A Change of Fortune

by Jen Turano

  “And she is . . . ?” Lawrence questioned, sending a smile in Agatha’s direction.

  How was it possible she’d never noticed the way Lawrence leered at other women even when he was in her presence? To think she’d almost married the man. Perhaps Agatha had been right and her loss of fortune had saved her from a life of misery.

  “She’s my good friend, Miss Agatha Watson.”

  “Lord Wrathshire, I told you all about Miss Watson on the ride over here,” a woman proclaimed as she strolled up to join them and stopped at Lawrence’s side. “The Watson family is the family Lady Eliza stayed with when she first arrived in town, although for some odd reason I simply do not understand, she was passing herself off as their governess.”

  Eliza tilted her head and considered the woman for a moment. “Forgive me, but do I know you?”

  The woman tittered, and the sound set Eliza’s teeth on edge. “We’ve never been formally introduced, Lady Eliza, but I was at the Watsons’ dinner party when you wore that hideous gown and monopolized Mr. and Mr. Beckett throughout the entire meal. I readily admit I was confused regarding the amount of attention they gave you, but it finally made sense when the truth came out.”

  Recognition set in. Standing before her was none other than the notorious Mrs. Hannah Morgan, who if memory served her correctly, was on the lookout for a new husband. “You’re Mrs. Morgan,” Eliza said.

  “Indeed.”

  “Why were you passing yourself off as a governess?” Lawrence asked, drawing her attention.

  “I needed the funds.”

  “So you weren’t just pretending?” Lawrence questioned, not allowing Eliza a moment to answer before he continued. “Are you still working as a governess?”

  “She got fired,” Agatha proclaimed.

  “Fired?” Lawrence sputtered.

  “It was on account she and I ended up in jail,” Agatha said. “But, to be fair, that was all a big misunderstanding.”

  “I never heard a word of this,” Mrs. Morgan breathed.

  “We’ve attempted to keep the matter hushed up,” Eliza said.

  “But where did you go after you got fired?” Lawrence asked.

  “The Beckett family very kindly offered me assistance. I’ve been staying with them,” Eliza said before her eyes narrowed. “But you would have to know that already; how else would you have learned where to find me?”

  “I did know you were staying with the Becketts,” Lawrence said. “You weren’t very difficult to find, once I let it be known I was looking for Lady Eliza, but . . . didn’t Mrs. Morgan just mention something about two gentlemen by the name of Beckett whom you apparently sat with at some dinner party?”

  “Mr. Hamilton and Mr. Zayne Beckett, to be specific,” Mrs. Morgan supplied with an all too innocent smile.

  “Surely you’re not staying with these gentlemen?” Lawrence asked, his eyes widening in horror when Eliza nodded. “That is most unseemly.”

  “There is nothing ‘unseemly’ about it,” Eliza argued.

  Lawrence considered her for a moment before he smiled. “Well, no matter. It’s all water under the bridge at this point, and I’ve come to help you sort everything out.” He leaned forward and lowered his voice. “I have a surprise for you.”

  “You have a surprise for me?” Eliza repeated slowly.

  “You didn’t think I’d travel all this way with nothing to offer, did you?”

  “I have no idea what possessed you to travel across the ocean. It’s not as if we parted on the best of terms.”

  “Nonsense,” Lawrence argued, “we hardly parted on disagreeable terms.”

  “You broke off our engagement the moment you discovered my fortune was gone.”

  “I did no such thing,” he said with a haughty lift of his chin, the motion causing Eliza to grit her teeth. She’d forgotten that Lawrence had a tendency to posture. She squared her shoulders.

  “That’s exactly what you did. I distinctly remember asking you for a small loan to see me through until my affairs could be sorted out, and instead of considering my request, you ended our engagement.”

  “You took me by surprise,” Lawrence said, a hint of petulance in his voice.

  “Imagine my surprise when I realized the only reason you wished to marry me was because of my extensive dowry.”

  “That’s not true at all,” Lawrence blustered. “I only needed a bit of time to mull the matter over, and when I finally mulled it to satisfaction, you were nowhere to be found.”

  “It’s not as if I left your house and boarded the first boat to America,” Eliza returned. “It took me a few weeks to make my preparations. Are you suggesting it took you that long to ‘mull’ over the situation?”

  “Have you always been this difficult, or is this an unfortunate habit you’ve managed to pick up in America?” Lawrence questioned, ignoring her accusations.

  Eliza counted to ten and found that was not enough time to control her emotions. She added another ten and then opened her mouth. “You mentioned a surprise?”

  “I don’t know if you deserve it.”

  “Oh, Lord Wrathshire, give the poor lady her surprise,” Mrs. Morgan said with a beaming smile in Lawrence’s direction.

  “May I inquire, Mrs. Morgan, exactly how you came to be involved with my ex-fiancé?” Eliza asked.

  “Ex-fiancé?” Mrs. Morgan practically purred.

  “Lord Wrathshire and I are no longer engaged,” Eliza said.

  “That is simply not true,” Lawrence snapped.

  Eliza arched a brow and wiggled her hand in front of him. “I don’t see a ring.”

  Lawrence blanched. “Where is it?”

  “I sold it,” Eliza said. “I needed the funds, and since you’re the one who broke the engagement, etiquette demands I may keep the ring and do with it as I see fit.”

  “It was a family heirloom.”

  “Not anymore.”

  “Well, no matter,” Lawrence said with a nod. “We’ll simply track it down once we return to London. You do remember where you sold it, don’t you?”

  “I do, although I don’t know if that man will still be skulking around the streets in the same location. He had a somewhat peculiar look to him.”

  “You sold it to a man on the streets?” Lawrence hissed.

  Eliza nodded.

  Mrs. Morgan cleared her throat. “I believe we’re beginning to attract attention with our raised voices. Perhaps it would be best if we discontinued this particular conversation and returned to the more pleasant one of how I came to be with Lord Wrathshire.”

  “This should be interesting,” Agatha muttered, and Eliza had to bite back a grin at Agatha’s arched brow.

  “I was on my way to pay my respects to Mrs. Beckett when I happened upon Lord Wrathshire getting out of his carriage,” Mrs. Morgan said. “We began a polite conversation, and I soon realized I could be of assistance to him because, for some unknown reason, the Beckett servants were less than forthcoming regarding your whereabouts.”

  “Eliza’s life is in danger,” Agatha explained.

  “You must tell me all the details,” Mrs. Morgan exclaimed.

  “No,” Eliza argued, “we’re not delving into my personal business.”

  “I don’t see why not,” Lawrence retorted. “If your life is truly in danger, then as the man in your life, I certainly deserve to know the details.”

  “You’re not the man in my life, and we were speaking about how Mrs. Morgan came to meet you,” Eliza said, turning her back on Lawrence and giving Mrs. Morgan a nod.

  “Well,” Mrs. Morgan continued, “fortunately, I spotted a maid slipping out of the house, and when she recognized me, she told me you could be found shopping. I couldn’t very well leave Lord Wrathshire to find you on his own, so I escorted him here.”

  “How fortunate for us you were able to find us,” Eliza said before she turned to Lawrence and narrowed her eyes. “How did you get to New York?”

  “Oh, well, th
at’s where the surprise comes into play,” Lawrence said. He moved to the right and pointed to a gentleman standing a short distance away.

  Eliza frowned as she took a step forward. The man was oddly familiar to her, but she couldn’t quite place him. She took another step forward, her gaze lingering on the gentleman’s burnished copper hair, which, she saw, he wore a trifle longer than fashion currently allowed. Her eyes skimmed over his face, taking in the darkness of his skin, as if he’d spent an excessive amount of time in the sun. Her eyes widened when she got to the man’s eyes. They were the exact same shade as hers. Her mouth dropped open in shock.

  “Grayson?” she sputtered, finding she was unable to move.

  “Hello, Liz.”

  Eliza could only stare at her brother, her mind completely numb. She blinked. “You’re supposed to be dead.”

  “Apparently I’m not, as I seem to be standing here conversing with you.”

  “You’ve been gone for over six years,” she whispered. “Father had you declared dead.”

  “I’m sorry about that. . . . Well, not sorry Father had me declared dead, but sorry that you believed me dead.”

  “We wouldn’t have believed you were dead if you’d only bothered to send us a note,” Eliza bit out. “Why didn’t you send us a note?”

  “Eliza, this is hardly the proper moment to get into all of this,” Lawrence said. “We’re standing in a crowded street, which is hardly conducive to an intimate conversation.”

  Eliza ignored his statement, keeping her gaze locked on her brother. “You should have let us know you were alive. Father spent hours praying for your safe return, and then he mourned you for years.”

  “I never meant to cause him anguish, but you know perfectly well I never got along with Father, and he is the reason I left home in the first place,” Grayson said.

  “You abandoned your responsibilities,” Eliza said.

  “I was young, and I never asked to be the only son of a titled aristocrat. I wanted to experience life before being forced to assume such a mundane existence.”

  “And did you experience life?” Eliza snapped.

  A haunted look flashed into Grayson’s eyes before he blinked and the look disappeared. “I did.”

  “You left me with a heartbroken father. I was the only one left to hold his hand when he died.”

  “For that I’m deeply sorry.”

  “Your apology is not enough,” she hissed.

  “Do you want me to bite him?” Ben asked solemnly.

  “Yes,” Eliza said.

  Ben looked at Grayson and shook his little head. “He’s not bad, Miss Eliza, just sad.”

  Leave it to a baby to point out the obvious.

  Eliza sent Ben a smile. “I didn’t really want you to bite him, darling. He’s my brother.”

  “I thought you said you didn’t have any family,” Piper said slowly.

  “What nonsense is this?” Lawrence blustered. “Of course Lady Eliza has family. She has me, and we’re to be married as soon as we return to England. I have already procured a special license, and arrangements are being made as we speak.”

  “That was a bit presumptuous, Lawrence,” Eliza said. “I find myself curious, though. Where did you procure the funds to pay for this wedding?”

  He beamed back at her. “Did I forget to mention that? How remiss of me. Your brother has very kindly offered to pay for the event.” He leaned forward and lowered his voice. “He has returned to England an incredibly wealthy man.”

  Eliza narrowed her eyes as she shifted Ben in her arms. “Let the biting commence.”

  20

  Anger caused Eliza’s stride to increase even as she realized her brother was matching her step for step. She jostled Ben around in her arms, tripped on an uneven piece of sidewalk, shook off Grayson’s arm when he tried to steady her, and pressed forward, shooting him a glare as she did so. “Explain to me exactly how Lawrence was able to convince you we were still engaged.”

  “How was I to know the man was lying?” Grayson asked.

  “Oh, let me think, probably from the outlandish explanation he must have given you explaining why I traveled to America without him.”

  “I did not give him an outlandish explanation,” Lawrence argued as he trotted up between them, his breathing a bit labored obviously due to the fact that he rarely participated in anything as remotely strenuous as a brisk walk.

  Eliza came to a stop and sent Lawrence a glare, becoming distracted when Ben patted her cheek and sent her a smile. She returned the smile and set him on his feet before she took his hand and began walking, this time at a more leisurely pace, not bothering to dignify Lawrence’s statement with a reply.

  “Lawrence told me the two of you had a bit of a row,” Grayson said.

  “You honestly believed I would cross the Atlantic over a little bit of a row?”

  “I suppose I didn’t think the matter over sufficiently,” Grayson muttered.

  Eliza rolled her eyes and nodded to Lawrence. “How exactly did you become acquainted with my brother?”

  A shifty expression crossed Lawrence’s face before a placid smile quickly replaced it. “I heard tell of a mysterious gentleman who’d come to town. From what I learned about him, I thought it sounded as if he might just be your long-lost brother.”

  “That’s complete nonsense,” Eliza snapped. “You most likely learned the gentleman was incredibly wealthy and went to acquaint yourself with him on the chance he had an unmarried daughter.”

  “That was a low blow indeed,” Lawrence sputtered.

  “I do have a daughter,” Grayson admitted before Eliza could direct another scathing remark to Lawrence. “Not that she’s even remotely ready for marriage, given the fact that she’s two.”

  “And she’s Chinese,” Lawrence proclaimed.

  “You’ve been to China?” Agatha suddenly asked as she huffed into place beside Grayson, Piper by her side.

  “Where else would he acquire a Chinese daughter?” Lawrence asked.

  Eliza swatted Lawrence on the arm. “Be quiet.” She looked at her brother. “This is my very good friend, Miss Agatha Watson. Agatha, this is my brother, Mr. Grayson Sumner, more formally known as the Earl of Sefton.”

  “Mr. Sumner will do just fine, Miss Watson,” Grayson said as he stopped and bowed. “I never did put much store in titles.”

  Agatha eyed Grayson with a long, considering look. “Why did you let Eliza think you were dead?”

  “It’s a riveting tale,” he replied, “but this is hardly the time to get into it. Besides, I thought we were talking about Lawrence.”

  Eliza nodded. “We were, and I must admit I’m still confused. May I assume Lawrence sought you out and then convinced you of his intention to marry me after he discovered your true identity?” She drew in a gulp of air and continued before Grayson could reply. “And then, did the two of you simply hop on a boat with the intention of fetching me home?”

  “It did go something like that,” Grayson said.

  “Did it ever occur to you to seek out Spencer to verify Lawrence’s story?”

  “I didn’t want many people to become aware of the fact that I’d returned.”

  “Spencer is family.”

  “Barely, he’s what, our second cousin or some such nonsense?”

  “You should have sought him out to discuss the situation, considering you’re the true Earl of Sefton and you don’t appear to be dead.”

  “I have no intention of reclaiming my title,” Grayson said. “You must realize my daughter will never be accepted within London society. I won’t put her in a situation where she’ll grow up an outcast.”

  “You can’t simply decide you’re just not going to be the Earl of Sefton,” Eliza said with a snort.

  “I don’t see why not,” Grayson countered. “It’s worked out rather well for me so far, and besides, Spencer is more than capable of managing the estates, and I hardly believe he’ll be thrilled to discover I’m alive.
It will be easier all around if I never return.”

  “That’s ridiculous,” Eliza snapped. “Although, you might have a point about Spencer, but . . . we can certainly compensate him for managing the estates while you’ve been away, and quite frankly, I never believed he enjoyed assuming the title. He absolutely loathes London society, as does his wife, and he’ll be thrilled to hand over all that pesky responsibility to you once the two of us return to town. Add in the fact that I’m more than willing to share some of our recovered fortune with him, and I do not believe we have a problem.”

  “You’re forgetting my daughter.”

  “And you’re forgetting the true nature of London society,” Eliza countered. “Wealth can go far in causing people to overlook such details.”

  Eliza was distracted when Lawrence suddenly took her arm and beamed down at her. “That is wonderful news regarding your fortune, darling,” he said.

  “Not for you,” Eliza said with a sniff before she shrugged out of his hold. “Now, we really need to postpone this conversation because we’ve almost reached our destination. I’ve promised the children one last ride on the El, and as they’ve been more than patient with all of this, I have to make good on my promise.”

  “You could take them another day,” Mrs. Morgan suggested as she sidled up next to them.

  Eliza blinked. She’d completely forgotten all about Mrs. Morgan, but the woman’s comment caused a slice of pain to travel through her heart. She would not be able to take the children another day, which meant she wasn’t going to deprive them of her time. She wanted to savor each and every minute she had left with them.

  “You’re more than welcome to join us,” she said with a nod to Mrs. Morgan.

  “I’m not riding on that rickety elevated train,” Lawrence scoffed.

  “Then you may stay behind,” Eliza said coolly.

  Lawrence mumbled something under his breath before he fell into step as they all began strolling in the direction of the train platform.

  “Would your daughter not enjoy this outing?” Agatha asked.

  “Ming is back at the hotel with her nannies,” Grayson explained. “She’s only two, and I must admit she’s a bit cranky at the moment. We’ve been traveling for what seems like months, and I fear this latest trip to America has been a bit overwhelming for her.”