by Diane Gaston
Mairi walked over to the bed and gave her sister a kiss on the head. ‘Sleep, then. No reason not to.’ Sleep peacefully while you can, she thought.
When Mairi left the bedchamber the hallway was empty. Perhaps she would be the first person in the breakfast room. No matter, as long as she did not miss her father and Hargreave.
When she entered the breakfast room, though, her father and Hargreave were already there and the footmen were still bringing up the food.
‘Miss Wallace, what a delight to see you this morning,’ Hargreave said with great cheer.
Mairi’s father looked pale and shrunken.
‘Good morning,’ she responded coolly. She kissed her father on his cheek. ‘Good morning, Papa.’
He did not return her greeting.
Besides the footmen, they were the only three guests in the room. Although she had no appetite, she selected toasted bread and jam from the sideboard and the footman carried her plate to the round table that was large enough for at least eight people. She sat next to her father, who had a plate of food that looked untouched. Hargreave, on the other hand, ate with gusto and signalled to the footman attending them to bring him more. He kept up a steady stream of conversation about the weather, the activities of the house party, the ball. His card playing.
When he spoke of his great luck at cards the night before, Mairi’s father’s hands started to shake. She began to feel even more alarmed.
When Hargreave finally finished his second plate of food, he placed both palms on the table. ‘Well. Shall we have our little meeting, Dunburn?’ He turned to Mairi. ‘Does your presence here so early mean you wish to join us, my dear?’
She was not his dear. ‘Yes.’
She rose first. Hargreave wiped his mouth with his napkin before getting to his feet. She had to tug at her father’s arm to get him to rise.
Hargreave turned to the footman. ‘We will use the green drawing room and would appreciate it if you would see that we are not disturbed there.’
The footman’s eyes flickered, but he bowed. ‘As you wish, sir.’
Hargreave offered Mairi his arm, but she took her father’s instead, which made Hargreave laugh. He led them to a small sitting room tucked away in one of the corridors of the castle, continuing all the while to chat about mundane matters with hints at more serious things. Like Lucas’s deception. Mairi thought Hargreave must have scouted out this room for its remote location. They were not likely to be disturbed.
It also occurred to her that if she screamed, no one would hear her.
He extended his hand grandly. ‘Do sit wherever you will be most comfortable, Miss Wallace.’
She led her father to a sofa and sat next to him. ‘What is this about, Hargreave?’
He sat in a chair adjacent to her, stretching out his legs as if simply at leisure. ‘Well, your father knows some of it, do you not, Dunburn?’
Her father actually replied to him. ‘I do,’ he rasped in a tone of despondency. He turned to Mairi. ‘I am sorry, Mairi. I am so sorry.’
Hargreave addressed her as well. ‘Perhaps you know that your father and I have enjoyed several evenings of card play. I must say, there were many moments I was losing badly, were there not, Dunburn?’
Her father replied, ‘Yes.’
Hargreave continued. ‘Last night, however, my luck changed.’ He laughed. ‘It seemed I could not lose. Your father believed his luck would turn again, so he insisted—against my urgings, I might add—that he be given a chance to recoup his losses, so we played on.’
Her father moaned and dropped his head in his hands.
Hargreave smiled. ‘It seems, Miss Wallace, that I have won a great deal of money from your father.’
Mairi turned to him. ‘Papa, is this true?’
Her father nodded.
Her heart pounded painfully in her chest. ‘How much?’
‘All of it!’ her father wailed.
She felt the blood drain from her face. ‘Do you mean, everything we raised to pay off your debts?’
He nodded.
Hargreave sat up straighter and leaned towards them. ‘But do not fear. I will rescue you. I will give you enough money to pay off all your debts. All you have to do is sell me your title and property.’
‘No!’ she cried.
He smiled at her. ‘You might as well sell it to me. When you are thrown in debtors’ prison, I shall purchase the caput anyway. At less cost, I am certain.’
Mairi felt sick.
He reached over and clasped her hand. ‘Believe me, my dear. I wish only to help your family. I do not wish to see your father in debtors’ prison. Or you and your sister forced to earn a living yourselves. How would you do that?’
Perhaps there were worse things than losing their home after all.
‘But,’ he went on, ‘I do ask something of you in return and, if you agree, you and your family may continue to live at Dunburn House. I will see Niven gets a Grand Tour or goes to university. Davina may attend a finishing school and have a regular come-out. I’ll even provide her a dowry. But you must do something for me in return.’
She stiffened. ‘What must I do?’
He grinned and squeezed her hand. Painfully. ‘You must marry me.’
Her father shook his head. ‘Forgive me, Mairi.’
She glared at Hargreave. ‘You planned this!’ she cried. ‘You manipulated my father! Tricked him into playing cards with you!’
He laughed. ‘Isn’t it grand when things work out the way we want them to?’ Without a break, he turned to her father. ‘Dunburn, let me tell you the most interesting gossip I heard last night. It is about your butler, the Waterloo hero, I believe you call him—’
* * *
Lucas woke to the clock striking seven. He rose from his cot, dressed himself hurriedly and opened the door.
Dunburn was gone.
Except for the day of the hunt, Dunburn had never risen before eight in the morning, and on the hunting days, it had been Lucas who had woken him.
Dunburn’s shirt and breeches from the night before lay in a heap on the floor and the fresh clothes Lucas had set out were gone. The man had dressed himself. He must have moved quietly so as not to wake Lucas. Purposely avoiding him? That was not a good sign.
Lucas washed, shaved and dressed himself as quickly as he could.
Mairi had said that Hargreave meant to meet with her father this morning. Lucas wanted to find him first. He rushed out of the door.
He could check first in the breakfast room. Although it was early, others might be eating there, but he could invent a pretence of having a message for Dunburn.
He ran down the servants’ stairs and made his way to the breakfast room. He knocked on the door.
The footman Anderson opened it. ‘Lucas!’
‘I have a message for Dunburn,’ Lucas said, nearly out of breath. ‘Is he there?’
Anderson stepped out of the room and closed the door. ‘I was thinking I would have to search for you. Something is afoot with Hargreave. He made a big show of having a meeting with the Baron and his daughter.’
‘Miss Wallace?’ She was to be there, too?
‘It doesn’t look good,’ Anderson went on. ‘The Baron looked pale and sick. Hargreave was jubilant.’
‘Are they still in the breakfast room?’ Lucas asked.
‘No,’ the footman replied. ‘They went to the green sitting room.’
‘Where is the green sitting room?’ Lucas had no idea.
‘I’ll show you.’ Anderson led the way. Before they reached the door, Anderson stopped Lucas. ‘Two things you should know. I was working in the card room last night. The Baron lost a great deal of money to Mr Hargreave and left very upset.’
As Lucas had feared.
The footman smiled. ‘And I also heard Hargreave tell
Miss Wallace that you are the son of an earl. Can that be true?’
There was no use denying it. ‘Yes. It is a long story that perhaps I can tell you later. I would appreciate it if you would not say anything to anyone about it.’
‘My lips are sealed,’ the footman said.
Lucas did not doubt that Anderson could be trusted. As could Hargreave’s valet. Honourable men, both.
‘Thank you, Anderson,’ Lucas said. ‘Decent of you to help me.’
Anderson shrugged. ‘I do not like Hargreave much.’
They reached a door at the end of a labyrinth of corridors. Anderson gestured to it and backed away.
Lucas opened the door without knocking.
All three heads turned to him.
Mairi sat on a sofa looking deathly pale. Her father sat next to her, his expression bleak.
Hargreave stood. ‘Lucas! Or shall I call you Johns-Ives? How fortunate you have found us. I wanted you to hear this.’
Dunburn averted his gaze, but Mairi continued to look at him with aching eyes.
‘Shall I explain what we have been discussing?’ Hargreave directed his question to Mairi and her father. Neither responded. Hargreave continued as if they had. ‘We have been discussing what to do since Dunburn lost a vast amount of money to me in cards—’
As Lucas had feared. ‘How much, Baron?’
‘All of it.’ The older man almost choked on his words.
Hargreave continued, his tone deceptively solemn. ‘I told Dunburn that I would pay off all his debts and, in return, he will sell me his title and caput. But I am a generous man.’ He smiled. ‘I will also marry Miss Wallace. Her parents will live with us at Dunburn House for the rest of their lives. I will fund Niven’s future and provide a coming out and a dowry for Davina. Will not our friends praise me for such generosity?’
Everything Mairi wished for. All she had to do was marry him.
Lucas turned to her. ‘Do you want this, Mairi?’
Her voice trembled. ‘What other choice do I have?’
Lucas felt as if he were watching the cuirassier impale Mairi and her whole family. He’d failed them. He’d thought helping them would atone for the death of his brother, but he had utterly failed. Perhaps he’d even helped deliver them to this end by making an enemy of Hargreave.
Hargreave smirked. ‘You might wonder when all this will be accomplished,’ he said to Lucas. ‘I told Miss Wallace that I would like nothing more than an irregular marriage. Find the village blacksmith and declare ourselves husband and wife—’
‘No.’ Mairi spoke up. ‘I will marry in a church, with banns read and everything proper. I insist on it.’
A small battle for her to win, Lucas thought.
‘And I will do what my intended bride desires,’ Hargreave said. ‘Her happiness is my greatest desire.’ He added, ‘On another note, I will, of course, hire my own servants, the butler and footmen, especially. I’ll pension off the old ones.’ He turned to Dunburn. ‘You have so many ancient servants. It won’t do to have such feeble people around me.’ He smiled at Lucas again. ‘However, if you would like to continue as Dunburn’s valet...?’
‘Won’t have him!’ Dunburn muttered.
Hargreave raised his hands in a helpless gesture. ‘There you have it, then. You will need to seek employment elsewhere.’
Lucas’s anger burned red hot. Would it help matters if he beat Hargreave to a pulp? How much scandal was he willing to bring to Mairi and her family? Could he fail any more completely?
Hargreave continued to make the most of his moment. ‘Did you wish to explain to these good people why you deceived them? Why an earl’s son would need to pretend to be a servant?’
There was nothing he could say that would ease matters. He feared for Mairi. At this moment she looked as fragile as glass. One more tap and she might shatter.
‘I would like to ask why you would do this to this good family,’ Lucas said instead.
Hargreave’s brows rose. ‘You act as if I am the villain when I am doing something heroic in rescuing them all from their own follies.’ He paused. ‘But to answer your question, I want a title and land and this way it is easily accomplished. Or it will be soon.’
A title? He’d destroy the happiness of all of them for a title?
Hargreave continued. ‘We will finish out our time at the house party and travel back to Dunburn. I suspect the sale of the caput and the title will take a while, but there is no reason we cannot be married after the banns are read. In the end, I will be the Baron of Dunburn.’
Lucas looked him directly in the eye. ‘There is more to being a gentleman than having a title, Hargreave.’
Hargreave’s nostrils flared. ‘You will leave us, immediately.’
Lucas crossed the room and seized Hargreave by the lapels of his coat, lifting him completely out of the chair.
‘Put me down!’ cried Hargreave. ‘Put me down this instant or I swear this time I will see you sent to the gallows for assaulting me.’
‘Put him down, Lucas,’ Mairi said. ‘I’ve no doubt he’ll do as he says. We are not worth your life.’
But he’d gladly sacrifice his life for hers.
‘Please put him down,’ she said more quietly.
Lucas cast a glance at Mairi—perhaps his last one. He shoved Hargreave back into the chair so forcefully it tipped backwards. While Hargreave was scrambling to get up, Lucas bowed to Mairi and her father and walked out of the room.
It was over. He’d failed and it was all over. In about four weeks’ time she would marry Hargreave and soon after Hargreave would take her father’s title and lands. And she would be his wife. His wife!
How could he bear it?
* * *
Mairi felt her heart shattering as Lucas closed the door behind him. Had she been expecting him to rescue her? What could he do? Hargreave had backed them all into a corner and the only way out was through him. Clever man. Clever, hateful man.
What a fool she’d been to hope for any other outcome. She’d loved Lucas, but he had deceived her, used her, like any other man in her life.
She rose from her chair and strode across the sitting room past Hargreave.
He caught her arm. ‘Where are you going?’
‘Out of this room,’ she said.
‘No,’ he said. ‘You will stay here with me and we will leave together.’
She pulled her arm away. ‘You cannot command me yet and I do not wish to be in your presence another second of this day.’
She feared he would follow her, but he did not. She hurried up the stairs to her father’s room. She entered the room and found Lucas in the dressing room, packing his satchel.
She entered and closed the door.
He turned and saw her there. ‘Mairi.’ His voice had a hint of longing that she could no longer believe.
‘You are leaving.’ It was a statement.
‘I must. I fear I will kill him if I stay.’
She forgot her anger at him. ‘Where will you go?’
He faced her. ‘I do not know.’
They stared at each other without speaking for a time. He returned to packing.
‘I am sorry,’ Lucas finally said. ‘I am sorry I failed you.’ He buckled the satchel.
She stepped into his arms. ‘It was not your fault.’
Is that not what he had told her? It was not her fault? Perhaps bad things just happened and were not able to be stopped.
Like his leaving.
His embrace lasted all too brief a moment until he released her and walked out.
Chapter Twenty-Two
It had been a little over three weeks since Lucas left Oxmont Castle, but now he was on horseback, returning to Scotland.
After he’d left Mairi, he had come to a crossroad and had known this was the moment to
decide what direction he should take. Finally, he had realised what he must do. He returned to Kent, to his family, to the great relief of his mother and father. He returned to the life he’d fled. To save Mairi, he needed to again become Lucas Johns-Ives, heir to the Earl of Foxgrove—Viscount Bradleigh. He needed to accept everything that should have been his brother’s.
His father had been so grateful for Lucas’s return that he readily agreed to the plan Lucas presented to him. He willingly tapped into his considerable resources to help make it happen. With his father’s help and influence, Lucas had been able to prevent Hargreave from gaining the caput, but the only way to stop the marriage was to reach Dunburn in time.
Nothing seemed to co-operate, least of all the weather. Lucas rode hard to Scotland, changing horses often at the coaching inns. He rode as long as daylight allowed him, but these last days were the most difficult. He’d had to ride through snow.
He’d carefully calculated the likely time of Mairi’s wedding, three Sundays after the end of the house party, and figured Hargreave would insist on marrying as soon as possible. But the cold and snow made for slow progress. He pushed on.
* * *
Mairi was dressed in the ball gown she’d worn when Lucas kissed her, but this day it was to be her wedding dress. She’d refused to allow Hargreave to purchase a new wardrobe. She wanted to wear the dress she’d worn when she’d last been happy—in Lucas’s arms.
How foolish she was. He’d left her, hadn’t he?
She’d half-hoped he would rescue her somehow, the way he’d rescued her family over and over again. But perhaps he’d only been playing a game with them. The earl’s son playing at being a manservant.
She glanced in the mirror in her bedchamber in Dunburn House, her grandmother’s mirror, the one Lucas had refused to allow her to sell, but she got no pleasure in seeing her image in it today.
Davina stood behind her. ‘You look nice. Why do you look so unhappy?’
Mairi turned and hugged her sister. ‘Never mind me. Everything will work out, I am certain.’
At least for Davina and Niven it would, Mairi was determined. And her parents would be comfortable in their familiar surroundings.
