A Dream of Redemption

by Bronwen Evans

  “I’m sorry to have disappointed you,” she uttered on a sob. “It wasn’t Clary’s fault. He tried to make me leave but I…”

  “He should have tried harder. He should have left you alone. He should have…” His words trailed away. “Bloody Marisa and her interfering good intentions.”

  Tears filled her eyes. This was her fault. Clary had tried to warn her, to tell her that Sebastian would never approve.

  An icy coldness seeped through her. What have I done? One thing was sure. She would not allow her actions, or her brother—her family—to hurt Clary.

  “Please don’t punish him.” Her brother said nothing. “You have the power to destroy him and he’s already suffered so much in his life. I willingly gave myself to him and if you feel a driving need to punish anyone it should be me.”

  Still nothing. Sebastian couldn’t even look at her.

  A sob escaped her chest. “I’m sorry if this has made you think of me differently, but I’m still your little sister. I’m also a woman. I’m a woman who found joy in falling in love. I couldn’t help whom I fell in love with. Love doesn’t let you choose it. It captures you and tips your world upside down.” She ended softly, “Please don’t hate me.”

  He turned to look at her, tears streaming down his face. “I could never hate you, it’s just—it’s just that I want so much for you. I want you to be happy.”

  “Clary makes me so happy I think I might burst with the joy of it. Why is that so wrong?”

  Sebastian reached for her hand. “We will have a family meeting and discuss what can be done. Until then I think it best if you stay at home.”

  The carriage came to a stop outside the house he owned yet was the only home she knew. She turned to her brother and said with a heavy heart, “I won’t be kept a prisoner. I’m old enough to know my own mind, and I want to marry Clary.”

  With that she rushed from the carriage, up the steps, past a worried-looking Beatrice, straight to her room, slamming the door before throwing herself on her bed and letting the tears come.

  * * *

  —

  Maitland entered his home with a heavy heart. He loved his wife but sometimes he wished she wasn’t so “modern.” Sebastian was hurting and now so were Helen and Clary.

  Marisa came to greet him in the hall, and she must have read his face for she quickly embraced him. “I’m sorry.”

  “I hope you are happy. Your meddling has seen a young man’s position and that of his brother put in jeopardy.”

  Marisa stepped back out of his embrace. She looked around. “Let’s talk somewhere more private,” and she led him into the drawing room.

  He waited for his wife to take a seat before moving to pour himself a drink. He lifted an empty glass in her direction, and she nodded. “I think I need a brandy,” she admitted.

  A good Scottish whisky was what he called for.

  Handing her a brandy he slumped down beside her on the settee resting his free hand on her thigh and took a long drink of the fiery liquid. “Well, it’s a bloody mess. We found her in his bed. You can imagine Sebastian’s reaction.”

  Marisa looked at him in alarm. “Is Clary all right?”

  “The lad suffered a broken nose, but he was standing when I left, thanks to Simon and me. It took both of us to pull Sebastian off him.”

  “And Helen?”

  Maitland gave her angry look. “What do you expect? Sebastian led her from the house in tears. I told you this would not end well but you had to meddle.”

  “I didn’t meddle.”

  “You might think you didn’t, but you led Clary to believe he stood a chance to court Helen. You may not give a toss about what society thinks of you, but that’s because you have the title of duchess in front of your name. That will not be the case for Clary. If Helen marries beneath her, and society finds out about Clary’s true past, they will be ostracized. Do you actually understand what that means?”

  “She will have us. And over the years society will forget, move on to some other scandal.”

  He leaned his head against the back of the settee and closed his eyes. What a mess. He didn’t see any way out of it that would not destroy Helen. “If they marry, the children we have claimed as our own, and your brother’s children, cannot be seen in their home for they will be tainted by association.”

  “I will not stand for that.”

  He squeezed Marisa’s thigh. “We cannot openly support them. I am a duke who will have no heirs. But I can leave my fortune to the children we have taken in and called our own. I have to be fair to them, protect them. To be supported in society they will need to have a spotless reputation and any association with Helen and Clary would likely destroy that.”

  “There must be something we can do. Could you not talk to the king?”

  “And say what, ask him to give Clary a title?”

  Marisa bolted upright and looked pleadingly at Maitland. “Is that a possibility?”

  “I don’t see how. He would have to have done something heroic, like saved the king, or provided unquestionable service to the government of the country.”

  Marisa’s shoulders slumped in defeat. “I intend to stand by my sister regardless, and if she wants to marry Clary I will do everything in my power to help her achieve that.”

  “Even if it means in a few years she’ll be disappointed? Look at the women who flock to Clary. His looks are enough to turn any woman’s head. If I didn’t know how much you love me I’d even be jealous—all right, I am jealous that you spend so much time with him. What if what she feels is infatuation?”

  “She would never have given herself to him if it was simply infatuation. Trust me on that.”

  “I’m not so sure,” he mumbled and took another long drink.

  Marisa tsk tsked. “I expected you of all people to understand how Helen is feeling. She’s in love. I repeat, in love. You don’t think she’d be willing to give up all of this—all of us—for love. Yet, look what you gave up when you learned I could not have children.” She laid her head on her husband’s shoulder and took his hand. “You’re a seventh generation duke, yet because of love you are going to lose what your family has had for hundreds of years, a title, one of the highest ranking places in society, and all the lands and houses that come with the entailed estate. You gave up your right and ability to have a son and heir. You gave all that up for love,” she said softly. “I hope you have not come to regret that? Have you?”

  He cupped Marisa’s cheek in his palm. When she smiled at him it still turned him inside out. His heart swelled with love of her, and deep in his soul he knew that he would love this woman until he lay cold in his grave—and even then it would live on.

  She must’ve read the love in his eyes for she suddenly kissed him. “I love you too. I would love you if you had nothing to your name.”

  He pulled her onto his lap and kissed her thoroughly. When he finally let her up for air, he said, “I should talk to Sebastian and see what is to be done. But you are right, I’m not going to force you to let Clary go, nor will this impact Simon, who has done nothing wrong.”

  “Thank you. I knew there was a reason I loved you.”

  He stopped her as she tried to kiss him again. “However, I am going to inform Clary that if Sebastian forbids him to see Helen, I want his word he will obey that order. I have to respect Sebastian’s wishes.”

  “Then I best ensure my brother does all in his power to make Helen happy. And it is Clary that will make her happy.”

  He shook his head and hugged her tight into his chest. “If Helen loves him, and wants to marry him. I’ll support her decision. But I have no idea how you’ll get Sebastian to agree and society to accept the match.”

  “Just watch me!”

  Chapter 16

  She’d been pacing her room all morning, too embarrassed and angry with her brother to go downstairs. Standing at her window she watched for her opportunity and it came just after three, when she saw Sebastian leave t
he house.

  She pulled on her cloak and slipped down the back stairs and out into the alley behind their house. She knew it would take her twenty minutes to walk to Clary’s. That would give her twenty minutes at Clary’s house to ascertain that he was all right and to reassure him that she would find a way to make her brother come around.

  So lost in thought, trying to work out how to approach her brother, she did not notice the darkened windows of the carriage trailing along the curb beside her, until a dirty rag was clamped over her nose and mouth and the world went black.

  With a blindfold tied tightly round her head, the first thing she sensed was the heat and the rankness of the air as she was lowered into some kind of pit. Hefted over her kidnapper’s shoulder she could do nothing but let the man carry her to her fate. The man knocked on a door and was bid to enter.

  “Did you have any trouble snatching her?”

  “None, it was easy. No one saw me take her.”

  Helen thought she recognized the voice. Was it Glover? Who else would be so bold to kidnap her? She’d known all along that it could only be one of Glover’s men who had snatched her, but even so her body began to tremble in fear.

  Her kidnapper lowered her to the floor and she felt dizzy as the blood rushed out of her head. Still blindfolded, she found herself being tied to a post of some kind. She refused to give in to her fear and cry. She would not give Glover the satisfaction.

  “Well, let’s see why Homeward is willing to risk all on ya ladyship.” With those words she felt hands at the front of her gown and then a huge wrenching as her bodice was torn in two. “My, my ain’t that a pretty sight.”

  She finally gave a small cry when a hand molded one breast and painfully tweaked her nipple.

  “So she does speak,” Glover said snidely.

  “My brother is going to kill you for what you just did.”

  “Then I best do more. If I’m going to die I might as well make it worth my while,” and a hand began to gather up the hem of her gown.

  Helen’s mind froze, refusing to understand the implications of what he just said. He was going to rape her. And no one was here to stop him. In that brief instant, it really sank in; her understanding of what life for Clary and Simon must’ve been like came into brutal focus. The overwhelming feeling of hopelessness, fear, and anger.

  She wanted to rant and rave at the injustice of what was about to happen to her. She also wanted to rail against the world for the life that the man she loved had had to lead. She wanted to crawl into a hole and die. How could people be so cruel? All of this had finally destroyed her faith in human nature. The blinders had been ripped from her eyes, and she saw the world for the cold, hard place it really was. A world her money and status had always protected her from.

  She had wanted to run immediately to see Clary, to tell him that his past did not taint him in her eyes. She would never blame him for doing what he thought he had to do in order to save himself and Simon. All she wanted to do was hold him in her arms and try and heal the hurt that had been done to him.

  She prayed that God would give her the chance to let Clary hold her in his arms and heal the hurt that Glover was about to inflict upon her. If she knew that was a possibility she could endure anything Glover would do to her.

  She would be strong and brave like Clary had been, and survive.

  For Clary would come for her, Helen was in no doubt of that.

  * * *

  —

  Clary ran up the steps of Lord Coldhurst’s London residence, fear almost blinding him. When he reached for the knocker, the door opened and the butler stood there, disdain etched on his features. Clary did not have enough time for pleasantries. “I must see his lordship.”

  Roberts stepped in his way, blocking the door. “Do you have an appointment?” The butler knew damn well who he was, and that his lordship had forbidden his entry.

  “You know well I don’t have an appointment, but if you don’t step out of the way I will not be held accountable for my actions. Lady Helen is in trouble.”

  The butler immediately stepped aside and led him toward his lordship’s study. Clary didn’t wait to be announced but immediately pushed past Roberts and stepped into the room without knocking.

  His lordship stood. “What the hell are you doing here? I thought I made my position very clear—”

  “Glover has Helen.”

  He watched his lordship sit back down, his face turning deathly pale. “Are you sure? I thought she was upstairs.”

  His next words were likely to get him killed on the spot, or at least badly beaten and Clary would not blame his lordship for his actions. “She was snatched from outside my lodgings. Simon saw it happen from down the road but arrived too late to intervene.”

  His lordship slowly rose from the chair again. “And what may I ask was she doing at your lodgings?”

  “I believe she’d come to see me. Your sister has a mind of her own, and I suspect she is equally as stubborn as her older brother.”

  Anger was now blazing on Lord Coldhurst’s face as he advanced on Clary.

  He said very calmly to the enraged marquis, “I did not encourage her. But if you still want to beat me black and blue, do so after we have saved her. I don’t think I need to tell you that if Glover gets her on a ship she is likely lost to us forever.”

  “And whose fault will that be? You are the one who filled her head with helping those less fortunate than ourselves.”

  Clary laughed. “No, you are wrong. I was one of those less fortunate. I know what happens to them, and yet I helped no one but myself until your sister opened my eyes. I’d have been more than happy to simply get Glover out of the orphanage, but she was the one that made me promise to go after Glover to ensure he did not continue his trade elsewhere.” He moved to stand directly in front of his lordship. “Your sister has more compassion and more empathy in her little finger than all of society combined. You should be proud of her. We should be proud of her.”

  Her brother appeared to be lost for words but Clary could see his pride mixed with fear for his sister shining in his eyes. “Standing here arguing with you is not helping,” his lordship finally uttered. He walked to the door and called for Roberts, who appeared immediately. “Send word to all the Libertine Scholars. Tell them Helen is in trouble and I need their help.” When he turned back to Clary, he said, “I hope you are going to tell me you know where she is.”

  “Glover has not moved from your warehouse, that gives us the advantage. Glover is clever. He suspected it would be the last place we would look, and he was right but we have been watching and learning for the past two days.”

  His lordship issued strong curses as he leaned his palms on his desk and took deep breaths. He glanced over his shoulder. “My warehouse manager must be involved. There is no way that Glover could be in there without him knowing.”

  “That was my thinking too.”

  Coldhurst straightened. “Glover’s made a mistake. He’s underestimated you, as perhaps have I. This gives us the advantage. My family has owned that warehouse since I was a boy. I used to play in it. I know exactly how we are going to get in without Glover knowing.”

  “Thank God for that.”

  “Don’t thank God just yet, if anything has happened to Helen I will hold you responsible.”

  “I hold myself responsible. I should’ve known that she would try to see me.” Clary began to pace the carpet. “Would you mind if I bring Richard, Boon, and Simon inside? Boon’s the one that found where Glover was hiding. If we’re going to plan an attack he will be very useful.”

  Lord Coldhurst merely nodded, and Clary made to leave the study. As he reached the door, his lordship said, “I admire you for coming to tell me in person. You could’ve left her to her fate, or you could have tried to rescue her on your own and failed.”

  “I love her. I will do everything and anything to rescue her.”

  The two men stood looking at each other; their love for He
len was the one thing they had in common. Other than that they lived in worlds that were miles apart. When his lordship said nothing more, Clary went to fetch Richard, Boon, and his brother.

  The Libertine Scholars, Lord Coldhurst’s closest friends, arrived within the hour. They had also brought as many of their men with them as possible. They crowded into the study because their wives were holding court in the drawing room, rallying around Marisa and Beatrice, helping support them in their time of grief and fear.

  “The only way in is through the sewer. I doubt Glover has thought to put a guard down there.”

  That was the first piece of good news Clary had heard in hours. “Does the sewer go all the way underneath the warehouse?”

  Sebastian nodded. “I had men clear it about a year ago when I had a cargo of live sheep kept in the warehouse until I could get them on a ship. We simply hosed the warehouse down, emptying the mess into the sewer after the sheep set sail.”

  “That’s my way in.”

  “No. That is my way in. She is my sister.”

  Bugger. “I beg to disagree, your lordship. You don’t know Glover. Do you even know what he looks like?”

  Lyttleton cleared his throat. “Clary is right, Sebastian. He’s younger and faster and knows these men. We do not.”

  Clary sat back and let these powerful men argue amongst themselves. He did not care what their decision was, all he knew was he was going into that warehouse to save the woman he loved, the woman who would never truly be his. She belonged in their world, not his. Her kidnapping proved it. Those that learned of his past would use the people he loved as leverage to bend him to their will. He would not risk her being exposed to the seedy underbelly of London by entering his life.

  Finally, he could take the arguing no more. He stood up. “If you have quite finished, time is of the essence. Lord Blackwood’s plan is sound.”

  Lyttleton stood beside him and clapped him on the back. “I think it is appropriate given the circumstances for first names to be used. And I concur, Grayson’s plan is the best.”