A Lady for the Taking

by Bethany M. Sefchick

  “Your daughter was unwell in her mind. I only met her a handful of times, and even I could see that, so you certainly should have been able to do so. Had you but bothered to look, of course.” Penny spun around to see a rather handsome man that she assumed was the Duke of Fullbridge now standing in the middle of the ballroom.

  He was tall and as she had already noted, handsome. He was also well turned out and extremely imposing, but even with all of that, he wasn’t Harry. For Penny, no man was. Harry was in a class all by himself.

  “You!” Uncle Charles hissed as he took a step toward Fullbridge and then stopped as if thinking better of the idea. “You are responsible for all of this.

  Phin shook his head and gave a disgusted snort. “I was not. Your daughter knew that I was unavailable to her. That I was merely paying her a courtesy after she cornered me into waltzing with her that night. She simply chose not to believe me. I was honest with her from the first. Any confusion was in her own mind.”

  “Lies!” Penny’s uncle cried angrily, his entire body shaking now. “All of it lies! You led her on, you bastard, making her believe she could one day become your duchess!”

  “I was not in a position to choose my bride and she knew that very well. Most everyone did and it was hardly a secret.” The duke took another step toward the small group. “Yet she pursued me ruthlessly and when I could not return her affections as she hoped?” He spread his hands out before him, as if in supplication. “Suffice it to say that she made those later choices for herself, Telford. Not I. I was always honest with her about Miss Wilson. Always.”

  From his position next to Penny, Harry watched Telford shake his head. “No. No, I cannot and will not accept it! I refuse! My Elizabeth was not mad!”

  “Yes, Papa. She was.” To Harry’s shock, a young woman who more resembled a fairy or a sprite than a debutante stepped out from behind both Julia and Eliza who had clearly been hiding the woman from view. “We all knew she wasn’t well. She took after Mama and we all knew it. I’m sorry, but it’s true. You know that it is.”

  When Telford made a move to backhand his daughter, it was Fullbridge who caught his hand. “Strike your daughter, or anyone else in this room for that matter, and I will hand you over to Nick to do with you as he pleases. I may yet anyway if you annoy me any further.”

  “Your choice, Phin, of course.” Nick was looking on far too cheerfully for Harry’s liking. The expression he now wore usually portended bad things to come for someone. In this case, most likely Telford. “I shall be happy to drag his miserable hide outside and dispose of him. Or skin him alive. Or simply hand him over to some vagrants in Seven Dials and be done with it. As I said, your choice.”

  Finally, the reality of the man’s situation began to sink in and the earl looked around a bit fearfully now. “You wouldn’t.”

  “I wouldn’t,” Harry replied evenly, “but the Bloody Duke certainly would.”

  To Harrys’ relief, there was no sign that Telford was going to fight back now. In fact, with the appearance of Fullbridge and, more surprisingly, the earl’s own daughter, Josie, much of the fight seemed to go out of him, leaving behind a broken and bitter man.

  “And I would enjoy it,” Nick added gleefully. “It’s been far too long since I’ve dispatched someone. About what, Harry? A month?”

  “A bit more.” Harry decided to play along – for now. “Closer to two months, I’d say.”

  Nick chuckled. “So, the way I see it, Telford, you have two choices. You can be on your merry way and return to Cumbria. Without either your ward or your daughter, for we, the fine and upstanding gentlemen of London that we are known to be, are keeping them with us, so that they both might find better lives with appropriate gentlemen who shall treat them like queens.”

  “And what do I get?” Telford snarled, still angry but no longer as confrontational as he had been.

  “Why, your life, of course,” supplied Lachlan helpfully. “Or at the very least, all of your limbs attached to your body. I should think that would be obvious.”

  Nick sniggered. “Or you can remain here and continue to attempt to destroy a gentleman I consider a friend and then? Well, then I shall have to kill you and that would make a great deal of mess. It really is that simple.” He chuckled. “Though not here. I rather fear the price Lavinia would extract on my hide if I soiled her carpets. Again.”

  For a long moment, no one said anything and Harry was convinced that Telford would continue to fight them. Instead, he simply glowered at all of them. “Who needs the bloody whores anyway? Keep them or sell them to slavers for all I care! You’ll save me a good deal of trouble in the end.” Then he glared at Phin. “This isn’t over, Fullbridge. You are still responsible for Elizabeth’s death. No matter what you say.”

  Then the earl turned and stormed out, the crowd parting as he made his way to the stairs. Harry simply watched him leave.

  “It is over?” he finally asked. “That easily?”

  Nick shook his head. “No, not that easily. The man has lived for nothing but revenge for the last few years. He won’t give up so easily. Now that I know he is out there and plotting again, however, I can watch him.”

  “And if he becomes an annoyance?” Phin asked as he visibly relaxed a bit. “For I would like to be able to carry on with my life now, if you don’t mind.”

  The duke shrugged carelessly. “Then I shall have him sent to America. Or worse, Australia. Or I am all but certain there is someplace worse I could think of to send him if given time. Just so long as he is gone, I don’t particularly care where.”

  Phin nodded in agreement. “Thank you.” Then he turned to where Josie still stood defiantly in front of Julia and Eliza. “And thank you, Lady Josie. That was rather brave of you, standing up to your father. Or do you prefer Lady Josephine?”

  Harry watched the younger woman blush and Phin smile in response. The two were instantly enchanted with each other and that might not be a good thing. Or it could be very good. There was no way to tell just yet.

  “Lady Josie, please.” Another blush and the lady bit her lip in the same fashion that Penny did. “And that is something I have wished to do for quite some time now, but never had the courage.” Harry saw another spark of interest flare in Phin’s eyes and wondered what sort of poetic justice it might be if Phin ended up courting Josie with an eye toward marriage.

  “Really?” Phin sounded even more enchanted and offered the younger woman his arm. “You really must tell me all about I for I find that sort of spirit in a lady quite fascinating.” He glanced at both Julia and Eliza. “If that is acceptable to your chaperones, of course.”

  Both of the women nodded and for a moment, Harry watched the little group move off, satisfied that Josie was in good hands, for he knew how much Penny worried for her cousin.

  Penny. At last, he could claim her for his own and confess his love.

  Except that when he turned to look for her, she was gone. And he had no idea where she had disappeared to so quickly.

  Damn and blast, anyway!

  Well, he wasn’t about to let her get away from him! Not now when he was finally so close to having everything he wanted. Namely Penny beside him – not to mention in his bed – forever.

  Chapter Twenty

  Even if you’ve not a mind to marry her, I assume there is, at the very least, affection between the two of you…

  There is.

  Those words still rang in Penny’s ears as she fled Lord and Lady Chillton’s magnificent ballroom and hid in their also rather lovely conservatory. Not love but affection. And it wasn’t enough. Where Harry was concerned, it never would be. At least not for her.

  Penny wanted more. No, she deserved more.

  After a lifetime of being used and discarded by nearly everyone she cared about, Penny was certain she deserved more, and she would be damned if she allowed Harry Greer to convince her otherwise. She loved him, and if he did not love her in return, then they were at an end.


  It wasn’t as if this was coming as a surprise. After all, she had known from the first that this affair or whatever it was between them could not continue forever. She might have wished otherwise, but theirs was an agreement and entanglement based on attraction. Not affection or love.

  So Harry hadn’t actually lied to her and had, in fact, delivered exactly what he had promised.

  Damn him anyway!

  “I wondered where you had gone.” Penny looked up to see Josie standing in the doorway to the conservatory. She looked happy, if Penny had to give the expression on her cousin’s face a name. “My father is gone, in case you were wondering. I don’t think he’s coming back, either. Something about being skinned alive.” She wrinkled her nose. “I am sure that was all bluster from Lord Candlewood, but my father seemed to believe it.”

  Penny gestured for Josie to join her on the small bench next to a cluster of some sort of exotic plant. They smelled divine and had done quite a bit to quell the riot of feelings inside of her. “Josie, sweet. I’m sorry you had to see that.” She shifted so that her cousin could sit down next to her. “I never…”

  The other girl waved her hand in the air, cutting Penny off before she could even begin. “Pish. Nothing happened this evening, Penny, that I did not expect. My father is a monster who has been twisted by a need for unfounded revenge. We both know that.”

  “Still…it was ugly.” No one could deny that.

  “It could have been worse.” Josie settled her skirts around her and once more, Penny was struck by how delicate her cousin was. And yet, she had returned to the ballroom even after Lady Ardenton had whisked her away from harm. Penny had never credited her cousin with having that much strength. “Father could have gone into one of his rages where he used his fists and then there likely would have been blood on Lady Chillton’s carpets. While I gather that wouldn’t be the first time it has happened, she does seem rather intent on preventing it from happening again.”

  Penny was in no mood for her cousin’s odd sense of humor. She simply wished to be left in peace. But first, she had to apologize to her cousin. “Josie, I am so sorry that I failed you. I never meant for you to be dragged into this mess.”

  “I think that I was dragged into this mess, as you call it, from the moment my father decided to become hellbent on his bloody stupid plan for revenge.” When Penny looked shocked at Josie’s language, the other woman smiled sweetly. “What? Did you assume that I didn’t know that sort of language? I am not so innocent as you imagine and hardly stupid.”

  “But you are an innocent!” Penny knew she sounded like a shrill governess just then but she could not help herself.

  Josie shook her head. “I ceased being innocent the day I saw my father first beat you for disobeying him.” She threaded her fingers through Penny’s. “And I am stronger than I look. Stronger than you, or anyone else really, gives me credit for being. You should have told me what my father was doing, Penny. Together? Well, we couldn’t have stopped him but I could have at the very least come with you to London so you weren’t alone.”

  “You would have?” Penny frowned. Josie was surprising her in the most unexpected of ways. “But I thought…”

  “That I was sheltered and weak. Too innocent to know what was going on around me. Yes, I know,” Josie finished for her. “Everyone thinks that. Even my father. But here is the truth, Penny. I was weak once, a very long time ago. But I have changed. You simply never noticed because in your mind, what once was must always be. There is no room in your mind for change.”

  “I find that very little in life ever changes.” Penny hated that she sounded like a child defending herself for having snitched dessert before dinner, but there was nothing for it. “Everyone is now as they have always been.”

  Josie slanted her a look. “Are they? Or do you only wish them to be so that you don’t have to risk taking a chance and learning that things, or in this case people, are different than you imagine? So that you don’t risk being hurt again when they perhaps fall into the patterns you expect? Assuming that they do, of course.”

  It was on the tip of Penny’s tongue to deny her cousin’s accusations, but she couldn’t. For Josie wasn’t wrong. Penny had, of course, expected that Josie was still a weak child and could never bear up under the sort of punishment Lord Telford enjoyed. And, yes, that had been true once. Years ago.

  But no longer, apparently, because Josie had stood up to her father just now and hadn’t backed down under his threats the way Penny had assumed she would. Josie had changed. Penny simply hadn’t noticed because she had been too busy protecting herself.

  “I’m sorry.” Penny released her cousin’s hand. “I should have confided in you. You are a young woman now and I should have recognized that. I should have trusted you more.”

  “You should have,” Josie nodded easily. “However, that is in the past and I think we can both agree that neither of us is the same women that left Cumbria.”

  “Agreed.” Penny paused. “So what happens now?”

  Josie shrugged. “For now, I will remain in London and well away from my father. It seems as if there is a bit of disagreement over which lady will have the honor of bringing me out into Society but I have no doubt that I will be well cared for, whoever wins that battle.” Then she smiled coyly. “I think I shall enjoy London. Especially if all of the gentlemen are as charming as Lord Fullbridge.”

  “I don’t trust him,” Penny was quick to reply.

  “You don’t know him,” Josie countered just as quickly. “Nor do I, but I think I might like to. And if that is my choice? To come to know Lord Fullbridge? Then you should trust me, cousin, to know what is best for me. To trust my choices.”

  Penny picked at her skirt. “That is difficult for me, Josie. I don’t trust easily.”

  “I know. But you need to learn how and there is no time like the present.” There was a certainty in Josie’s voice that Penny had not heard before.

  “I will try.” That was as much as Penny could promise.

  “You should also trust in him.” Penny followed Josie’s gaze to where Harry now stood waiting in the conservatory’s doorway. “I don’t know what you know or even think you know about him, Penny, but I also saw the despair in your eyes when you ran out of the ballroom. I assume that despair has to do with him.” Josie rose gracefully and once more, Penny was amazed at her cousin’s transformation into such a polished young woman. “So if you are truly sorry and ready to change, as you say that you are, then I ask that you talk with him.” She nodded at Harry. “And realize that, whatever it is that you think you know about him? Recognize that he might well have changed too. Even within a few days.”

  Josie swept toward the door with both grace and elegance. “Mr. Greer. This evening has been…enlightening and I hope to see you again soon.”

  Harry bowed to her and Penny was once more struck by his impeccable manners. “Lady Josie. I am certain I will be seeing you again in the very near future.” He watched her depart before turning back to Penny. “She is quite remarkable and not at all what I expected.”

  “She is no longer what I expected her to be either,” Penny replied as she accepted the hand that Harry offered so that he might help her to her feet. She is…more. More mature. More elegant. More refined. Just…more.”

  “People change, Penny.” Harry tucked her hand into the crook of his arm and they began to stroll through Frost’s lush gardens, the air thick and warm as it swirled around them. “Even me.”

  “Josie just informed me as much.” Penny shook her head and let out a deep breath. “But affection, Harry? It’s not enough. Not for me.”

  That was enough to stop Harry in his tracks and he took both of Penny’s hands in his. “Affection? You think this is mere affection between us, Penny?”

  “Isn’t it?” she asked, doing her best not to get her hopes up once more. And why was he becoming so upset anyway? She was only using the same words he had spoken earlier in the ballroom. “That�
�s what you said, isn’t it?”

  “I said those things in a room full of people, Penny! People who had no need to have their noses in our business!” He ran a hand through his hair and Penny hesitated.

  What if Josie was right. What if Penny, with her deep mistrust of nearly everyone, was wrong. About everything, but also about how Harry felt. Did he love her? Was it possible?

  “But you said…” she tried again.

  He shook his head. “My God, Penny! Is that really all the more you think of me? Yes, our friends were there, but just as many in that ballroom are not and I think we both know that this will be the top story in Lady A’s Tattler column tomorrow! I am in there often enough as it is and it will only become worse once my father officially recognizes me as his son and names me as his heir! I had no wish to add any more fuel to that particular fire.”

  She hadn’t thought of that. “I’m sorry.” Those words seemed horribly inadequate, however. “I didn’t think.”

  Harry shook his head and whirled around. “No, Penny, you didn’t think! And also, did it not occur to you that the first time I tell you that I love you, it should be in private and not in front of an entire ballroom full of people? You know me better than that!”

  “You…you love me?” Penny was incredulous. How could this be? Could she really have been so wrong? “But you never said!”

  “Until this morning, I wasn’t certain!” Harry snapped, obviously irritated. “This thing in my heart and gut that has been plaguing me for days? I’ve come to learn that it’s love! I’d never been in love before, Penny, so how was I to know that what feels like indigestion is actually love? Then you show up on my front stoop, all disheveled, and tell me that you were in a fire and suddenly I am faced with the prospect of a life without you! And then? Well, I wondered what the hell else this queasy feeling in my gut could be if not love? But I didn’t know so before and I refused to say those words to you until I was certain! They are too important to be tossed around lightly! My father said them to my mother and she paid the price for that trust. As did I! So I vowed long ago that I would never make the same mistake!”