by Julia Donner
It was the satisfaction gleaming in his mocking gaze, telling her how he much would enjoy corrupting her child—his victory in the face of her failure—that was her undoing. The years of heartache, of scrambling to stay free of his evil, roared to life. The pent-up fury collected in her soul burst to life. She reached back and snatched up the fireplace poker, thrilling to the feel of the solid, metal rod in her grip.
Chapter 22
Stunned by her speed and purpose, Freddy and everyone else gaped at the vision of frail Evangeline erupting into the terrifying embodiment of protective mother. Even Archibald paled and stepped back when she rushed at him, poker upraised.
Freddy lunged and wrapped an arm around her waist, lifting her off the floor. Evangeline struggled, shouting invectives in French. He encircled her wrist with his free hand to bring down the poker.
Lord Archibald, seeing that his assailant was restrained, straightened up from his hunched posture. After smoothing a hand down his torso, he tugged the hem of his vest into place and said, “The gutter-snipe reveals her true origins.”
Freddy pushed Evangeline toward Asterly and advanced on Archibald, eager for murder. Harry stepped in front of him. “Freddy, stop! Think about what you’re doing.”
Freddy shook from choking rage. Trembling with unspent fury, he said through his teeth, “He insults her.”
Harry’s fingers dug into his shoulder as he whispered a harsh warning, “She needs you to be calm about this. Let Peregrine and Lizzie sort this out. You know she’ll make sure the bastard pays. Imagining what Lizzie will do to him when she hears what he’s done today. For now, you must distance yourself.”
Freddy searched Harry’s vivid blue eyes. Neither of them had to imagine what Lady Asterly would do, what she’d done before, when someone dared to kidnap and torture Asterly. Freddy felt a grim smile tighten mouth. It wouldn’t be the first time she had gotten rid of an unprincipled opponent.
Cold satisfaction calmed his outrage. Freddy pacified the violence boiling inside with the assurance of the man’s doom, of McInnlay’s ignorance of what would seek him out when he least expected a visit from vengeance. Impressment was Lady Asterly’s usual form of retribution.
He sent Lord Archibald a cold smile over Harry’s shoulder, while imagining the man emptying bilge water and the captain’s piss pot. There were just punishments to be had. Lady Asterly knew how to make the punishment fit the crime. All she had to do was get the man on board a ship and out at sea. McInnlay’s arrogance would soon have him hanging from a yardarm.
He kept in mind that he looked at a condemned man. Either he or one of his friends would see to the man’s ruination. First, they had to find Ned. Then he had a duel and marriage contract to put behind him. If the uncle was still around by then, Freddy would make sure it wouldn’t be for long. The man had insulted the woman he loved in the presence of witnesses. He hadn’t had a good reason to take a duel seriously for years.
His gaze never moving from Lord Archibald’s, Freddy returned to Evangeline’s side, saying with a casualness he didn’t feel, “I thought to plant a facer on you, McInnlay, but have decided I don’t wish to soil my hand. And you’re not worth the shot it would take to rid the world of your sort.”
Never had Freddy seen a glare so venomous and hate-riddled as the one Ned’s uncle bent on Evangeline, as if she had voiced the insult. What was the root of that kind of hatred? Was it jealousy? Evangeline had said that the man had no interest in the dukedom. Was he that obsessed with the idea of ruling young Ned?
Then he recalled Evangeline’s horrified expression outside of the inn when she’d seen the steward. He’d thought it extreme at the time, but now, having seen the uncle, he fully understood her alarm. He’d thought her panic stemmed from fears for her son, but there had been an element of something else. McInnlay’s self-righteousness masked the behaviors of an unbalanced mentality.
Seeing the concentrated hatred being sent her way now, Freddy accepted that she had every reason to be wary. The man savored inflicting pain the same way some enjoyed a well-prepared meal. He’d come to this interview with the confidence that he could once again torment a vulnerable victim.
Freddy slipped his arm around Evangeline’s waist. She trembled, but he knew it wasn’t from fear. On her other side, Asterly’s frame relaxed. His blasé attitude set off Freddy’s internal alarm. The others might not understand what the deception meant, but Freddy did, and considered drawing Evangeline back from the line of fire.
“Lord Archibald,” Asterly quietly began, “there will be no further discussion. You will extend no more threats. Your reputation has been known for years, but never verbalized. I have no qualms about ruining you.”
Lord Archibald’s defiant stare had no effect on Asterly, who advanced a step as he continued. “This woman’s child is at risk in your company. The sins you’ve perpetrated on others cry out for justice. We will not allow your unwholesome acts to be practiced on the young duke. You may have legal control at present, but I vow, if you do not release the boy to his mother’s care today, you will never step foot in any respected house in the country. I will make known in every manner possible your revolting proclivities.”
Lord Archibald clenched his teeth in silence then expelled a huff of fury through flared nostrils. When he started to speak, Asterly cut him off. “Every club in town will bar its doors. And do not attempt to return to the House of Lords during your trusteeship. Every man there will join me in caning you from the halls of Parliament. Are we understood?”
White about the mouth, Lord Archibald glared and jerked a nod. Asterly resumed with less vehemence. “Have the boy here within the hour, or I will come for you with a cane, drag you out of your house, and beat you in public. Believe me, the courts will uphold my punishment.”
Lord Archibald replaced his hat, turned, and stalked out. Worried that Evangeline might collapse after the uncle left, Freddy kept a firm grip on her waist, but she withdrew and went to sit. Olivia joined her on the settee, where Evangeline covered her face with her hands.
From behind trembling fingers, she said, “I think that’s the first time that man has ever been confronted by anyone other than myself.”
Everyone waited for the tears to start, but she didn’t cry. She dropped her hands to her lap, inhaled a deep breath, and said, “Thank you. All of you. What you have done for me is…beyond mere words of appreciation.” She glanced around the room, as if lost, then looked at Asterly to wearily ask, “Do you think he will do as you say, my lord?”
His smile unpleasant, Asterly said, “He had better. I should enjoy caning him until there is nothing left. What a disgusting creature. I cannot imagine how you’ve managed living with the threat of that blackguard for so many years.”
Evangeline looked down and began to smooth the wrinkles from her lap. “It has not been easy, but Ned has been spared. That is everything.”
Olivia said, “Perhaps we should go to another room to wait. That dreadful man left a taint behind. I feel utterly soiled. However did you bear it, Evie? You’d told me, but I never fully comprehended until now. It was like being in the presence of concentrated evil.”
Sending everyone a pleading gaze, Evangeline begged, “Please, may we stay here, in this room? I must see him the moment he comes through the door.”
Asterly bowed to her request and motioned to a footman. “We’re expecting the Duke of Havardshire. Have refreshments brought in, and bring him here directly.”
Evangeline sat, staring at the open doorway, an untouched cup of tea nestled in her palm, going cold. She flinched when the doorknocker sounded. The cup and saucer clattered on the tray when she leaped up and dashed into the foyer.
Freddy watched as she flung her arms around a lad who looked very like the young man Evangeline had married over a decade before. The young duke stood stiff and uncomfortable as she clutched him close, whispering in French. He took her by the arms and pressed her backwards out of the crushing embrace.
/> Evangeline took no notice of her son’s lack of warmth. The glory of her smile lit up the vestibule. The sound of her delighted laughter had the footmen looking away to hide their smiles.
Olivia went to the doorway. “Please, Evie, bring your son in here so we may meet him properly.”
Not taking her eyes from him, Evangeline towed her somewhat resistive son away from the front entry. “But of course. Oh, Ned, how you have changed and grown! Taller than I, and you have come to look even more like your father.”
Freddy hid escalating concern as introductions were made. The lad’s lack of warmth for his mother was disturbing. Freddy sensed everyone’s confusion over the young duke’s tepid behavior. He shifted away from his mother at every opportunity. Evangeline didn’t appear to notice or care, so caught up with being near her child.
The lad’s aloofness soon rankled Freddy’s worry for Evangeline. He knew her to be resilient and courageous, but this was her son, her life. Ned’s barely suppressed annoyance and arrogance was reminiscent of McInnlay’s manner.
After the requisite informal chat had been dispensed with, Asterly said, “Are you well settled in Havardshire House?”
“Thank you, sir. Very much so.”
After a slight pause, Asterly said, “We’ve located your tutor. Would you like for him to join you there?”
The duke handed off his cup to his mother as if she were a servant. “I think not. I’ve passed the age for tutoring. Uncle and I are discussing schools.”
Evangeline set the cup on the tray with a rattling clack and immediately returned to her son’s side. She slipped an arm through his. Confusion flickered over her features when he pulled away.
Young Havardshire took a step toward the door and turned. “You’ve been so very kind to have invited me here, Asterly, but I believe I should return to my uncle. There is much to do, now that it’s been made known to me that I have been a peer all of my life—and not merely a wandering student. I beg leave to wish you a very good day. I don’t want to keep Uncle Archibald waiting.”
Stunned silence stilled the room. Freddy glanced away from Evangeline’s broken expression. She couldn’t have looked more shattered if her son had slapped her. The urge to cuff the idiot made his hand twitch. Suppressing the impulse, Freddy moved to stop the duke before he exited the doorway.
With false bonhomie, Freddy said, “If you will permit, I would like to ride with you. There is a question I should like to put to you that requires privacy.”
The duke nodded a bow. “Certainly. It has been a great pleasure meeting all of you.” He nodded a disinterested bow to Evangeline. “Duchess.”
In a strained voice, Evangeline whispered, “But Ned, you can’t wish to go back to…him.”
The lad lifted his eyebrows and delivered her a cold, sweeping glance. “And why not? He had the kindness to inform me of my true position, whereas you shunned and hid me away from all that is my due. I shall endeavor to find it in my heart to forgive you, Mother, but it may take time for me to understand your culpability. Uncle warned me, and I resisted at first. I found it so very hard to believe him. Now I see with my own eyes how very well you have lived, while ignoring me. I must agree with his estimation of your…character.”
Chapter 23
As the carriage rolled out of Cavendish Square, Freddy wrestled down his outrage. He wanted nothing more than to give the insufferable boy a violent shake.
Lud, had he been that ridiculous at thirteen? Reason laughed inside his head. Of course he had. Maturity hadn’t overtaken much of his self-centered ingenuousness until he passed thirty. He’d been only four years older than Ned when he’d gotten involved with a beautiful, frivolous girl and told himself it was love everlasting. He’d been wild about her for years, when it was anyone’s guess what she’d done behind his back. He’d refused to pay heed to local gossip. Nothing mattered but what he wanted, and somehow, he had to get the young duke’s head turned in the right direction.
Freddy slashed an impatient glance at the tight-lipped boy sitting across from him. The duke glared out the window at the residences they passed by. The boy had to be sensing a chastisement coming and ticking off possible responses. Excuses, more like. Freddy wasn’t about to let the lad get the bit in his teeth or the upper hand.
“I say, Havardshire, I’d thought to ask for your permission to speak to you about marriage to your mother, but I’ve changed my mind.”
Ned left off glaring out the window of his uncle’s—now his own—town carriage. The mulish expression he showed while devastating Evangeline was still evident. The lad was utterly transparent. He nursed a deep hurt over what he perceived as his mother’s betrayal, but that was no excuse for treating her with such disrespect.
The callous selfishness of youth came out in his reply. “It doesn’t come as a surprise that Mother hasn’t shown herself in the best light today. Such unexpected disclosures about those whom we must love, or have erroneously held in high regard in the past, can only come as a most disagreeable shock.”
Stay calm, Freddy kept repeating inside his head. The uncle had undermined everything Evangeline had done to protect her son by manipulating the lad’s vulnerability. McInnlay was clever, but from his odd, and unreasonable behavior, the man was deranged and covering it well.
Freddy quietly asked, “Must love?”
“Sir, my mother is at least a very fine person. She may have made some irresponsible decisions in the past, but that should have no bearing on her reputation or suitability as a wife. You will, as her husband, make the necessary corrections to her failings, I do not doubt.”
What a pompous remark for a thirteen-year-old to make. Freddy managed to form a smile. “So you will not be inquiring as to my suitability as a husband?”
Ned resumed his study of the streets. “At her advanced age, she is fortunate to have a suitor. But you are quite correct. There are settlements to be negotiated. Uncle may have something to say on the matter. I shall put it to him.”
Freddy allowed a hint of a threat to sharpen his reply. “No, Havardshire, you will not.”
A frown of curiosity wrinkled the duke’s brow. He pulled his gaze from the view. “Sir, my uncle shall most assuredly have much to say regarding the matter. He’s the head of the family until I come of age, my trustee, and therefore, Mother’s. He’ll be generous, I have no doubt. This morning, he gave me the most splendid hack. Quite bang up to the mark.”
Low and precise, Freddy explained, “If McInnlay ever comes near your mother again, I will blow his head off. Better yet, I’ll give her one of my fowling pieces and allow her the honor.”
“Sir, that is outrageous and most uncalled for! My uncle has been nothing but kindness itself!”
“Oh, has he now?” Freddy murmured. “And the mother who provided for you, who gave everything she had for your comfort and well-being, you haven’t a shred of gratitude for her?”
The resentment held inside burst free. “Provided for me? She lived in luxury, while I wallowed in squalid rooms with no one, save a watchdog tutor for company. Uncle told me how she squandered funds meant for me. She kept me from my family and position, while she enjoyed balls and parties, soiled her reputation with sordid affairs—”
The duke abruptly stopped speaking. Freddy figured it was from the fact he’d shifted forward and sat on the edge of the seat, ready to lunge across the space between them. The only thing that held him back was the fact that this insufferable twit was Evangeline’s child.
“Havardshire, be advised that you will never again speak a disparaging word about your mother. It’s taxing every fiber of my control not to ram your teeth down your throat. Your father cannot be proud of you this day.”
Pale but holding on to his pluck, Havardshire lifted his chin to ask in a congested voice, “You knew my father?”
“I attended your parents’ wedding.”
“You were friends?”
“No, a friend of a friend. Your father had written to me to as
k for advice about purchasing weaponry. For himself and his bride. At the time, I thought it odd, but now I know why.”
“A weapon? For Mother?”
“Your father was younger than I. Your mother’s age. He worried for her safety, even then, and adored her. As she is regarded by everyone of her acquaintance. With the exception of your uncle and her dimwitted son.”
Before the boy could protest, Freddy pressed on. “And I think it’s time you heard some truths about your uncle. To keep you out of that villain’s control, your mother used what was left of her inheritance, then hired herself out as a servant. It’s only been recently that she became companion. She never received a penny from your uncle, because she invested every minute of every day inventing ways to keep you fed, housed, educated, and more importantly, away from him.”
His demand came out as an agonized cry. “But why? He’s family, and she scarcely looks as impoverished as I have been!”
Scared and hurt, Ned now looked more like his mother, and that softened Freddy’s heart. “I don’t doubt that your mother would enjoy a social life if it had been possible. She was too taken up with hiding from McInnlay. When she had to attend functions, it was an agony. And speaking of reputations, you have a long way to go to repair yours. The names of McInnlay and Havardshire have been a cause for silent revulsion for over a decade.”
Finding his backbone, the duke became belligerent. “Sir, you take too much upon yourself. First, in thinking you have the right to lesson me by accusing me of behavior disrespectful to my mother. Secondly, you have tarnished my family name with innuendo. Your hypocrisy and insolence exceeds the borders of insult. You may feel free to bully someone as young as I—”
