Kind Ella and the Charming Duke

by Bridget Barton

  “Mr Mercer then said that the Duke did not talk much of Lady Caroline, but he spoke greatly of you.”

  “The Duke spoke of me to his attorney?” Ella felt curious indeed.

  She was suddenly excited to hear what the Duke had said about her, almost girlishly so, and then she remembered that whatever came of it, her stepfather would be furious.

  “Apparently, he told Mr Mercer how concerned he is about the way you are treated here at Dandridge Hall.”

  “Good heavens, I can only hope that he cited nothing more than he has seen.”

  “I am afraid not, Miss Winfield, and it is that which has made me run here and burst in on you like this,” Violet said, and her face began to pale again. “Apparently, the Duke told Mr Mercer that you are no longer permitted to take meals with the rest of the family.”

  “Oh goodness me,” Ella said, and she knew that the game was up, well and truly. “The Earl is no fool, and he will instantly know that the Duke can only have received such information from my own lips. He will know that I have spoken separately to the Duke and will even suspect me of having sought him out for that very purpose.”

  “I realized that immediately,” Violet said in a voice that was now dry and hoarse. “And at that moment, I ran from them and came straight here.”

  “What on earth is going to happen to me now?” Ella said and had the curious sensation that she was shaking on the inside. “He is bound never to let me out in the afternoon again for certain. He must think that I have gone against his instructions and tried to secure the Duke for myself. And even if he does not, he will know that I have sought to warn the Duke against his evil plan. The Earl will put it together in no time, and he will easily see that it was I who sent the warning message. He will know that I have listened at the door, for how else could I have known to warn the Duke to take another route?”

  “Miss Winfield, I am so afraid for you. Now that we know what lengths His Lordship would have gone to stop the Duke from getting to Mortcombe Hall, the mention of this dreadful Proctor, we know what kind of man he is. We know that he would stick at nothing, and I am afraid that you are in danger, Miss. I think you must run now; you must get out of this place.” Violet was growing agitated and rose to her feet, holding fast to her mistress’ hand and trying to draw her to her feet also. “You must go.”

  “But I have nowhere to go, Violet. I have no other family; no one who will take me in.”

  “Then you must go to the Duke, Miss Winfield. Or you must go to Lady Brightwell; she is your friend and a sensible woman. She will know what to do.”

  “Perhaps you are right; perhaps I can go to Lady Brightwell,” Ella said with a tiny flicker of hope in her chest.

  “But you must go now, Miss. You must just take your cloak and bonnet and leave immediately. I think you must be gone before the Earl and Mr Mercer finish their meeting. Good Lord, they might even have finished it already.”

  “Then you must not be found here, Violet. You must not be found here with me in all this state because my stepfather is not only a suspicious man, he is a very clever one also.”

  “But you will leave, Miss? You will go immediately?” Violet said as tears rolled down her cheeks.

  “I will, and I will get word to you as soon as I am able. You must not worry anymore, but you must get back to the housekeeper before anyone in this household suspects you of helping me.”

  Without another word, Violet reached up and threw her arms around her mistress’ neck, hugging her tightly as her tears flowed.

  Ella knew that she must move quickly and, despite her own emotions, she hurriedly kissed Violet’s cheek and shooed her from the room.

  The moment she was alone, Ella realized that her hands were shaking violently. She must pull herself together long enough to escape. And she knew that she must escape now, for if she did not, she never would.

  Ella took a few deep breaths and determined that she would run to the boot room and take whatever cloak hung there and then hurry to the stable and have her horse quickly saddled so that she could ride away from Dandridge Hall for good.

  With her plan made, Ella began to feel calmer, even though she was still troubled and fearful. But she had gathered herself enough to be able to put one foot in front of the other and make good her escape.

  She took a deep breath again and strode purposefully for the door, knowing that she did not have a second to waste. With any luck, her stepfather would still be in conference with Henry Mercer, and that would, at least, give her a few minutes if nothing else in which to escape. At least if she could get to the stables, her stepfather might be engrossed in searching the hall for her before he thought to look there. Anything that would give her the tiniest advantage, just a spare minute, and she would be grateful.

  She reached for the door handle, pulled the door open, and gasped with shock. For there, standing outside the door as if ready to make their way in were none other than the Earl of Dandridge and her own mother. The look in his eyes was enough to tell Ella that the game really was up. And, as she shifted her gaze to her mother’s face, Ella knew in an instant that she could expect no assistance whatsoever from her.

  Chapter 25

  Without a word, the Earl walked into the room, roughly pushing Eleanor aside. Ariadne followed behind him and closed the door after her.

  Ella had the awful feeling that she was about to be struck without warning, and so she backed fearfully away from the Earl, moving blindly backward until she collided with the couch and almost fell.

  The Earl reached out and grabbed her arm, and she was grateful for a moment that he cared enough to stop her from falling. However, he did not release her arm but gripped her tightly, painfully, and pulled her towards him so quickly that the two of them were almost nose-to-nose before she realized what was happening.

  “How dare you?” he said in a low and dangerous voice, his breath hot and rancid on her face.

  “You are hurting me, Lord Dandridge; I beg you would release my arm,” Ella said and winced in pain.

  “I will not release you, you deceitful, dreadful girl. And if it pains you, then know that it is no more than you deserve. I know what you have done. I know all of it.”

  Ella could say nothing in response. She was so afraid and could only stare helplessly back into his eyes, fearful of what the next moment would bring. But could he really know all of it? Surely he did not.

  And then she realized that the only thing that her stepfather would not know was that she had attended the masquerade ball in secret and had spoken to the Duke. But that was the least of it, and it would not save her now. His knowledge of everything else was complete, and she knew with certainty that he could easily fill whatever gaps there were in Mr Mercer’s telling of events.

  “You have been sneaking out of this house to tell tales to the Duke.” The Earl did not raise his voice at all, yet Ella thought his tone more frightening than anything she had ever heard. “Tell me, where did you see him? And do not tell me that you did not, for I know that you did.”

  “I have not seen him, not outside of Dandridge.” Ella hoped a small lie might save her. “But on the day when I was banished from tea by my own mother, the Duke found me out on the grounds humiliated and upset. He spoke to me for a few minutes; he was just trying to be kind, and I was so upset that I cannot remember at all what he said.”

  “And what did you say, Ella?” The Earl did not release his grip, and his heavy fingers digging so deeply into the flesh of her arm were enough to render concentration almost impossible.

  Ella wanted to think fast, to say something clever that would save her, but the pain was too great and the fear overwhelming.

  “I cannot remember what I said,” she lied.

  “You bemoaned your lot, you pathetic creature. You told him that you were not even allowed to take meals with your family. What were you trying to achieve with so undignified a complaint? I know, Ella. I know.” He squeezed her arm harder still. “You were tryin
g to gain his sympathy so that you might worm your way into his heart and unseat my beautiful daughters.”

  “They do not need to be unseated, Sir, for I cannot imagine that such creatures would ever truly find a place in any man’s heart!” Ella spat angrily, and the Duke instantly released her arm.

  But the moment that she began to rub the already bruising skin, he slapped her hard across the cheek, and she fell backward onto the floor, crying out in pain.

  “You will never again speak of my daughters in such a way. They are the most beautiful and accomplished young ladies, and you, Ella Winfield, are nothing. You are the daughter of nobody, an old Baron with a small and crumbling estate, and yet you give yourself such airs. You walk through the fine halls of Dandridge as if you are better and cleverer than anyone else inside it, and you will rue the day that you chose to take on that attitude in my home.”

  Ella knew that she must stay quiet; whatever ridiculous claims the Earl made now, she was powerless to refute them. He had spared her none of his strength when he struck her, and she could feel already that her cheek was swollen and continued to swell beneath her hand as she held it.

  “I could see immediately the Duke came here how you tried to win him over with your pretense at gentility and quiet manners. But you are brazen, for all your pretty little ways, Ella Winfield. You are brazen in your intentions, and I see into your ugly little heart.”

  Ella wanted to protest; she wanted to scream at him that he had the blackest, ugliest heart in all of England, but she knew she must not provoke him. Instead, she turned her eyes to her mother in the hopes of seeing at least some horror there, even if Ariadne could help her in no other way, surely that would be enough.

  But when she turned to look at her mother, she could see that Ariadne was deep in thought, her eyebrows knitted together and her forehead furrowed. She was thinking about something, even as she looked down at her daughter, bruised and in pain on the floor of the morning room, she was clearly preoccupied. Ella felt sick and desperate and wished that she had run the moment Violet had suggested it.

  “She is lying,” Ariadne said a little vaguely.

  “What are you talking about?” the Earl said with an air of exasperation. “Well, say it,” he demanded.

  “Did you not tell me, husband, that the Duke told Henry Mercer that Ella was not allowed to take meals with us?” Ariadne looked suddenly pleased with herself as if she was about to win great favour with her husband.

  Ella knew what was coming, and she could hardly believe that her own mother, a woman whom she had suspected of trying to build bridges between the two of them, was now going out of her way to make things even worse for her daughter than they already were.

  “Yes, the Duke told Mercer that he had heard it from Ella herself. That is what she told him when she was out on the grounds, Ariadne. That is why she will not admit to what she has said.”

  “No, she is lying,” Ariadne went on, her eyes wide as if she had just made some grand discovery. “For we did not disallow her meals at the table until after that day. She must have gone out to see him elsewhere to tell him that. Do you not see that this is a falsehood, My Lord?”

  “Mama, how could you be so cruel? How could you treat your own flesh and blood so dreadfully? You deserve everything that you have coming to you, Ariadne Belville, and I hope when that punishment comes it is most fitting.” Tears coursed down Ella’s cheeks.

  At that moment, she knew she had never felt so hurt in all her life, so utterly and completely abandoned. She had no one in the world to care for her now, and she knew it. Ariadne had never been a good mother, and they had never been close, but she had never suspected for one moment that her mother would do something so cruel, something that would put her in even greater danger than she was in already.

  “Ella, how dare you speak to me that way?” Ariadne looked horrified, and Ella could find no more words.

  “Where did you meet him? Did you take your scandalous little self all the way to Hillington Hall so that you might beg for his help and hope that he would marry you? I ought not to have let you set foot out of this house the minute I realized what a brazen little thing you are. I knew your intentions, I could read them in your eyes, and I ought to have acted upon them immediately. Well, you will not speak to the Duke again.”

  “I have no intentions of speaking to him, Lord Dandridge, and I did not seek him out.”

  “Please do not try to tell me that he sought you out. He is a Duke, a man of great wealth and note, a man of great title. And men of great title do not look so far down when they are choosing a bride, believe me.”

  “Well, you did.” Ella knew immediately that she had made a grave mistake.

  Ariadne cried out in anger and was about to speak when her husband reached down and lifted Ella to her feet by her hair. As Ariadne continued to complain about the insult that Ella had made, the Earl held her painfully in his grasp, twisting her hair in his hands as tears of agony rolled down her cheeks and her hands fought uselessly to free her.

  “You will not leave this house again, Ella Winfield. You will come upstairs with me now, and you will do so quietly.” His voice was low and dangerous again, and Ella knew that she was trapped; she was at his mercy, and there was nothing she could do about it. “If you attempt to cry out and draw attention to yourself, if you seek to have any of the servants come running, I will throw you down the stairs before they get here. I will throw you to your death, and you may believe that.”

  “Yes,” Ella said, believing it entirely, knowing in her bones that he would, without hesitation, kill her if he had to.

  “You will walk up the stairs with your mother and me, and you will not speak one word. You will walk of your own volition and know that if I have to lay a hand upon you, it will only be to throw you to the bottom. I will break your neck.”

  “Yes,” Ella said again, not knowing what else to say.

  The Earl released her suddenly, and she raised her hand to her scalp, trying to ease the pain, even as she felt the wetness of blood there.

  She took her hand away and stared at the blood before looking over at her mother. Ariadne’s face was pinched and cold, her determination to keep her offence at Ella’s comment very clear.

  “Tidy up her hair, Ariadne,” the Earl snapped waspishly, and Ariadne jumped to do his bidding. She roughly pulled Ella’s hair back and re-fastened it, ignoring her daughter’s whimpers of pain and applying no tenderness whatsoever, despite Ella’s obvious injuries.

  “You will keep your face down as we go,” the Earl instructed Ella in something more akin to a matter-of-fact manner than a threat.

  His demeanour had calmed so quickly that Ella could hardly believe the man was sane at all. And she knew that her face must be dreadfully bruised already if he was instructing her to hide it away in case they should happen upon one of the servants.

  The Earl strode to the door and opened it, walking out into the hallway as if to check for a clear passage.

  “Come now, come quickly,” he said to both mother and daughter, and they followed him as he headed for the stairs.

  Ella’s legs trembled with every step she took upwards. Even if she did not make a sound, she did not trust Ronald Belville not to throw her down the stairs anyway. His moods seemed to swing so violently that she could only hope she could make it to the top without incident.

  Ella quickened her pace, keen to get out of harm’s way, even if she did not know what was to become of her next. If she could just get the stairs out of the way, she would at least be alive. She would at least move on to the next dreadful chapter intact and have some hope of saving herself in the end.

  When they reached the top of the stairs, and the Earl gently took her arm to lead her west along the great corridor, Ella was almost overcome with a sense of relief. She was still afraid, but she was still alive, and she had never realized until that moment how precious her life was to her.

  When they reached the end of the corrido
r which took them into the east wing of the building, the Earl opened a narrow door and ushered her up a staircase she did not even know existed.

  “Keep going, that is it. All the way to the top,” the Earl instructed brusquely.

  The narrow staircase consisted of several flights, and Ella quickly realized that they were heading towards the top of Dandridge Hall. Swallowing down the dreadful feeling that he was simply taking her up to the roof to throw her off, Ella stayed quiet and continued to put one foot in front of the other, going ever higher and higher.

  When they reached the top, she realized that they were on a bare landing, so spartan and dusty that nobody could have used it for years. There was only one door, and it had a great, heavy key protruding from the lock. The Earl twisted it once and pushed it open and then took Ella by the arm and dragged her inside.

  Ariadne followed meekly behind, looking around the room as if in nothing more than general interest.