Claire greeted the girl and then rose. “What are we to do today, Your Grace?” she asked him properly.
With his back to the maid, he wiggled his eyebrows and winked at her. Claire could not help but burst into giggles.
“I want to show you my world,” he said.
They spent the morning on the grounds. First, they visited the gardens and the hothouses. Noel introduced her to the gardeners he worked with daily. He showed her the roses, which were a result of two types he had crossed. Claire enjoyed the time immensely. The little maid followed them everywhere, making it obvious why the duchess had chosen a young chaperone for them.
In the afternoon, they left the maid behind and took the gig to visit the tenants. All were most gracious, inspecting her closely while offering refreshments and words of welcome.
As the sun began to drop in the sky, Noel drove them back toward the castle. On the far side of the bridge, he pulled over and helped her out of the gig, taking her hand to lead her along the river.
“What do you think of my home?” he asked her.
“It is beautiful, Noel. Everything about it seems perfect. The gardens are fabulous, the hothouses interesting, the staff is competent.”
“Could you ever feel at home here?” he asked.
Claire answered truthfully, “I already feel at home here.”
“I love you, Claire,” he said. “I want you to be my wife.”
“And I love you, Noel,” she answered, suddenly feeling shy. “I will be the luckiest of women to have you for my husband.”
“Is that a yes?” he asked anxiously.
Claire laughed. “Yes,” she said simply.
Then he kissed her.
****
Noel was ecstatic. At last he had succeeded in what he had, at times, thought was impossible. He had convinced Miss Claire Stuart to be his wife. Now he could not wait to tell the world, and, after assuring Claire he had already spoken with her father at her come out ball, he asked her permission to announce their engagement during the evening.
Therefore, in the evening he had waited impatiently to see what type of seating arrangements his mother had thought up this night. For, other than their first evening together, Noel was not allowed to sit with his love again. As he escorted his mother down to greet the guests he asked her for a hint.
“Why, you naughty boy,” she had said, “you cannot know in advance. It would not be fair.”
Once the guests had all gathered, they looked in anticipation at their hostess, all as curious as Noel.
“This evening, dear friends,” the duchess addressed the group, “will be ladies’ choice. Without delay, choose your dinner partner.”
Claire walked quickly toward Noel, not intending to give anyone else a chance to claim him. She took his arm and whispered, “I would have fought for you.”
He smiled down at her, placing his hand over hers. “I am glad to hear it,” he said.
Dinner progressed nicely to dessert. The footmen sat dishes of nuts and cheeses on the long dining table and then sat a bowl of sun-ripened strawberries in front of each guest. The butler then entered and selected a bottle of champagne, popped the cork and began to pour.
“What a treat!” someone said.
Noel rose at the head of the table. “Ladies and gentlemen, friends and family, I would like to propose a toast to the woman who has consented to make me the happiest of men – Miss Claire Stuart.”
The rest of the evening was filled with revelry. The servants and guests dragged the furniture aside in the drawing room to make ready for a makeshift dance with anyone who could play the pianoforte taking turns at providing the music. Finally, Mrs. Sheffield consented to play a waltz and Noel seized his intended. As he twirled her around the floor, he reveled in the feel of her in his arms.
“Promise me,” he said, “you will not make me wait long. I am finding I am not a patient man.”
****
Claire could not have imagined such happiness had she tried. The next several days flew by, filled with love and laughter. In the middle of the second week, the duchess had announced how the gentlemen were to enjoy hunting, while the ladies would make a trip into the nearest town for a bit of shopping.
Once in the town, Willa and Claire went off on their own in search of small gifts for Claire’s sisters. They stepped into a book dealer’s shop to look for something for Anna and moved in among the shelves when they heard the bell ring from above the door.
“Mrs. Finch,” another shopper was heard to greet someone, “you have returned from London!”
“Yes. I’m afraid the company is quite thin now,” another voice replied.
“In this case, you have no doubt missed the great news,” the first voice said.
“Of what news do you speak?” the second voice returned.
“His Grace is affianced!”
“The Duke of Lamberton?” asked the second voice.
“Exactly,” came the first voice.
“And who, pray tell, is his bride?” the second voice questioned.
“A Miss Claire Stuart from Surrey,” came the first voice.
“No, it can’t be!”
“Why whatever is wrong?” asked the first voice.
“I have just come from town, you know, and it is all over town. Miss Claire Stuart was compromised by the Viscount Pitt months ago, and he refused to wed her. She is ruined!”
“Why the duke surely must know. He would not marry anyone who was less than virtuous,” assured the first voice.
Chapter Nineteen
Claire sank to the floor. Her hands were shaking so much she dropped her reticule. She was so cold her teeth began to chatter. When the two women left the shop, she did not even hear the doorbell.
“Oh, Claire,” Willa whispered as she sank down beside her. “I am so sorry.”
Claire glanced up at Willa. “I cannot go back,” she begged. “I cannot look into his face when he hears.”
“Claire, he’ll understand,” Willa said soothingly.
“Willa, don’t you understand? What if it were you in my place? Would you want John to have to make a choice? Noel will have to choose to marry me, knowing everyone believes I am sullied, or he will have to ask me to let him out of the engagement. I cannot make him choose. I cannot.”
Willa was quiet. “I do understand,” she said, choking back her own tears. “But what will you do?” she asked.
Claire clutched at her cousin’s arm in desperation. “How much money do I have?” she asked, still unable to hold her reticule still enough to open it.
Willa picked it up and counted the money.
“Is there enough for coach fare?” Claire whispered.
“No,” Willa said, “but with mine there is if you take the mail.”
“You must help me there,” Claire said. “I will return home to tell my family of my shame. And you must tell Noel. Tell him I love him, and so I release him. Please Willa.”
****
Willa saw Claire onto the mail coach and then went to join the other ladies. A small group of them was ready to leave before the others, and she went with them back to the castle.
“Where is your cousin?” Lady Paxton asked.
“She has joined the others for the church tour,” Willa lied. “Her father is a vicar, and she immensely enjoys church history.”
She was glad they accepted this excuse as she was too busy going over in her mind what she would tell the duke when they arrived at the castle.
The men had not returned by the time Willa and her group had arrived, so she went to cool her heels in the library. She asked a footman to make sure Lord Roydon knew she needed to see him posthaste upon his return. “It is urgent,” she said.
John joined her within a few minutes of his arrival. “What is it, Willa?” he asked.
“I need you to be with me when I speak to Noel,” she said.
“Did I hear my name?” the duke said as he pushed wide the door of the library.
<
br /> “Please shut the door,” Willa begged quietly.
“What is it?” the duke asked her.
Willa took a deep breath and rose, clutching the back of her chair for support. “Claire and I were in town at the bookstore, and we overheard a conversation between two women. One had returned from London. The other one told her of your news and let it be known Claire was your affianced. Then the other woman said that surely it could not be. She said it was all over town how Claire had been ruined, how she had been compromised by Viscount Pitt and how Claire had refused to marry him.”
“Where is she? Where is Claire?” the duke demanded.
“She refused to return,” Willa went on. “She took the mail back to Surrey. She told me to tell you she loves you enough to release you, Noel. She didn’t want you to have to choose between marrying her, when everyone would believe she was ruined, and in having to ask to be released from your engagement to save your own reputation.” Willa could not help it, she was sobbing by the time she had finished and John took her in his arms, soothing her. “I’m sorry,” she said looking at the duke through a curtain of tears.
****
Noel threw open the library door so hard it slammed into the wall. The hall was crowded with guests milling about upon their return, but he did not care.
“Saddle my stallion and bring my dueling pistols,” he barked to the butler. “And I want them now,” he emphasized.
The duchess spoke to her son, worry reflected in her eyes. “What is it, Noel?”
He shook his head and did not answer.
“I’ll go with you, Noel,” John said.
“No, I’ll do this alone,” Noel ground out. Having just returned he was ready for riding, and he did not bother with anything else. Yardley appeared with the case of pistols and Noel flipped open the lid and took them both out. One he slid into his boot, the other into his coat pocket. The butler moved the guests from his master’s way and opened the door for him. Noel strode out and mounted his horse.
While riding hard, he also paced his horse well. The nags he could procure along the road were not reliable for this task. He stopped to feed and water his stallion, grabbing a glass of ale and a pie only when it was convenient.
Noel’s mind filled with visions of Claire, alone and in a crowded coach, making her way back home. She believed she was ruined. He knew she was not, and by the end of tomorrow, the world would know as well. Riding into the night, he did not worry about the possible dangers lurking in the shadows. Only when he was so tired he felt he might fall from the saddle did he stop and then it was but for a few hours.
Noel arrived in Chittingham early in the afternoon. He remembered the church well but did not intend to stop there yet. He did stop to make inquiries and he learned Claire had arrived and had caught a ride to the vicarage. She would be safe. Instead of following her, he asked for directions to the home of the Earl of Berwick.
A footman ran out to hold his horse as Noel strode up the steps of the red-bricked hall, which housed the Norton family. The butler opened the door on the second rap. Noel stepped into the hall.
“Sir,” the butler complained, "you cannot just come in.”
Noel handed the man his card. “Tell Lord Berwick His Grace the Duke of Lamberton has come to call.”
The look in Noel’s eyes lit a fire beneath the butler’s feet, and in but a moment Noel was ushered into the earl’s study.
“What’s this, Your Grace?” the earl demanded. He was a heavyset man with jowls, which flapped as he spoke. The redness around his eyes and nose, the wrinkles in his skin spoke of years of dissipation.
“Sit down,” Noel commanded. “I would like some questions answered.”
The earl began to bluster and then, taking a closer look, sat down behind his desk.
“Where is your daughter?”
“At home. Upstairs I suppose,” the earl replied.
“Get her.” When the earl did not move, Noel barked again, “Get her now!”
The earl rose and crossed to the door. “Get Lady Regina,” he said to the butler. “Have her join us in my study.” The man returned to his desk and looked at Noel with some fear in his eyes. “What is happening?” he asked.
“Be patient,” Noel said, his voice quiet now.
When Lady Regina entered the room she looked toward her father. “What is it, father?” she asked. Then, when she spied the man at her father’s desk, she faltered, growing pale on the instant.
Rising, Noel faced her. “We meet again,” he said.
“Yes, Your Grace,” she said with a quiver in her voice.
“It is time for some truths,” Noel told her. “Why don’t we begin by telling your father what you witnessed in the churchyard this past spring?”
“He wouldn’t be interested,” she said petulantly, sagging ungracefully into a chair.
Noel leaned over her. “By calling in only one favor, I can ruin your life,” he said. “Start talking.”
She pouted and crossed her arms but then began. “Alistair attacked the vicar’s daughter in the churchyard,” she said at last.
“Attacked? What do you mean by attacked?” the earl asked.
“He was going to rape her,” Noel said bluntly. “Rape her, Berwick. A vicar’s daughter.”
“How did you know about this?” the earl asked his daughter.
“I saw it. I was in the cemetery at mother’s grave.”
“Didn’t you stop it?” the man asked incredulously.
“No,” Lady Regina replied. “If I had, Alistair would have hurt me.”
“But…” the earl looked from his daughter to the duke, confusion in his eyes.
“She got away,” Noel added. “She used her knee to cool his ardor, you might say.”
The earl grimaced.
“But then your daughter stepped in. Do tell your father, Lady Regina,” Noel prodded.
“All right! I didn’t want to marry Lord Roydon, Father. And you had been pushing me to do so. I told her if she didn’t make the earl marry her, I would spread rumors about her in London saying she was ruined.”
The earl dropped his head into his hands. “Why, Regina? Why would you do it? Why didn’t you tell me you didn’t want to marry Roydon?”
“Would you have listened?” she asked. “You never have in the past. Ever since mother died, all you have cared about is your liquor.”
The older man looked up with grief reflected across his face. “Regina,” he said, shaking his head.
“There’s more,” Noel said with little sympathy. “You see, in London your daughter made Miss Stuart’s life miserable. She frequently reminded her of the blackmail. She demanded Miss Stuart try to catch Roydon in a compromising situation. The poor girl tried everything, hoping to save her family from ruin. She’s got four sisters, you know, and she didn’t want them to suffer.”
“But while your own daughter threatened to tell the world Miss Stuart was ruined, she was behaving as little more than a light-skirt herself. I caught her, Berwick, in Vauxhall Gardens with Baron Sully. Let’s say I am quite confident your daughter is no longer an innocent.”
“It’s not true, Daddy,” the girl began to cry. “I would never.”
The earl rose suddenly, knocking over the inkwell on his desk. “Shut up, Regina. It’s true, for I myself caught you with the baron last winter when he was here visiting with your brother. I could not bear to think of it, so I hoped to get the earl to marry you before the world knew you were nothing more than damaged goods.” The earl turned back toward Noel. “What else is there?” he asked hoarsely.
“She had the audacity to tell false stories of Miss Stuart, even after her own fall from grace,” the duke said. “Miss Stuart has returned here, believing she is ruined in the eyes of society and her family with her.”
“Is it true?” Berwick asked his daughter. When she did not answer, he said it again, louder. “Is it true, Regina?
“Yes,” she whimpered.
“Why, Reg
ina? The vicar and his family are good people. They’re not like us.”
Regina did not answer right away, and only when her father loomed threateningly over her, did she confess. “I’m with child. Sully got me with child but has refused to marry me,” she whispered in a pitiful voice.
The earl sat back in his chair.
“What do you intend to do to set this to rights?” Noel asked.
“My sister,” the earl muttered. “She is widowed and lives in Yorkshire. Regina will go to visit.”
“It is not enough,” Noel said. “She must make amends for the harm she has done Miss Stuart.”
“I’m sorry, Your Grace. I don’t disagree, but I am not sure what to offer you. We can give them money. Regina can apologize. We can put an advertisement in the paper. But will it help?”
Noel thought for a minute before answering. “No,” he agreed quietly. “It would not.”
“My daughter will be banned from society for her lifetime. She will give up her child and will face ruin for the rest of her life. I beg you, Lamberton, let the punishment be enough.”
Noel thought about the bleak life, which faced the chit. Alone. Ruined. Exiled. “It is enough,” he agreed at last.
The earl let out his breath and then turned to his daughter. “Go pack, Regina. You leave at first light. I will escort you myself.”
Lady Regina seized her chance and ran from the room.
Noel turned back to the earl. “And now for your son,” he said.
“I have given up on my son long ago,” the earl said.
“Perhaps the military,” Noel suggested. “It has made a man of many a wastrel,” he added.
The earl nodded. “I will deal with it when I return,” he said.
“With your permission, Berwick, I will attend to it before you leave.”
The earl nodded and then rose. “I am a sorry man, Lamberton. I can see it now. My actions and my lack of caring for my children during my own grief have brought my family to ruin. It is enough for today.”
****
Claire arrived home to find her family gone. “I met your family going into town,” the friendly neighbor man told her as he drove her from the inn.
The Blackmailed Beauty Page 19
