away from our meeting with much more certainty in my heart than I had felt previously. I know that I cannot marry the Duke of Lytton, an ageing man I know nothing about. It is too much to bear to be sold off, for that is what it all boils down to, does it not?”

  “I hate to say it, truly I do, but yes, it is very much the same. And worse still, it is far from unusual in our society, is it? Even in the finest of families, a loving and caring family such as your own, in the end, the daughter counts for very little, does she?” Ariadne said and shuddered.

  She stared off into the distance, and Eliza realized that Ariadne was imagining herself in a similar situation, the victim of her father’s burden of guilt with her family’s entire fortunes resting on her word.

  “That is very true. But at least I mean more than that to Miles,” Eliza said as she closed her eyes for a moment and remembered how it felt to be in his arms as he held her tightly and soothed her before she had made her way back to her father’s house.

  “Where is Miles?” Ariadne said and looked all around the room. “The afternoon is all but over, and there is still no sign of him.”

  “Goodness, you are right. I had not realized how the time had flown. But I wonder where he could be; he never misses,” Eliza said and began to feel a little concerned.

  “I cannot think that he will come now, there is but half an hour of today’s games left.” Ariadne looked as concerned as Eliza felt. “Perhaps we ought to take the carriage now and go over to Cherry Trees to see if he is unwell. We really ought to enquire, Eliza.”

  “Yes, I think you are right. I shall not settle if I think he has come to some harm on the road here.” She was already rising to her feet. “Come, let us make our apologies to Lady Dearborn.”

  Cherry Trees was a sprawling estate encompassing a large manor house which was the fine home of the Baron, Lord Gainsborough. And yet, despite its stately appearance, it always felt very homely to Eliza. Perhaps that was because she felt so very at home with its occupants.

  “No, I shall wait here in the carriage for you,” Ariadne said as the driver helped Eliza down. “We need only be here long enough for you to be sure that all is well. If I come in with you too, the family will feel a need to go to some effort, and I really would not have that.”

  “Very well, Ariadne. I shall see to it that I am brief,” Eliza said and smiled nervously at her friend before darting towards the front of the house.

  The butler was already opening the door as she reached it, and he smiled at her as he pulled it wider and allowed her admittance.

  “Forgive me, is Mr Gainsborough at home?”

  “Yes, he is at home, Lady Ashton. Perhaps you would be so kind as to wait here whilst I let Mr Gainsborough know that you have come to see him?”

  “Oh yes, of course,” she said, relieved that her beloved Miles would seem to have come to no harm.

  The butler returned in no time and asked her to follow him towards the drawing room. He announced her presence before backing away and closing the door behind him, leaving Eliza and Miles alone.

  “Miles, forgive my sudden appearance, but I was so worried when you did not arrive at Lady Dearborn’s,” Eliza said and smiled broadly as she hurried across the room to where he stood at the side of the fireplace. “Are you quite well, my dear?”

  Eliza could see that Miles looked rather anxious and pale. He had one hand leaning against the stone mantle of the fireplace and seemed to be absently tracing the small, ornate scrollwork with his finger.

  He looked at her briefly and then looked away again, reminding her for an awful moment of her father just days before in his study at Bexley Hall.

  “I am well, Eliza. Physically well,” he said and finally turned his handsome dark eyes on her.

  “Miles, whatever it is, you must tell me,” Eliza said and felt suddenly a little faint; she almost knew what was coming.

  “I hardly know where to begin.”

  “Well, you must try.”

  “I have discussed your situation with my father. I was sure that you would not mind, given how well the two of you get along.”

  “No, of course, I do not mind. I have no secrets from you, Miles. And I have none from your father.”

  “Perhaps we ought to sit down. You look a little pale,” he said as he gently took her elbow and led her to the small couch covered in grey velvet.