The Earl's Inconvenient Wife (Marriage By Scandal Book 1)

by Ruth Ann Nordin

  Curious, she studied his expression. Most of the times she’d been around him, he’d been serious, almost to the point where she thought he’d suffer pain if he smiled. But ever since that day he’d found her in the stable, he’d done a complete turnaround. It was a very pleasant change, but it still took her by surprise. Perhaps in the months to come, he’d smile all the time and she would forget how serious he could be.

  She waited for the butler to leave before she asked, “Is there something you want to tell me?”

  “Yes, there is. You’re beautiful.”

  Pleased, she blushed. “Thank you, my lord, but I thought something happened that prompted you to run over to greet me when I stepped through the door.”

  “Oh yes. There is. This evening, they’re launching a balloon.”

  “A balloon?”

  “Yes. I hear it’s one of the bigger ones. It should be a sight to see. Will you go with me?”

  “I didn’t think you took delight in such leisurely pursuits.”

  He shrugged and grinned. “Maybe it’s time I did.”

  “Maybe, and who knows what other fun things you might find to do now that you no longer have your nose stuck in one of those boring books in your library,” she teased, unable to resist the urge to be playful.

  “I feel it’s fair to warn you that I’ll never find those books boring, but I am finding you more interesting.”

  “I’ll accept that.”

  Chuckling, he gave her a kiss. “Did you have a nice visit with your family?”

  “Yes, but I just saw my parents. My sister was at the museum with Lord Hedwrett.”

  He grimaced.

  If she wasn’t aware of how horrible Lord Hedwrett was, she’d laugh because every time she said his name, Nate seemed to have an involuntary reaction to show his displeasure. “I’m worried she’ll marry him,” she softly confessed, not wishing for anyone to overhear her. “I want to talk to her, but I won’t see her until tomorrow when my family comes over here for dinner.”

  He sighed and took her by the elbow so he could lead her to the drawing room. When he shut the door, he motioned for her to sit on the settee. After a moment’s hesitation, she obeyed, wondering if there was something more dastardly she’d learn about Lord Hedwrett than what Mister Morris had told her. Her stomach tightened into a knot as he joined her.

  He took her hands in his and gave her a sympathetic look. “Claire, I know how much you love your sister, but the problem is, you can’t make her act in a certain way. I want to make sure if your sister marries him, you did everything you could to prevent it.”

  “I know I can’t control what she does.”

  “But do you understand you shouldn’t feel guilty about it?” He squeezed her hands and kissed her. “Be there for her and tell her what you have to but understand she has to make her own decisions, all right?”

  She nodded.

  A knocking at the door made her jump, and he chuckled. “It’s all right. There are no ghosts in this house.” He stood up and answered the door.

  She released her breath and relaxed. From the other side of the door, she saw the butler hand Nate a missive. She resisted the urge to get up and find out who it was from. It wasn’t her business unless he wanted her to know, and already, he’d told her more than most husbands probably told their wives. It meant he trusted her, and that made her want to love him all the more.

  Nate closed the door and returned to her. “Lord Hedwrett says he’ll meet with me next week at five.”

  “I thought you paid him off.”

  “I did, but he disagrees. Don’t worry. The matter will be resolved soon enough. In the meantime, there’s not much I can do but wait.” He grinned. “I suppose that’s not so bad. I’ll be able to do your bidding.”

  Noting his playful tone, she smiled, feeling the heaviness of her sister’s situation lift from her shoulders, even if it was for a while. “Then I insist on seeing that balloon launch you mentioned.”

  He gave her a kiss. “As you wish, but first, I believe it’s time for dinner.”

  She giggled as he kissed her neck. “You don’t seem to be interested in food.”

  “I will be,” he murmured, his lips brushing against her ear. Lifting his head, he wrapped his arms around her. “In a moment.”

  His lips descended on hers, and she forgot all about eating.

  ***

  It wasn’t until after dinner the next day when Claire got a chance to talk to her sister. Since Claire asked to talk to Lilly in the drawing room, Nate took her parents to the library.

  “All right. We’re alone. What’s so important that I can’t play the piano right now?” Lilly asked as she ran her hand over the piano keys.

  “Sit down,” Claire suggested, patting the spot next to her on the settee.

  Her eyebrows furrowed. “This must be serious.”

  “It is.”

  She hesitated for a minute but then joined Claire at the settee. “Why do I have a feeling I’m not going to like what you have to say?”

  “You probably won’t, but I want you to know that what I’m about to tell you, I tell you because I love you. You’re more than my sister. You’re my friend.”

  With a hesitant smile, she reached out to squeeze her hand. “You know I feel the same way about you. So what is this about? At dinner, your husband seemed friendly. Are you two still not getting along?”

  “We are. Better than I hoped actually.”

  Her smile widened. “That’s wonderful!”

  “I want the same for you. Lilly, please don’t marry Lord Hedwrett.”

  “Oh, that’s what this is about. I suppose Mister Morris has come by to see you.”

  “And what if he did? He loves you.”

  “But he doesn’t have a title. Claire, look at everything you have. You are Lady Roderick. Your husband owns this townhouse.” She motioned to the room. “He doesn’t rent it. I hear Weston is gorgeous. You have more rooms than you’ll ever need. You have so many servants that you can’t remember their names. You can buy as many gowns as you want whenever you want.”

  “No, I can’t.”

  “I don’t understand.”

  “You must swear that what I’m about to tell you, you won’t tell anyone else.”

  Leaning forward, Lilly’s eyes met her sister’s. “Of course. You know I always keep your secrets.”

  Claire nodded. It was true. Lilly was good about that. After she took a deep breath, she lowered her voice. “My husband’s steward was heavily in debt, and he stole money from the estate to compensate for it. Because of this, we have to be careful with what we buy until he can recover his financial standing.”

  Lilly’s jaw dropped. “I had no idea…”

  “No one did. These titled gentlemen don’t go around advertising their lack of funds. There’s no way to know.”

  “You think Lord Hedwrett might be in a similar predicament?”

  “No. Lilly, that’s not what I meant. I mean that I’m happy with my husband. He’s a wonderful gentleman, and it doesn’t matter to me that I can’t buy new dresses for a while. That’s the kind of marriage I want for you.”

  “And you don’t think Lord Hedwrett will give me that?”

  “No, I don’t.” She paused as she struggled to find a delicate way of telling her sister what Mister Morris told her. Fiddling with the skirt of her dress, she blurted out, “I heard Lord Hedwrett charges excessive interest on his loans and even allowed a gentleman of notable influence to ruin his sister.” She held her breath and waited for her sister to respond.

  Lilly frowned. “Did Mister Morris tell you this?”

  “Yes, but—”

  “How can you be sure Mister Morris isn’t lying?”

  “He’s not the type to lie,” Claire replied, surprised her sister would even accuse him of such a thing.

  “I don’t know. I think he might do anything to get me to marry him.”

  “But he does it out of love.” When he
r sister sighed, Claire added, “And if it makes a difference, you’ll be happy to know he told me he’ll be happy to see you with a titled gentleman as long as he treats you well.”

  “I know his heart is in the right place.”

  “Don’t you care about him?”

  “I do.”

  “Then why not marry him?” Claire asked.

  “He doesn’t have a title, and a title is important.”

  Claire realized arguing with her sister wasn’t going to do any good, but she had one option that might work if she was careful. Inspired, she glanced at the paper on her desk. “Lilly, will you do something for me, even if it’s something foolish?”

  Lilly’s eyebrows furrowed. “I have to hear what you have in mind before I agree to it.”

  “I can’t go into detail, but I want you to see what Lord Hedwrett is like when he doesn’t know you’re around.”

  “And how do you suggest we do that?”

  Claire’s lips curled up into a smile. “You leave that to me.”

  “You aren’t thinking of doing something inappropriate, are you?”

  “No more inappropriate than what you and our father did that night you two trapped me into marriage with Nate.”

  “Oh, you can’t still be angry about that. Look at how well things turned out.”

  “Which is why I need to arrange for us to sneak into Lord Hedwrett’s home. You’ll see what I mean when the time comes. In the meantime, I need to write a letter to someone.” Claire stood up and hurried over to her desk before Lilly could argue her way out of it.

  Lilly rose to her feet but remained at the settee. “Who are you writing to?”

  “Someone who’s perfect for what I have in mind. Don’t ask me anything else.”

  Though she gave her a cautious look, she crossed her arms and remained quiet as Claire finished writing the letter to Mister Robinson. If there was anyone who didn’t care enough about propriety to help her, it was him. There was no way her husband would allow it if he knew, which was why she decided no one, not even Lilly, had to know until the time came for her to act on her plan. Once she sealed the letter, she gave it to the butler with orders to send it to Weston.

  Afterwards, she and Lilly headed for the library, and when she opened the door, she was both delighted and surprised to see that Nate and her father were laughing at something they were reading in a book. Her mother looked over at her from where she stood with Nate and her father.

  With a relieved smile, she hurried over to them. “I’m glad you’re here,” she told her daughters with a chuckle. “It’s nice to see Lord Roderick and your father getting along so well, but I couldn’t care less about political strategies.”

  “Are you saying my husband is boring?” Claire teased.

  “I’m saying political discussions are boring,” she clarified with a twinkle in her eye.

  “Then we need to talk them into doing something interesting,” Lilly said. “We could do charades.”

  “Yes, that’s an excellent choice,” her mother said excitedly. “I’ll mention it to the gentlemen.”

  As her mother headed over to them, Claire gave Lilly a knowing look. “I was wondering when you’d suggest we play charades.”

  “It makes her happy. The least we can do is play the game,” Lilly mused.

  Grinning, Claire and Lilly joined her mother.

  Chapter Twenty

  One day before Nate was supposed to see Lord Hedwrett to settle the debt, Claire was beginning to despair that Mister Robinson wasn’t going to send the clothes. But around noon, the butler informed her that a gentleman insisted on giving her a package in person. Relieved, she put aside her graphite pencil and paper and rose from her desk.

  “Let him in,” she told the butler.

  As she walked over to the settee, the butler brought the young gentleman in, and she noticed the package he held under his arm. Good. Mister Robinson came through after all!

  She waited until the butler left before she turned her attention to the gentleman who’d delivered the package. In a low voice, she said, “I’ll pay you for the delivery.”

  Before she could go to her desk, the gentleman removed his mustache, hat and wig. “The clothes will only get you so far.”

  Her eyes grew wide. “Mister Robinson!” she hissed. “What are you doing here?”

  “You’ll need to sneak into Lord Hedwrett’s house, and I don’t think you and Miss Lowell are familiar with doing that.”

  “Granted, we aren’t, but couldn’t you have written instructions instead of coming in person?”

  Looking amused, he shook his head. “Lady Roderick, this is something I can’t explain. I have to show you how to do it. I’ve been thinking about where we went wrong when you dressed up as a stableboy.”

  “I know what went wrong. My husband showed up.”

  “And he saw right away you were his wife. What you needed was a beard to help hide your face.”

  “You could have sent me a beard instead of delivering it in person.”

  “Ah, but have you ever snuck into a house as a chambermaid?”

  She blinked, wondering what he was getting at. “Chambermaid? I thought we were talking about dressing up as men.”

  “No. That’s too obvious. You and Lilly need to be chambermaids. I’ve been cleaning out chamber pots for a while now, and I’ve learned a couple of things. Not only is it the most disgusting job a person can have, but chambermaids are never seen or heard. It’s the perfect way to hide. No one pays attention to them, but chambermaids pick up on everything everyone else is doing. That’s the beauty of you and your sister dressing up as chambermaids.”

  She wasn’t sure about his plan, but as she thought about it, it had more appeal than dressing up as a stableboy again. “So you brought chambermaid clothes?”

  “And wigs. This will work.”

  “You’re not dressing up as a chambermaid, are you?”

  He gasped and then laughed. “No. I will be a stableboy.”

  “It seems that you’ve thought of everything.”

  “I have.”

  “But what about my husband? You’re supposed to be at Weston. He won’t be happy to learn you’re in London.”

  “I already took care of that. I wrote to Lord Clement and told him everything.”

  Her jaw dropped. “You didn’t!” she hissed, glancing at the doorway to make sure no one was passing by. It was only by luck Mister Robinson chose to come by when her husband was at White’s. If Nate had been there when Mister Robinson showed up… She’d rather not think of the implications of that one.

  “I had to get his permission to leave Weston so Lord Roderick would agree to it. It worked. Lord Clement told your husband that he’s not feeling well and needs me to tend to him for a few days. Then I’ll return back to prison.”

  Despite her best intentions, she giggled. “Mister Robinson, you wouldn’t be confined to a prison if you would behave like a gentleman. It’s your own doing you’re stuck cleaning chamber pots.”

  “Yes. I suppose you’re right.”

  “I don’t know what you were doing to get in trouble, but Lord Clement wouldn’t have sent you to Weston to be under Lord Roderick’s supervision unless he cared enough about you to prevent you from becoming as unsavory as Lord Hedwrett. Are you aware of his reputation?”

  “Yes, but I don’t do the things Lord Hedwrett does.”

  “Did Lord Hedwrett start out doing the things he does now? From what I understand, it was a progression. He pressed boundaries of acceptable behavior, and the more he got away with, the more boundaries he wanted to push. That’s the problem with doing the wrong things. You’re never satisfied. At some point, the misbehavior loses its thrill, and you need to seek out something that pushes more boundaries.”

  She heard footsteps approaching, so she motioned for him to put his wig, hat, and beard back on. He did and set the package down on her desk.

  The butler carried the tea into the room and
set the tray on the table. “Is there anything else you need, my lady?”

  “No, thank you.” She waited until he left before motioning for Mister Robinson to sit down. “While you’re here, tell me how we can sneak into Lord Hedwrett’s home tomorrow evening.”

  With a nod, he sat across from her in a chair and told her his plan.

  ***

  “Claire, this is the most ridiculous thing you’ve ever done, and what’s worse is that you’re dragging me into it,” Lilly said.

  Claire adjusted her blond wig before putting on her maid hat. “I’m doing this because I love you, and after tonight, you’ll be thanking me.”

  “If you say so.” She adjusted her heavy skirt and sighed. “I can’t believe chambermaids wear these clothes all the time. How do they manage?”

  “They’re probably used to it.”

  “Probably.” She tucked some red strands of her wig under her hat and glanced at Claire. “How do I look?”

  “Almost perfect.” Claire walked over to her and added a fake beauty mark to her cheek. “There. Now it’s perfect.”

  Though she sighed, there was a hint of amusement on her lips. “If I had known you had this sneaky side to you sooner, we could have done many fun things together.”

  “I thought we had fun while we were growing up.”

  “We did, but I had no idea you could be mischievous.”

  Claire decided she didn’t want to know the type of mischievous activities her sister might do without her knowledge. What she was doing tonight was for a good cause. She motioned for Lilly to follow her to the door of her bedchamber. Thankfully, Marion hadn’t checked on them. So far, they had gone undetected. All they needed to do was slip out the back and meet Mister Robinson down the street.

  Claire took a deep breath to steady her nerves. This was her second time dressing up in a disguise, but this wasn’t any easier than the first time. There was no doubt about it. Lilly had her pegged as someone who didn’t want to act inappropriately, and she was right. This was making Claire break into a sweat. Taking a deep breath, she slowly opened the door and peered into the hallway. It was empty. Good.