Historical Hearts Romance Collection

by Sophia Wilson

  But at the other end, he felt like this was all just another ploy by the universe and in the end he would end up being miserable. He was terrified to be a father, actually. What if he turned out to be like his own father? That would be the worst of his nightmares.

  -----

  Antonia had now returned to her room and gazed sadly out the window. Her worst case scenario had come true and the Duke had taken the news pretty badly – she felt her heart break and then she made a decision.

  If she and the baby were that unwanted to him then Antonia would not try anymore – she would just make his life easier and leave. Haphazardly, she grabbed the first few things she saw in front of her and made a decision to go back to her parent’s estate in the dead of the night while the Duke slept.

  An hour later, Antonia had arrived at her destination. As it was so late in the night, she decided against knocking on the front door – her parents would worry incessantly. So instead, she made a detour to the barn and saw a large pile of hay there.

  Sighing, she walked towards it with a broken heart and a protective hand over her stomach, deciding to sleep there for the night.

  But unbeknownst to her, danger loomed nearby. A mile or so away, Ian and Bennett were making a one last ditch effort to redeem their plan and secure the property.

  “Ian, I am terrified that this might not work,” Bennett said, eyeing the match that Ian had now firmly grasped in his hand.

  “You need to stop worrying,” the magistrate replied, “everything will go smoothly. Oswald and Jane will consider this fire on their property as the last straw and they will agree to sell – I am sure of it. The damage alone would be far too much to cover!”

  “I hope you are right,” Bennett said slowly, “I do not want anyone to get hurt.”

  And with that, Ian dropped the lit match and indeed there was a fire. Both of them ran in the opposite direction, wanting to reach a safe place and watch the dry brush burn. Ian had alerted his brother, who was in on the scheme, to round up the fire brigade before dropping the match so they would be nearby to put out the fire before it could travel very far.

  Too late, they realized that they had a huge flaw in their plan – instead of engulfing the outer estate, the wind’s direction had changed, and the fire was now headed over to the Arborn residence – including the barn where Antonia slept.

  “Ian!” Bennett called out, “Ian! The fire! It is going towards the barn!”

  -----

  The Duke was restless and could not sleep. He felt terrible for behaving so poorly towards Antonia, and the weight of his guilt was far outweighing his stoic tendencies for once.

  He could not stop thinking that he was about to be a father. Shame crept over him as he realized that Antonia was not the enemy; she was not his enemy. This woman truly loved him. She had kept his secret all these years to protect him, and she had put up with his coldness and arrogance towards her since the day they had first met. As tortured thoughts of regret wrestled in his heart and mind, he headed for Antonia’s room, planning to wake her up and tell her, for the first time with open arms, that he was ready to be a father and live as a true husband and wife – and, that he loved her.

  Confusion and fear soon set in when he saw that her room was empty and Antonia was nowhere to be found. He called out to her a couple of times but then the sheer force of panic gripped him as he saw the strewn-about clothes on the floor.

  She’s gone, he thought, panic overtaking him. She has left. And who’s to blame her after the way I have shunned and mistreated her.

  Hastily running a shaking hand through his hair, the Duke knew she must have gone back to her parents’ estate as she had nowhere else to go. Ordering a horse and carriage, he set off by himself to make the short journey to the Lincolnshire estate to beg the woman he loved to come back to him.

  -----

  The fire had increased in intensity as the Duke arrived at the Lincolnshire estate. Panicked, he ran towards the front door but then saw Jane and Oswald running towards the barn. The fire brigade had arrived, desperately trying to put out the fire as it loomed closer to the barn.

  “Your Grace! I did not expect to see you here – what has happened,” Oswald said in shock, his arms pointing towards the fire.

  “Where is Antonia? Please, I need to see her! I have made a terrible mistake!” he said, rushed and scared of the consequences of his own actions.

  “What are you talking about, Your Grace? Antonia is not here,” it was Jane who replied this time.

  “Where is she?” he cried out. “Please, let me see her.”

  Jane began to sob. “Your Grace, we did not want to say anything but we know this fire is the work of those hooligans! They have been damaging our property for a long time. They injured Oswald by throwing rocks at him and now this…”

  “Where is Bennett?” the Duke demanded. “Why is he not helping to put out this fire!”

  Oswald ran to Bennett’s room but he was not there.

  “He is not there, Your Grace”, Oswald said, collapsing onto the ground. I have worked so hard all of my life only to have these hooligans try and destroy me and my property. Why? Why?”

  The Duke patted him consolingly on the arm. “Oswald, I promise you we will get to the bottom of this and find out who has done this. And when I find out…” he let his last thoughts trail off as he ran towards the barn, planning to join in and help put out the fire that had now thankfully died down. Heavy smoke poured out of the barn.

  Oswald got up and ran after him. “Your Grace, why did you think Antonia was here?”

  “She left! This is all my fault!” the Duke cried out, “I turned her away and now she is gone! We do not even know where she is!”

  “What was that?” Oswald said suddenly, “did you hear that?”

  And suddenly, all of their attention was turned to a high pitched female scream coming from the direction of the barn.

  The Duke’s eyes widened, “Antonia!” he cried as he took off running in the direction of the screams without a second thought of his own wellbeing.

  He was only thinking of her – Antonia, Antonia, Antonia – the woman whom he loved. He could not lose her – the woman who was carrying his child. Grabbing a rope from the side, he ran to the barn window and started screaming the loudest that his voice would allow.

  “Antonia! I am here!” he shouted, “Please come to the barn window! I will throw you a rope – tie it to something sturdy. I will get you, Antonia!”

  Upon hearing the Duke’s voice, Antonia screamed louder, “Help me! Help me!”

  “Did you hear me?” he yelled and then repeated the instructions more urgently. “Hurry, Antonia!” he shouted, throwing the rope up to her. She tied it to a beam with shaking hands.

  The Duke wasted no more time and climbed hurriedly up the rope. Antonia ran to him, covering her mouth and coughing violently. She was grabbed by firm arms, and when she was safely in his grasp, he scurried back down the rope.

  He collapsed with her in his arms on the ground. It was done – he had saved the woman he loved from the fire.

  “Antonia, I am so sorry,” he said, tears forming in his eyes as he held her close and refused to let her go now that she was safe from the fire. “Antonia, please know that I love you. If I would’ve lost you…”

  Antonia felt like this was surreal and she was in a dream – did he just save her? Did he just say that he loved her? How did she even get in such a life threatening situation in the first place? She snuggled deeper in his arms because all that really mattered to her right now was that he loved her.

  “I love you, too,” she said.

  Suddenly, she was surrounded by Oswald and Jane. “Thank you, Your Grace” Jane cried, “If something would have happened to her…Oh Antonia, are you okay?”

  -----

  The fire was put out an hour later. The Duke and Oswald made a surprising discovery when they walked around the perimeter of the estate and caught Bennett lurking around the p
lace where the fire had started.

  He held his head in his hands and was pacing, looking nervous and afraid. “I’m sorry, I didn’t want this to happen, Father” he cried, unable to look at the two of them.

  “Did you have something to do with this?” Oswald asked his son whose head hung in shame.

  “Father,” he choked out, “I did not mean for it to go this far! I promise you-,” but he was silenced by a raise of the hand.

  “Enough,” Oswald said, shocked that his own son was involved in the fire. “Get out of my sight.”

  “But it was not my plan! Ian Bedford! He brainwashed me!”

  But he was whisked away before he had a chance to utter one more word.

  As they walked back towards the house, they were joined by Jane and Antonia. All four of them gazed at the fire damage that surrounded them. All four of them were still in shock at what had happened.

  “All our hard work,” Jane said, “Just gone – in the blink of an eye.”

  Oswald looked at the Duke, begging him with his eyes not to tell Jane that Bennett had been involved in the fire. Oswald would tell her later, when things had settled down a bit.

  “Do not worry, Jane” the Duke said softly. “This has been a hard night for us all. I will fund the rebuilding of this entire estate – everything. I will cover the entire expense.”

  Jane and Oswald stared at him, shocked. “But Your Grace – that is far too big-“

  “No, I do not want to hear anything else,” the Duke said with an air of finality, “I will fund the entire thing. We will build a finer house for you. You are the parents of the mother of my unborn child; it is the least I can do.”

  “What?!” Jane and Oswald exclaimed in unison. “Antonia?!”

  “I had planned on telling you in the morning,” she said, smiling. “You are going to be grandparents!”

  Epilogue

  A year later, the Duke and Duchess were doting on their baby boy. He was a happy baby who they named Ashton. He looked exactly like the Duke, which made Antonia love her little boy all the more.

  Antonia could not believe how much had changed in a year. She loved the Duke with her whole heart, and he now felt the same. She knew now, that when she told him that she loved him, he would say it back. She had no more fears and no more doubts about how he felt.

  The Duke had fulfilled his promise of rebuilding the land and a grand house for the Arborns. He made Oswald the foreman of both of his estates.

  Oswald refused to take Bennett in when he was released from the magistrate’s hold. While he did not pursue further punishment with the law, he disowned him. Ian Bedford lost his job and would be in the magistrate’s hold for a very long time.

  ------

  “I cannot believe how beautiful he is,” Antonia whispered to the Duke as she gazed lovingly at her son.

  “That is because his mother is, too,” the Duke replied cheekily.

  This caused a giggle to escape Antonia’s lips, “I love you so.”

  “And I love you more.”

  The End

  The Duke’s Dark Desire

  ©2018 by Sophia Wilson

  All rights reserved. No part of this may be reproduced, distributed or transmitted in any form or by any means without prior written permission.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are a product of the author's imagination. Any resemblance to actual people, living or dead, or to businesses, events or locales is completely coincidental.

  Chapter 1

  Jonathan Fairchild, a wealthy man from the North of England in Shropshire, who lived alone in his small cottage with the exception of his only daughter Margery, had had a long and studious life. At the ripe age of twenty nine, Jonathan’s wife had given birth to their first and only child and, being small in frame and older as she was, bearing a child took too strong a toll on her weak body. Jonathan became a father and widow in the same afternoon. Absolved in his grief, Jon Fairchild wanted nothing else to do but to care for his small and fragile new companion. His studies fell from the top of his to do list, leaving every precious moment to be spent in the tending to of the sweet child he was now to raise on his own. She was the promise he had made to his wife.

  The child was born with a full head of chestnut curls which never seemed to be facing in the same direction. Her complexion was fair with a slight glow to her cheeks when she played out in the sunlight. She was thin and somewhat short compared to the other little girls in the Shire which made Jonathan extra cautious of her well-being. As she grew older, her hair fell in more organized waves from the top of her head down to the center of her back which remained narrow and elegant. Her father had always thought her to be the most beautiful child he had ever laid eyes on and hoped to see her well disposed of in marriage when she was old enough.

  Margery was a high spirited girl from a young age in her childhood. Mr. Fairchild was constantly running here and there in order to keep up with her, but he often failed; losing sight of her just long enough for her to cause some form of mischief whether it be knocking over one of his plants, or letting the ducks into the house. It was not until his daughter had reached the age of seven that Jonathan decided he would soon be in a great need of help to look after and raise the girl. She needed a female companion, someone who could teach her the ways of being a respectable lady since she did not have a mother to do such things.

  Her care and education was spared no expense and she was given the best governess that Jonathan’s money could provide for. Charlotte was her name. Charlotte taught Margery everything she would ever need to know; from her writing and her posture to her reading and her piano playing, that latter two being her more preferred activities and even horseback riding for exercise on the weekends. The two had created a close companionship and it was a rare sight to see one without the other. When Margery reached the age of sixteen, it became obvious that the financial state of her father was growing thinner by the day. They had to let Charlotte go a few years earlier, though she continued to visit the cottage to check up on Margery and to help out around the house as best she could.

  Margery did what she could to make things easier for her father as she became aware of the situation, cleaning and saving money when she went into town for the essentials. In the fall of her eighteenth year, Margery’s father grew very ill. All the while trying to deny he needed any assistance, he remained insistent that he work with her to maintain the estate. Things only got worse as time went on and before Margery reached the age of twenty, her father had become bed ridden and she was to run the estate on her own.

  At the end of that year, mere weeks before her twentieth birthday, Margery Fairchild was left alone after the lamented event of her father’s death, for she had no other family close by who were able to take her in once her father had passed.

  Upon informing her aunts and uncles who live from the Shire, Margery received a visit from her Uncle William Firth to assist her in dealing with her father’s final will and testament as well as to aid Margery in her plans for the future in whatever way he could. It would not be an easy path and both he and Margery were well aware of it. A woman at the age of twenty with no family to keep her would have no other alternative but to find work in the household of a family that could afford to keep her on in their home. And if that was not a possibility, a desperate match would have to be made to find Margery a husband who would provide for her from then on.

  “Dear child”, her uncle greeted her with open arms when his carriage pulled up outside of her door.

  “Uncle”, she replied in a forlorn manner he attributed to her newfound orphanage.

  Although twenty years of age, Margery had no real experience living on her own without the dependence of others to assist her. In her loneliest days, her father could always be counted on for conversation and he made sure she never wanted for anything. She had reverted to the state of a child who had lost their teddy in the woods, completely lost in mourning and confusion
.

  Her uncle placed his hands on her slim shoulders and said, “Let’s get things settled shall we my dear?”

  “Yes Uncle”, she consented and led him through the cottage to the small study which her father inhabited most of the day while he lived. The pair worked through boxes upon boxes of old paperwork, most of which Jonathan Fairchild had been too stubborn to throw out for fear of losing anything of importance. As the work dwindled and time dragged on, Margery’s uncle began to feel a pang of concern in the pit of his stomach.

  What was the child to do? He wondered, watching her closely. He considered the family tree, trying in vain to think of someone who might be able to lend a hand in helping his young niece. Her only cousins belonged to her aunt on her father’s side but they were both girls and, like Margery, unable to take over the household. Their father, Riley Fairchild had also passed a few years earlier, leaving his wife an unsuitable match also. From his memory, there was no eligible man in the family young or old who could take possession of Jonathan’s estate, and the only thing he could do to protect Margery was to help her in her next steps.

  “Margery”, he spoke aloud at once. She gazed up at him through thick lashes giving away no emotion other than despair. “What would you like to do?” He continued, “Once the cottage sells that is”, he added as delicately as he could. She had not taken the time to think of her own situation to the extent that her uncle had and now that she finally had she burst into tears and her uncle caught her hand and held it tenderly.

  “Don’t cry child”, he soothed, “Your aunt and I will think of something”.

  “Thank you Uncle Firth” she hiccoughed.

  Chapter 2

  Knowing that he and his wife were not spry enough to keep a lady of Margery’s age in good health and enjoyment, they had friends nearby who most definitely were. The Mason’s lived just down the road from the Firth’s and their son Thomas had just sent his second governess running. The child was a tyrant and a more spoiled young lad one would fail to find anywhere.