Rescued by the Earl's Vows

by Ann Lethbridge

  She shivered. He wanted to comfort her, but he wasn’t sure she would accept it coming from the man who had arrested her brother. ‘If I’d had any inkling that he was your brother, I would have approached this from a very different angle.’ The irony of the fact that they had both been looking for the same man for very different reasons and the fact that she had helped both of them was not lost on him.

  She gave him a narrow-eyed stare as if she did not believe him. ‘You would have let him go free because he was my brother?’

  Would he? He shook his head. ‘No. But honestly I would have been a little more discreet.’ He’d contacted the newspapers at the request of the Home Secretary. ‘The government has been bashed repeatedly for not catching the Mayfair burglar. They wanted to broadcast their success far and wide. It would be better if no one knows he is related to you.’

  She stared at him, her eyes wide, her face a picture of misery. ‘I should never have looked for him. I could not believe he had stolen my bracelet. I was sure he intended to use it for collateral of some sort and then planned return it. When we were children we used to talk about setting up house together when we were grown. I thought perhaps he had used it for that and eventually he would send for me to join him. Instead, he is nothing but a common criminal.’ The note of betrayal in her voice was hard to hear.

  ‘I’m sorry, Tess.’

  She squeezed her eyes shut briefly. ‘It serves me right for being such a trusting fool. Grey of all people. I refused to believed it.’

  ‘I’ll do my best to contain the information that you are related.’ Had done so already to the best of his ability. ‘You might be seen as an accomplice.’ Unfortunately, Jaimie hadn’t been the only one listening in to her conversation with Hammond. Her brother had signed his own death warrant and it would be difficult to keep Tess’s name out of the mire. ‘What I don’t understand is why he admitted to his crimes when he must have known we’d be listening in.’

  ‘What? How could you? It was supposed to be a private conversation.’

  In some things Tess was such an innocent. He shrugged. ‘Normal practice. Your brother is no fool, he must have been aware of it.’

  ‘No, he’s not stupid.’

  A frown appeared in her forehead and Jaimie wanted to kiss it away. What he wanted to do was kiss her into forgetting all about her brother, but there was no chance of that happening. She had made her choice.

  She looked at him with an odd expression. ‘Why would he admit to everything?’

  ‘I am guessing he wants it over and done with as little fuss as possible.’

  Tess stared out of the window. ‘I think it is better if we do not see each other again. If my relationship to Grey comes out, you can say you used our friendship to get to Grey. That way you will not look like a fool.’

  A cold fist seemed to close around his heart. For a second he could not draw breath for the pain of her hard words. ‘Do you really thing I would do that, Tess?’

  ‘I don’t know what to think. Yes. Why not, if it suits you?’

  Clearly she would never trust him. It was hopeless. ‘You must think as you please. What will you do now?’

  ‘Go to my cousin’s aunt in Yorkshire. I think it is my only option.’

  It was a damnable waste was what it was. And bloody wrong.

  The carriage pulled up at the Rowan town house.

  ‘Ah, good,’ she said briskly, although her voice was huskier than usual. ‘We are home.’ The moment the footman let down the steps, she and her maid were gone.

  Jaimie sat, frozen, at a loss.

  Clearly the only way she’d marry him was if he managed to save her brother. Would she be satisfied if he managed to get the sentence reduced to transportation or would she insist on a full pardon?

  He certainly wasn’t going to allow her blackguard of a cousin bundle her off to the north of England.

  Chapter Fifteen

  Tess clenched her hands tightly in her lap as she sat in the drawing room waiting to be summoned to Phin’s study, having asked to see him this morning. She’d spent the whole of the previous day on her return from visiting Grey trying to decide what to do. There were two possible courses of action, neither of which were likely to be fruitful, but doing something was better than doing nothing at all.

  She swallowed the dryness in her throat. Bearding the lion in his den was always a daunting prospect. But she was going to confront Phin about both his attack on Grey in the prison and sending his groom after him a year ago. It didn’t make any sense.

  ‘His lordship will see you now, my lady,’ the butler said.

  She hurried to Phin’s study. Her cousin rose upon her entry. He frowned. ‘What is it, Theresa?’

  ‘I prefer to be called Tess.’ She reined in her temper and sat down on the visitor’s chair. ‘I need to speak to you on a matter of importance.’

  He sat and, with his elbows on the table, steepled his fingers in front of his lips. The image of a man prepared to give proper due to anything she said. It was simply a front. ‘Important, you say?’

  She ignored the urge to reach across the desk and sweep his arms away so he cracked his chin on the tabletop. ‘Yes.’ She hauled in a deep breath. ‘I want to know why you sent men to attack Grey, both a year ago and in prison recently.’

  He recoiled. Sitting upright against the chair back. His gaze dropped briefly to the newspaper folded neatly to the right of the desk. His cheeks reddened. He glared at her. ‘What sort of accusation is that, may I ask? Who told you such a thing?’

  ‘I wonder.’ She smiled sweetly.

  His jaw dropped. ‘You cannot possibly have gone to visit him. Have you no sense? The man is a common criminal. He is going to hang.’

  Now why would he look so pleased at that thought? ‘The man is my half-brother.’

  ‘Your father never acknowledged him as such.’ He smirked. ‘I find it quite ironic that the man who is paying you court is the man who captured him, don’t you?’

  She’d always thought Rowan a bit of a priggish boor, but now he was being plain nasty. ‘I have told Sandford we do not suit.’

  The colour drained from his face. ‘What have you done?’

  She had expected him to be annoyed, but this was utter shock. And horror. ‘What did you do, Rowan?’

  He picked up a quill pen from the desk and snapped it in half. ‘After everything I have done, you turn around and stab me in the back. Whatever you have said to him, you will apologise. You will make it right or I will banish you to Yorkshire.’

  ‘I have no problem with that.’

  His jaw dropped. He blinked a couple of times. ‘But—you will never marry. You will be a spinster all your life. A poor one at that. I’ll see to it.’ He threw the two halves of the quill aside. ‘Better yet, when Stedman returns, you will accept his proposal. His offer was most generous. This interlude with Sandford was nothing more than that. Stedman is the man we want.’

  ‘Why is it so important to you, Rowan? I don’t understand.’

  A knock came at the door. ‘Lord Sandford to see you, my lord,’ Carver said.

  Confusion filled Rowan’s face ‘I thought you said he—Tell him to wait.’

  ‘Sorry, old chap.’ Sandford strolled into the study. ‘My business is rather urgent. It occurred to me that Lady Tess might take matters into her own hands. I thought I ought to offer her my support.’

  A rush of moisture behind her eyes made Tess blink. Dash it, the man knew her far too well. ‘I do not need any help, Lord Sandford. Indeed, I believe I was about to ask my maid to pack my trunks. I am going on a repairing lease to Yorkshire.’

  Phin cursed foully.

  Jaimie looked down his nose. ‘Not the words of a gentleman in front of a lady.’

  ‘She’s no lady. She’s a hoyden. Always has been.’

  Sandf
ord’s expression changed, hardened. ‘There is a certain matter of a missing diamond bracelet to be settled, Rowan. I believe it is in your possession.’

  Tess wasn’t sure she had heard right. ‘My bracelet?’

  Rowan glared at Sandford. ‘I have no idea what you are talking about.’

  ‘Yes, you do.’ He turned to Tess. ‘I went back and had another word with your brother. Took a bit of doing, but I managed to get him to tell me exactly what happened when he left Ingram Manor. It seems he caught this cousin of yours stealing your bracelet while you were in Bath. I presume he was using your window to gain ingress to the house and caught him in the act.’

  ‘Rubbish,’ Rowan said. ‘You cannot believe the word of a criminal over the word of a peer of the realm.’

  Sandford raised an eyebrow and picked a piece of lint off his sleeve. ‘I believe what I see.’ He reached into a pocket and pulled out a velvet pouch. ‘I found this in a drawer in your bedroom last night, Rowan. While you were at your club.’

  Tess gasped.

  Sandford shook the contents on to the desktop.

  ‘You stole it?’ Tess said. ‘Why?’

  ‘How dare you go prowling around my house! I’ll have you arrested, sir.’

  ‘Me and the Bow Street Runner I brought with me, also? A Runner with the appropriate legal documents.’

  Rowan collapsed against the back of his chair as if he’d been pricked with a pin and all the air had rushed out of him.

  Tess frowned. ‘How did you manage that? And why?’

  ‘As to why,’ Jaimie said, ‘I believed your brother’s story, once I heard the whole of it. I also located the men who beat him when he arrived at the prison. They had threatened to harm you if he talked, Tess, which is why he wouldn’t say anything. And when I threatened them, they told me who had sent them.’

  ‘Why?’ Tess asked Rowan once more. ‘What did Grey or I ever do to you that you would steal my bracelet and force him to leave his home?’

  Rowan ran a hand through his thinning locks. ‘Wilhelmina wanted the bracelet the moment she saw it and it should have been hers. It was part of the estate, but you refused to give it up.’

  Wilhelmina. She might have guessed. No doubt her cousin’s wife had repeatedly asked Tess to produce the bracelet just for her own cruel amusement at witnessing her panic. ‘And Father’s debts?’

  ‘A means of forcing you to agree to be parcelled off to the highest bidder, I should imagine,’ Jaimie said. ‘I had my lawyer look into it. The state of your father’s finances was dire, though not as bad as was claimed by your cousin.’

  Rowan cursed.

  ‘There is more,’ Jaimie said. ‘I found something else.’ He turned and stuck his head out of the door. ‘I’ll take those now please, Growler.’

  He came back with a sheaf of papers.

  Rowan rose, looking around wildly, as if he wanted to run away.

  ‘Sit down,’ Jaimie commanded sternly.

  He sat.

  Sandford smiled at Tess. ‘It is a codicil to your father’s will.’

  ‘Liar,’ Phin said. ‘It is a forgery and so I will say before the courts. It is a plot to do me out of my inheritance cooked up between you and that bastard brother of hers. I am the title holder. The courts will side with me.’

  Sandford looked at him with distaste. ‘I am sure the lawyer who drew it up will be quite happy to testify as to its validity. He will no doubt have a copy in his files.’ He shot Phin a warning glance.

  A semblance of a grin split Phin’s face. ‘Hardly likely, unless you know how to bring him back from the dead.’

  The hope that had been building in Tess’s chest, leached away. ‘He’s right. Father’s lawyer died not long after he did. There was a fire in his office when he was working late one night. The office burnt to the ground.’

  Sandford frowned. ‘How odd. He’s someone I know quite well. He was as healthy as a horse when I had dinner with him a few weeks ago.’

  Phin spluttered. He snatched up the document and opened it with a shaking hand. His face paled. ‘His son?’

  ‘Yes,’ Sandford said. He turned to Tess. ‘Apparently, your father was in town when he decided to have this drawn up. He wanted it done right away, so he went to his lawyer’s son who has his office in Lincoln’s Inn, not far from mine as it happens. Growler mentioned the name of your father’s lawyer when he did his investigations. I was so engrossed in other matters it did not occur to me that there might be a connection. I checked with him this morning before I came over here.’

  Phin threw the document down. ‘Lies. All lies.’

  ‘I think you will find it is all completely legal. My quick reading of it indicates that Ingram Manor has been left to Tess, along with her mother’s jewellery. There is a legacy for Greydon Hammond, too, and some bequests to the servants.’

  ‘Legacy? Bequests? He didn’t leave any money,’ Phin protested.

  ‘Well, as the title holder you will be legally obliged to sell something. Your own estate is not entailed.’

  Phin’s face had gone as red as a beetroot. He sank down into his chair clutching his chest. ‘I will be ruined.’

  Tess couldn’t even feel a little bit sorry for him.

  ‘Oh, one more thing,’ Lord Sandford said softly, glancing at Tess for a brief moment. There was an odd expression on his face. A warmth she had never seen there before. He turned back to Rowan. ‘I would not be threatening to send Lady Tess anywhere. The King wishes to meet her, since she has managed to solve the mystery of the Mayfair burglaries. She is to present herself at court tomorrow. And if you know what is good for you, you will make sure she is happy.’

  With that, Jaimie turned and walked out, leaving Tess and Phin alone.

  Phin opened his eyes and looked at her. He straightened in his seat. ‘You! You did this. You and that snake in the grass, Greydon Hammond. You’ve ruined me.’

  She smiled at him. ‘I did.’ Though it would not help Greydon in his current plight, at least he would know their father had not forgotten him after all. That had to count for something. ‘And don’t think to try to marry me off to the highest bidder again, because I won’t do it.’ If she wasn’t marrying Sandford, she certainly wasn’t marrying anyone else.

  She froze. Had she really just thought that?

  Oh, heavens, it seemed as though she had made a terrible mistake. She’d told the man she didn’t want him, yet he’d gone out of his way to get to the truth on her behalf.

  She picked up the papers from the desk and walked out.

  She had to put things right.

  * * *

  Jaimie stared at the rosebush. Or rather at the single rose it had produced. A lovely deep shade of pink. It was a triumph of hybridisation. A rose from China and an old English rose had begotten a remarkable blossom. He was so pleased with it, his first thought had been to show it to Tess. Naturally that was out of the question. The jilted suitor did not go calling on the woman who had given him his congé. Damn, but he had missed her this past week. He couldn’t help wondering how she was getting on with her aunt, the one who lived in Bath, who also, under the codicil to her father’s will, had been appointed her guardian until she came of age. The woman had come to London the moment she’d heard about the legal changes. This aunt was exceedingly wealthy, childless and in alt at being able to spoil her niece, so he’d been told.

  The butler entered. ‘A Mr Greydon Hammond to see you, my lord.’

  ‘Thank you. Show him in.’

  As usual the butler looked scandalised that he would entertain a guest in his conservatory in his shirtsleeves. He smiled as he recalled Tess’s visits. She’d certainly had the fussy old gentleman looking as if he’d smelled something nasty. Yes, he’d definitely missed Tess stirring up his life...

  Not one of the cases that Growler had brought to his attent
ion since she’d left had piqued even a smidgeon of his interest. Something that had never happened before. And not one word of advice had his parents offered him either. Strangely though, while he did not hear them any longer, he was able to recall their faces much more clearly before. Perhaps because he’d gone up to the gallery and looked at their portraits.

  Why he’d done that he wasn’t quite sure. He had never wanted to do so before.

  Now he thought about it, he wasn’t even sure that the words he’d put in their mouths had ever been words he’d heard them speak. They seemed more like words he wanted to hear.

  He rose as Greydon strode into the room. He was still a big burly fellow, but now looked more like a gentleman than a blacksmith or a pugilist. He’d cleaned up well. Getting a pardon for him from the King had cost Jaimie a great deal of money and time, but after explaining Greydon’s history, the King had taken a fancy to the idea of a modern-day Robin Hood, particularly when the victims had been well recompensed and he’d received a substantial contribution to his own personal wealth.

  The expense had proved worthwhile since Greydon had agreed to use his remarkable talent of getting in and out of buildings without being seen in service of the law of the land. He’d joined Jaimie’s business and already Growler could not say enough good things about him.

  ‘My lord,’ Greydon said with a bow. He clearly had not forgotten the lessons in gentlemanly etiquette from his youth.

  Jaimie got up and went to greet him with a handshake. ‘Hammond. To what do I owe the pleasure?’

  Hammond looked grim, but then his natural expression seemed to be mostly on the bleak side. ‘I want to know when you and my sister are going to resolve your differences.’

  He stiffened. ‘I beg your pardon?’

  ‘She’s no more than two streets from here in her aunt’s London house, pining for you, and you are sitting here pining for her. It doesn’t make any sense.’

  She was still in London? ‘Pining?’ Jaimie could not imagine Tess pining. If she had a problem, she would be out and about solving it. No, Tess had made it perfectly clear she didn’t want to marry him and he certainly did not want her to take him on out of gratitude. ‘I can assure you—’