“You and Olivia planned this together?” Ashby asked, his voice shaking with rage.
“Olivia and I realized if we were still fighting, no one would believe we wanted to get to know each other. Fighting was clouding our judgment. So, we agreed to reconcile for the short term. You and Norland focused on other matters of business and quit worrying about losing the bet.
“We planned during dinners, in the drawing room, and while we danced at Almack’s. It happened in front of your faces.” Phillip took a deep breath and continued, “I know you are angry with me right now. And I don’t blame you. But I would ask next time you plan to gamble away your wealth, please leave me out of the bet. Also, for the sake of my mother, please use more discretion.”
Phillip didn’t feel conceited. He didn’t speak with condescension. He spoke the facts and waited for Ashby’s response. He guessed his father was holding back his hand due to the guests in their home.
Norland turned to his wife. “I’ll kill them both for ruining my daughter.”
“Calm down, Father,” Olivia said as she kept her distance from her father’s reach. “I never had any intention of marrying Arundel. My plan was to marry George. You were too stubborn to listen to me.”
Phillip looked to his father. “I’m ready for my punishment whenever you’re ready.” If he were honest with himself, he wasn’t ready for the punishment, but he thought he would give Ashby something to think about before he strangled him.
Ashby seethed in silent anger. “You’ve made it so I cannot collect my winnings.”
“Neither of you win, Father.”
“As of right now, you are no longer my heir,” Ashby spat as he ran a hand through his hair.
Phillip thought about staying silent, but he decided to throw the anger back. “If I had known this was all I had to do to be disinherited, I would have accompanied Folly and Olivia to Gretna Green last spring. It would have been preferable to being shot, dragged down a hill, and thrown in a river to die.”
“Ashby.” Phillip turned to his mother. She’d never stood between them during a fight. This was a new side of her. “Do not say something you will regret.”
“I have no regret in naming Edward as my heir.”
Phillip raised his eyebrows and patted Edward on the back. “Good luck! The burden of being Ashby’s heir is one I wouldn’t wish on anyone.”
“Arundel!” Ashby yelled as he walked from the room.
Phillip turned around with a smile. He was far too amused to let his father off on disinheriting him. He’d wished for those words since he’d come to the understanding of what it meant to be Ashby’s heir. “He’s talking to you, Edward.”
“You bloody well know I’m not speaking to him.” Ashby’s face was bright red with anger. Phillip knew they hadn’t seen the explosion yet.
Phillip closed his eyes against the pain in his stomach. “I think we’ve said everything there is to say, Father.”
The room spun as he made his exit. Phillip woke on the ground. He didn’t know if he’d tripped or passed out, but when he tried to sit up the room was spinning. He lay back down and closed his eyes.
“Hodgens,” Ashby said a little too close to Phillip for comfort. He flinched as he heard Ashby’s voice. “Send for Doctor Bell.”
“Can you sit up?” Edward asked.
Phillip wanted to shake his head, but he couldn’t without nausea threatening to come up with the movement. “I’m too dizzy.”
“When was the last time you ate a full meal?”
Phillip rolled to his side and pulled himself onto his hands and knees. “Will you help me to my bedchamber?”
He was surprised when Ashby pulled him up. “We will talk later, Arundel.”
Phillip let out a careful breath, trying not to vomit. Instead his legs went out from under him, and his father caught him as he again passed out.
Thirty-five
The house was full of guests for the wedding, yet it was eerily quiet as people spoke in whispers. Edward couldn’t go anywhere in the house without looks of sympathy following him in each room. As he searched for Anne, he thought about the previous days. Phillip had collapsed during the morning meal three days earlier. Since then, Edward hadn’t found a moment free of worry. He spent most of his time standing or sitting in Phillip’s room, waiting for his brother to wake.
“Edward,” Anne said as he entered, “has the doctor given a diagnosis?”
He let out a sigh of frustration. “Phillip hasn’t regained consciousness. He’s hidden a severe loss of weight, and his valet isn’t much help. Thomas claims there hasn’t been any signs of illness. He has turned into the worst servant we have.”
“You should stay calm,” Anne said in an effort to comfort him.
Edward nodded. Her calming influence was why he’d searched her out. “I came to ask you if we could postpone the wedding a few days. At least until he wakes up?”
Anne looked sad, but she agreed without hesitation. “It doesn’t seem right to marry without Phillip present.”
“Thank you. I am sorry to ask. I’ll let the guests know. I don’t think anyone will be surprised.”
He’d sat next to her for a short minute when Charles entered. “Constable Adams is here.”
“Perfect!” he drawled voice dripping with sarcasm.
“Why is the constable here?” Anne asked, taking hold of his hand in a protective grip.
“He requested everyone who was in the dining room when Phillip collapsed to be in attendance.” Charles looked meaningfully around the room. “We are gathering in the library. Mother refuses to go far from his bedchamber.”
Anne held tightly to his arm as they walked. He appreciated her protectiveness. He wasn’t going to allow Adams to accuse him of injuring his brother again. Phillip was ill. There was no reason for the constable to put his ore in.
For the first time since he’d found the Parkers, he noticed Emma. She looked as though she hadn’t slept and had been in tears. He thought about speaking to her but couldn’t find the words.
“Please, everyone be seated,” Constable Adams said as they entered the library. Edward looked at the piano in the corner and turned from it. He thought about telling Adams he wasn’t to give orders at Wentworth Hall, but he didn’t when he saw Ashby already seated.
“Constable,” Doctor Bell said with concern, “I have a patient to care for. Please make this quick.”
“Don’t worry, Doctor. I believe my investigation will help your patient.” Adams walked around the room, looking at each person in turn. He looked in the eyes of each servant and then every other person. He stopped in front of Olivia and Folly and looked at them for a long moment before moving forward. When he reached Edward, although shorter than him, the constable glared up into Edward’s face in an intimidating, expressionless stare.
“Do you have something to say, Constable?”
“Yes, I do.” Adams turned to face the group of people he’d gathered. “The person responsible for Lord Arundel’s condition is in this room. No one is leaving until a confession is made.”
“If you are referring to Edward,” Ashby said in a bored tone, “you are looking in the wrong direction.”
“I’m not referring to Lord Edward. I owe him an apology.” Adams waited for the talking to subside and then held out two photographs. “I have a likeness of Lord Arundel and Lord Edward. I would like each of you to mark on a sheet of paper who the likeness titled A is and who B is.”
As Edward looked at the photos, he remembered the words the constable in London said after the accident on the bridge. He made the observation of not being able to see a difference between the twins. Edward smiled as he looked at both photographs. They were both of him. Neither one was his brother.
Adams collected the answers and read through each. “Miss Emma, how were you able to see both likenes
ses were Lord Edward?”
“What purpose does it serve to ask Emma this question? Our family was not acquainted with the Watsons before I brought Lord Arundel home.” Lord Anthony stood in front of Emma in a protective stance. “She is not responsible for the attempts on his life.”
“I apologize, Lord Anthony. You have a valid point.” Adams searched through the papers and landed on another one with the correct answer. “Thomas, please tell me how you knew neither likeness was Lord Arundel.”
“I am Lord Arundel’s valet. It makes sense I should see a difference in them.”
“No more than Lord Edward’s valet, yet David answered incorrect. So, tell me how you knew the answer.”
Thomas looked smug as he replied, “Phillip carries the burden of being Ashby’s heir on his shoulders. Edward’s posture is not impeded.”
“Thomas, you are the only one outside the family who knew Lord Arundel before the first attempt on his life who can tell him apart from Lord Edward from a distance. Why do you want him dead?”
It took a moment for the words to register among everyone in the room, but once understanding dawned it took everything Edward had not to strangle the man. As if she knew what he was thinking, Anne held tightly to his arm. She would be a force for good in his life. She would be the reason he didn’t turn into Ashby.
“I don’t want him dead.” Thomas spoke as though the attempts on Phillip’s life hadn’t happened. “I want to take my rightful place as heir, and I cannot take my place if it is filled with my younger brother.”
“What the deuce?” Edward tried to pull away from Anne, but she held tight keeping him from reacting with a temper. “Brother?”
“Tell them, Father!” Thomas said, looking to Ashby for validation. “Tell them how you took advantage of my mother, who worked here at Wentworth Hall as a scullery maid, and when you found out she was carrying your child you gave her money and sent her away.”
“You and I will speak in private about this,” Ashby said, folding his arms to show he wasn’t open to the discussion.
Edward looked between his father and Thomas. If he were honest with himself, there was a resemblance between them, but it couldn’t be true. “I don’t think this is a conversation for closed doors, Father.”
“I agree. I want to know if Thomas is telling the truth,” Charles said, pushing his way over to Edward as though standing next to him was a way to team up against Ashby.
Before Ashby could respond, the nurse attending Phillip entered the room and cleared her throat. “Doctor, I need to speak with you.”
Edward turned back to Ashby as though nothing else mattered. “What is the truth? Is Thomas our brother?”
“Yes, I’m your brother, and I deserve an inheritance. I am the eldest. I am the Earl of Arundel.”
“Phillip is the earl,” Charles said. Edward put his arm out to stop Charles from attacking Thomas. It wouldn’t help anyone for a fight to start.
Edward looked to their father for the truth. Ashby didn’t hesitate with punishing Thomas. He walked forward, hands fisted, and hit Thomas in the jaw.
“Well, I suppose we should start our relationship with abuse. It seems to be the way you demonstrate your feelings for Phillip,” Thomas said as he rubbed his chin.
“What do you want from me, boy?”
“I want an apology and an inheritance. My mother begged you to make me your ward. You didn’t have to reveal parentage, but instead you made me a servant.”
“I didn’t have to take you in. I could have thrown you out of my house. I gave you a place to live and a way to earn your way in life. I didn’t have to train you as a valet. I could have put you in the barn.”
“I am your son! You should have cared for me.”
Ignoring this last statement, Ashby continued, “As for the inheritance you are requesting, let me give you a bit of the education you would have received at Oxford had I seen fit to send you there. You are baseborn. Illegitimate. By law, you don’t inherit anything.”
“Please allow me to interrupt,” Doctor Bell said as he reentered the room. With a compassionate tone the doctor finished, “Lord Arundel is no longer with us.”
A numbness covered Edward’s brain as he processed the words. Just moments before he’d thought finding out he had an illegitimate brother would be the worst to happen. He wasn’t certain if he was breathing, but he knew he wasn’t the only one sobbing. Edward clung onto Anne as he tried to process the loss.
“I am now Lord Arundel,” Thomas said without shame or guilt. “If you choose to name Edward your heir, he’ll meet the same end.”
“Do not threaten me!” Ashby said with a tight yet controlled anger.
“Thomas,” Doctor Bell continued, “will you please tell me what you gave him? From what I saw it was ingested.”
Thomas laughed. Edward looked up to see the pleasure in his cold, dark eyes. “I wish I could have told him what I used. He would have appreciated it. But I’ll let you know for Miss Emma’s pleasure. I wasted time chasing him through the woods. Shooting a moving target was a mistake. Pushing him in front of a moving carriage was easier, but still messy. I was desperate when I tried to kill him at Almack’s. I thought about killing him the night Charles offered for Emma, but I enjoyed his pain too much to put him out of misery. No, this was the best course of action. If I’d done it this way last spring, I’d be heir and have a valet now.”
Edward looked to Emma, who was crying into her mother’s arms. She wasn’t listening to anything Thomas said.
“I spent too much time listening to Phillip plan how he was going to ask for Emma’s hand in marriage. So, I took a page out of his book. I decided to use the same method to get him out of my way.”
Emma’s head came up. Edward was certain she hadn’t been listening. He was surprised when she spoke. “What do you mean by using the same method?”
“Shakespeare!” Thomas smirked. “Do you know what poison Shakespeare intended in Romeo and Juliet?”
Emma shook her head. “Phillip wouldn’t have given me poison.”
“No, you stupid chit! I won’t tell you what he had planned. It’d be wasted on you.”
Doctor Bell interrupted Emma’s reply. “What poison did you use?”
“Atropa belladonna. I started giving it to him a month ago.” Thomas was speaking as though he couldn’t stop. He wanted everyone to know of his brilliance. “I’d put a drop or two in his food and drink. At first, he was just tired. But when I increased the dose, the symptoms increased: hallucinations, stomach pain, vomiting.”
“Thank you,” Doctor Bell said as he moved toward the door. “Ashby, I’ll need you to send a runner to the apothecary. Arundel will need the antidote if he is to recover.”
“What?” Edward asked, pulling out of his numb sorrow.
“I am sorry to have caused you all so much distress. It wouldn’t have worked so well if the reaction wasn’t genuine. Lord Arundel lives.”
“Constable,” Ashby said as he glared at Thomas, “you have a job to do as well.”
“Father,” Thomas said in distress, “you wouldn’t allow me to be put in jail or the workhouse? Think about what society will say!”
“Do not call me Father. I do not claim you. As far as society is concerned, they’ll see a whelp claiming parentage without any proof.”
“I have proof! My mother’s diary tells everything.”
“The writings of a spurned scullery maid.”
Edward left the room, ignoring Thomas’s plight. He didn’t think the man deserved compassion. He wanted to spend his time with Phillip. He vowed to stay by Phillip’s side until he woke.
By late morning the doctor administered the antidote. Edward kept vigil, along with Emma and his family. It was hard not to be worried, as Phillip was pale, thin, and lifeless. He hadn’t moved since he’d collapsed in the dining r
oom.
“All of you need to give him time to recover,” Ashby said as he entered the room. “The nurse is here to attend him. Edward, you and Anne need to consider your nuptials. We have a house full of people waiting for the ceremony.”
“I would like to wait for Phillip to be in attendance. Perhaps he and Emma could join Anne and I.” He smiled over at Emma. “I happen to know what he had planned for a proposal. I’d help him with it once he recovers. I’m glad Thomas didn’t divulge the plan.”
“We still have the mess with Norland to consider, and Arundel’s recovery will be a while yet.”
“What’s to consider? Olivia and Folly are married.”
“No need to worry about it.”
As Ashby left, Edward looked back to Emma. “Phillip isn’t going to give up. He’s going to fight Ashby until he wins.”
Thirty-six
With fresh water and the lack of poison in his food, Phillip improved. His eyes were a bit blurry, making it so he couldn’t read as he wanted. The poison also caused his limbs to go stiff. His fingers didn’t work as well as they once did, which deprived him of the piano. The final three passions he had in life—literature, education, and music—were taken from him by a half-brother.
Once it was determined he would live, life went back to normal at Wentworth Hall. Phillip had been left out of the conversations regarding Thomas. Every time he asked, he was told not to worry. The Parkers and all of the other guests left, which made it so the house was quiet for his recovery.
Needing a diversion, Phillip sat in the library at the piano, trying to play. He exercised his fingers each day, but they were stiff and the music wouldn’t flow as it once did. Phillip found himself pounding on the keys in frustration more often than not.
“The music sounds off,” Edward said, walking into the room.
“My fingers are still too stiff to play right,” Phillip responded in frustration.
He could see Edward didn’t know what to say, so he turned back to the piano and then turned to the window. His family understood his frustrations and tried to help him with the exercises he was given. Edward took one of his hands and started moving the fingers for him. He massaged one hand, then the other.
The Earl of Arundel (Earls of England Book 1) Page 21