The Cinder Earl's Christmas Deception

by Em Taylor

  “It is my punishment for having a big mouth and poking my nose in where I should not, as the Duke says.”

  “You were a child. Barely out of leading-strings,” said Beattie. “No, this cannot go on. You are Cindermaine. Your title may only be courtesy now but you are still a lord. And you care for that chit. She cannot be forced to marry that arse who shows his cock off to the world, even if it is covered by a thin layer of fabric.”

  “Christ, Beattie, please do not make me think about Cedric’s cock. I shall cast up my accounts.”

  “First thing is first, you need to tell the lady and then you shall have to procure a special licence. Beat Cedric to the chase, as it were.”

  “I still have no money.”

  “You will pay us back when you get your inheritance. And if you die before your father, well, we shall be glad to have helped a friend who had a very short life.”

  “He could live until he is ninety.”

  “Oh we shall see to it that you invest your money wisely and then you shall not be living off us for long,” Beattie assured him. “I invested most of my money my father gave me from when I attended to university and damned good thing too. He wagered the rest away. We shall, thanks to my wife’s dowry, survive this past dreadful year.”

  “I do not think I can agree to that, gentlemen.”

  “You have to, if not for your own sake, then for the sake of Miss Roberts. Would you really leave her to marry Cedric?” Stalwood raised an eyebrow at him.

  “Devil take it, Myles. He is not nice to women. The maids all say he is not exactly… well, he does not force them but he never leaves them alone until they give in to his whining demands. Then he is rough with them. And I mean… not in the way a lady likes one to get a little… you know.”

  “You mean not an erotic slap on the bottom and not her agreeing to be tied to the bedpost while you pleasure her.”

  “Quite. He borders on cruel from what they tell me.”

  “Rumour has it, he is banned from the brothels where you find a better class of courtesan because of his treatment of the ladies. Really, Gabriel, this young lady cannot be subjected to this.”

  “Some young lady shall.”

  “We shall cross the bridge of the next young lady when needs must. Let us deal with you and Miss Roberts now. Besides, you have a tendre for her.”

  Yes, he did.

  “It shall not work.”

  “We shall make it work. You can live in my bloody dower house if necessary. But with luck, your father will not stop you living in Marchby House or Marchby Castle. It is your birthright. Once the truth of your good health is out there, hopefully, he shall want to save face.”

  “So, I must tell Miss Roberts the truth. And get her to agree to marry me instead of Cedric.”

  “It should be simple enough,” said Stalwood. “Christina assures me she is already halfway in love with you.”

  “Let us go our separate ways and collect our ladies and take them to the theatre. You can tell her on the way home.”

  “Perhaps. Or I may tell her tomorrow. Take her for a walk. I shall think about it at the theatre.”

  Chapter 9

  Cedric was quiet and distracted that evening, but he had not once affected that air of fashionable ennui he sometimes put on in front of others. They were using his father’s box, and he had brought along Lord Stalwood and Lady Christina. Viscount and Viscountess Beattie, whom Kathleen thought she may have met at her betrothal ball, had also been invited. But she had met so many people that evening it was hard to remember.

  Lady Beattie was lovely and sweet and asked her to accompany her to the necessary. Lady Beattie had just found out she was increasing and needed to visit the necessary more than usual. She had apologised for her brutal honesty but had said she usually found it easier just to state the obvious. While Kathleen was not used to this direct approach, she found it refreshing.

  They were just arriving back at their box when an elderly woman approached lady Beattie.

  “Emily, my dear, how are you?”

  “I am fine, Aunt.” Lady Beattie introduced Kathleen to Lady Wardlaw, her aunt and they exchanged a few pleasantries before her aunt started to tell her a long-winded story. Raised voices from their box, however, caught Kathleen’s attention.

  “I will tell her in my own good time, Christina. I cannot just blurt out that I am not Cedric, but in fact, his half-brother, the heir to the Dukedom of Hartsmere. Nor that she only met Cedric once, on the day he cast up his accounts outside her house.”

  “Be quiet. She could be back at any moment.” It was Christina’s voice.

  “How will she react? And furthermore, I have to tell her we suspect he might be a bit of a brute to women and she should marry me. Which is all well and good, but we have no idea if we may have to live in poverty for anything up to fifty years should the Duke live to a ripe old age.”

  “You shall not live in poverty. We have discussed this. We shall make sure you are comfortable, Cindermaine. Cedric lives off your father. I do not see the difference, Gabriel.” That sounded like Lord Stalwood.

  “There is a big difference. We lied to her. The Duke may have been the instigator of the lie but we went along with it.”

  “She would be miserable with Cedric. I cannot bear to be in his company for even a few minutes far less a lifetime.”

  “I know, and I understand. I agree with you all. But I have to do this in my own time.”

  “You have no time, Gabriel. Cedric is regaining his strength. Gentlemen are supposed to be honourable. Kathleen is my friend. You would make a good match. I know you have an affection for her. You must marry her and soon.”

  “I do apologise.” Lady Beattie was smiling at her as the elderly lady walked away leaning heavily on a cane. “Once Aunt Gertrude gets a bee in her bonnet about something there is no stopping her. Honestly, you would think it the crime of the century that Lady Parker added milk to her teacup before adding the tea. Come, we shall be late for the start of the next act.”

  Kathleen’s mind was in a whirl. Cedric was not Cedric. He was Gabriel, the half-brother who was supposed to be ill and in the country. And they thought Cedric might be a brute, but they were not sure. But they had all lied to her. Now they wanted her to marry Gabriel. But he would be poor. How could the son of a Duke be poor? The Duke was making a grand investment in papa’s company. It was all very confusing.

  Gabriel was smiling at her as she and Lady Beattie re-entered the box. She sat down giving him a wan smile.

  “Are you enjoying the play?” he asked.

  “I am not so keen on Shakespeare’s tragedies, I must confess,” she replied. If she was honest, she was more intrigued by the drama unfolding in this box.

  “Nor I, Miss Roberts.”

  “Miss Roberts?”

  “We must be formal in case opera glasses and lorgnettes are trained on us and those watching can read our lips.”

  She raised her fan to her face and opened it.

  “Were you not afraid of that during the interval, Lord Cindermaine?”

  He turned his face towards her and his face visibly paled. Kathleen raised an eyebrow back at him.

  “Kathleen, I…”

  But the actors were coming back on stage and everyone started to quieten down. She turned her face to the stage in a most definite cut. Thankfully he chose not to press her further.

  Kathleen bit her lip and willed the burning behind her eyes to stop. She would not cry. She could not. Not in front of all these people. Every eye would be upon her if she broke down. She needed time to work out what was happening and what all this meant.

  ∞∞∞

  Eventually, the play was over and Gabriel, as it appeared that he was called, handed her up into Lord Stalwood’s carriage. He then climbed in himself after Christina and sat down. She wanted to move. She did not want to sit next to Lord Cindermaine. That said, she did not want to sit opposite him and look into those eyes. She had glanced at him a few
times through the rest of the performance and his gaze had been lowered. She was sure he had worried a hole in the thumb of his evening glove. So much so that at one point, Christina, who sat on his other side had placed a hand on his and smiled sweetly at him. He had grimaced and she had glanced knowingly at Kathleen, then back at him and he had nodded. Could they communicate with their minds? She had heard some twins could do that.

  The carriage horses moved off a couple of yards then stopped.

  “It always takes some time to get out of the Drury Lane area. And I believe the Worthington’s are also having a ball this evening. That will not help. But let us discuss the elephant in the carriage shall we?”

  “Not now, Stalwood,” Gabriel growled.

  “If not now, then when?”

  “Indeed,” said Kathleen. “It is time I was told the truth. Would you not agree, Lord Cindermaine?”

  “I agree.”

  “So, it was you I met at the ball? You in the hothouse?” Anger mixed with embarrassment made her cheeks flame at the thought. He had taken advantage of her.

  “Yes, that was me.”

  “The one who accidentally called himself Gabriel, is that correct, Lord Cindermaine?”

  “Why do you keep calling me by my title?”

  “Cedric gave me leave to call him by his given name, you have not,” she replied tartly.

  “That was me. The last time you saw Cedric, he was casting up his accounts in front of your townhouse.”

  “Is he well?”

  “He shall live. And I, Gabriel, Earl of Cindermaine give you leave to call me by my given name, Miss Roberts.”

  Kathleen frowned mutinously at him. She would not reciprocate. She was extremely vexed with him and at Christina and Lord Stalwood.

  “It seems I have been the victim of an elaborate hoax carried out by all of your family and friends, Gabriel.”

  “Not all of them. Very few knew about this and it was the Duke’s idea.”

  “The Duke?”

  “Yes, the Duke.”

  “I find it odd you call your father the Duke.”

  “My sire and I do not have a particularly conventional relationship.”

  “You share no mutual feelings towards one another.”

  “Only utter hatred.”

  Kathleen gasped at his bald yet, she could not help feeling, truthful words.

  “I do not believe a father could hate a son, my lord.”

  “Then you do not know the Duke of Hartsmere, Miss Roberts. Furthermore, I would bid you hold your counsel on your opinions until you have better knowledge of the man and the situation.”

  Kathleen drew a deep breath nose to control her temper. She was a lady after all, but it was very hard to remember that fact when Lord Cindermaine was being such a brute. He had lied to her and yet he was the one being rude.

  “My lord, it was you pretending to be your half-brother all this time and yet you presume to chastise me for asking questions about your relationship with your father when you are supposed to be convalescing in the country. You will forgive me if I am less than inclined to be given a set down by a liar and a cheat.”

  Gabriel sighed.

  “Miss Roberts, while I understand your upset, I do hope that you will give me the opportunity to explain my actions and the reason I had no choice but to agree to my sire’s ridiculous plan.”

  “I think not, my lord.”

  “I believe you shall, Miss Roberts. We are soon to arrive at the mews behind Lord Stalwood’s townhouse. We shall use the back entrance to his house and my brother shall explain himself. I am sorry to be a party to this, but I do believe he should be given the opportunity to be heard.”

  “I would prefer to go home,” Kathleen said—although part of her did want to know why Lord Cindermaine had carried out this elaborate ruse.

  She was also intrigued to find out whether the supercilious man who affected an air of fashionable ennui was the real Lord Cindermaine. If he was, she was glad he was not the man she was supposed to marry. However, if the kind, gentle man who had kissed her at the ball, ridden with her in Hyde Park and taken her for an ice at Gunther's was the real Lord Cindermaine, then she feared she was already halfway in love with him.

  “We do not want to hold you against your will, Kathleen, but please listen to Gabriel. Allow him to tell his side of the story, and do so with an open mind. It may sound a little fantastical, but it is true.”

  Kathleen sighed but nodded her acquiescence. She had little choice though, she was sure they would take her home if she insisted. But perhaps listening to him was fair. At least armed with all the information she could send him to the devil with a clear conscience.

  Once inside, they were lead into the drawing room. Tea was brought in and Christina and Lord Stalwood discreetly withdrew. Kathleen knew that she should insist on a chaperone, but the whole situation was so surreal that she was past caring. Gabriel left his tea on a side table and stood. He started to pace. Then he stopped and surveyed her.

  “I suppose I should start at the beginning.”

  “Often a good place to begin, I find.”

  He pursed his lips for a moment then spoke.

  “Cedric and Godfrey's mother and the Duke have been having a long-standing affair for thirty years. The Duke is head over ears in love with the Dowager Baroness of Benwick—as much as the man is capable of love, at least. He never had any tender feelings towards his duchess—my mother. My mother had a large dowry and was herself a daughter of a Duke. It was an advantageous marriage. The Dowager Baroness had nothing to recommend her except her beauty. Her father was a poor knight who had scraped enough money together to get her one Season in London. She had squandered it by accepting the suit of a poor duke who only wanted to bed her. She became his mistress. She bore him a bastard son—Cedric. I believe she always thought he would come around and marry her. But four years after they met, he married Lady Annabel, my mother, and she was increasing with twins almost as soon as the vows were spoken. Christina and I were born and their duty to the dukedom done. I have no idea why he did not plan to have a spare in case anything happened to me.

  Godfrey arrived six months after we were born. My mother thought the affair at an end. My father brought my half-brothers to live with us when we were about three years old. One day, when I was about five, I had escaped the clutches of my nurse. I was playing in the area of the dower house on the estate. I happened to look in the french windows of one of the parlours and my father had a woman bent over a love seat. He had her skirts thrown up over her back and he was smacking her bottom. He was driving his... well, his manhood in and out of her body. I did not know they were having intimate relations at the time. I was a just a child. Some couples like a little pain with the pleasure, hence him smacking her bottom. My father was a little handy with his fists towards me, my sister and my mother. I thought he was hurting a servant. I did not recognise the woman as Cedric and Godfrey's mother. I told my mother and the next night, she climbed to the battlements of the castle and threw herself off.”

  “Oh Gabriel, that must have been terrible.”

  He shrugged. “It was a long time ago.”

  “Even so.”

  “Miss Roberts, I do not tell you this for sympathy, but so that you will understand the deception carried out.”

  “Please, my lord. I would like it if you would resume calling me by my given name.”

  He gave her a rueful smile. “I would be honoured if you would call me Gabriel.”

  “And Cedric's middle name?”

  He bit his lip then admitted, “Peregrine, I'm afraid.”

  “And this elaborate deception?”

  “Ah well, the Duke has not forgiven me for tattling on him to my mother. The scandal of her death was quite something. The sort of scandal only a duke can overcome.”

  “But you were only a child. You did not even understand what you were witnessing. I must confess that from your description, I am not sure I would have understoo
d what was going on, and I am an adult, albeit an innocent young lady.”

  Gabriel chuckled mirthlessly. “I am sure you could have figured it out, Kathleen.”

  “Perhaps. Please go on.”

  “The duke had no choice but to educate me. I was his heir. But during school holidays, I was forbidden from staying with friends. I worked on the estate. After university, I became a servant in the Duke's household. No one ever looks beyond the clothing so, in town, I was just a servant. When Cedric cast up his accounts in front of your house the day before his betrothal ball my father came up with the plan. I bear a striking resemblance to Cedric as we both take after the Duke. I had no option but to say yes. I agreed on the condition I could purchase evening breeches and anything other than inexpressibles to wear on my lower half. I can do a reasonable impression of Cedric but alas I was unable to treat you with the contempt he would probably have treated you with in real life.”

  “And Christina and Lord Stalwood?”

  “I happened upon Stalwood the day Cedric became ill. In five years, he is the only member of the ton to recognise me until Lord Beattie recognised me at the ball. I asked him to send a note around to Christina to ask her to cover for me. Stalwood would not let me go until he had got at least part of the truth from me. Christina came to his house, and they have been almost inseparable ever since. I believe they are playing matchmaker with us.”

  “They are the fairy godmothers to your Cinderella.”

  Gabriel grimaced. “I would not go that far.”

  “I heard an argument in the box when Lady Beattie and I returned. She was waylaid by her aunt while we were in hearing distance of your raised voices. Lady Beattie obviously did not realise.”

  “I see. Beattie and Stalwood want me to marry you and I agree with them in principle. Now that I have had the time in the theatre to ponder the matter, they are correct. I have… well, I have grown fond of you since the ball. You are intelligent, witty, beautiful and wonderful company. I should hate to see that all beaten out of you, if not literally, then figuratively, by my oaf of a half-brother.”