by Joyce Alec
A slow look of understanding crossed Lord Johnston’s face. “Ah, I see. Very good, then, Turner. I shall hasten home and do exactly as you wish.”
“And ensure that any correspondence you send me is delivered discreetly,” Edward warned, hurrying down the stairs so as not to keep Lord Gaines waiting any longer. “After all, between now and two days hence, I am meant to be leaving England’s shores.”
Lord Johnston chuckled, his eyes alight with good humor and anticipation of what was to come. “Of course. May I wish you success in your conversation with Lord Gaines, Turner. I am quite sure that man is as slippery as a fish.”
Edward acknowledged this with a nod before quickly making his way towards his study. The time had come to bring this whole sorry affair to its end.
13
“Are you quite sure about this, Edward?”
Dorothea looked up at her husband and saw his eyes flicker as he returned her gaze. She had not referred to him as such before, and even that was not quite proper, for a wife ought to refer to her husband by his title, and yet she found herself longing to call him by his Christian name.
“I am quite sure, my dear,” he murmured, taking her hand in his. “You need not worry. I have everything in hand.”
Dorothea nodded and allowed him to lead her into Lord Johnston’s library, which was lit with a rather pleasant glow. She had been waiting patiently in Lord Johnston’s study for Lord Turner to return for her and now, as he led her towards what appeared to be one of the many shelves of books, she felt her heart flutter all the more.
They had enjoyed three days together, three days where they were barely interrupted and seemed to have all the time in the world. And yet, as much as she had loved almost every moment with him, she found herself sad. Edward would not allow her to touch his scarred face and, given his reluctance, she felt a chasm slowly beginning to open up between them. She longed to be able to do so, to have the freedom to let her fingers trail over both the damaged and undamaged skin. It was as if he still did not trust her, despite all they had endured thus far.
What had become all the more obvious to her, as they had spent those long hours together, was that she found her husband to be a wonderfully attractive gentleman. He had called himself a beast, a gargoyle, and a monster. Yet, she knew that he was none of these things. He had been broken completely by the fire. He had been brought low, and yet, despite his anger, his upset, his pain and suffering, he had emerged back into society with more courage and bravery than she could ever muster herself. She did not know the arrogant, selfish gentleman he had described to her, and certainly could not imagine what such a man must have been like. All she knew was Lord Turner as he was now – gentle, kind, and understanding. To have accepted the truth from her about her father and his intentions before marrying her anyway had brought such a joy to her heart that she did not quite know what to do with such a feeling of happiness. The only darkness that marred such contentment was the knowledge that soon, very soon, her father would come calling.
She had confessed such fears to her husband, and he had reassured her at once. Calming her completely, he had explained what he had learned from Lord Johnston, and her astonishment had known no bounds. Whilst the plan he now had was a good one, there was still some risk that had her anxiety rising.
What if her father did not react as she expected? What if Edward was injured? What if all the threats her father had promised for so long all came crashing down onto them both, burying them in dirt and slander?
“You are worried,” Edward murmured, as he felt on the bookshelf for something. “You need not be.”
Surprised, she saw that the bookshelf in front of her was not, in fact, a bookshelf, but rather something molded into the appearance of one. When a sudden click revealed a door, she hid her gasp with her hand, hearing Edward chuckling as she did so.
“In we go,” he said softly, pulling the hidden door wide. “We will be able to hear everything from here.”
Still utterly astonished, Dorothea stepped into the dimly lit corridor, seeing it turn to the left somewhere.
“Johnston found this as a child,” Edward explained, as he stepped in after her. “It was his father’s townhouse before he passed away, but I believe this passageway is not often used.”
“Where does it lead to?” Dorothea asked, shivering slightly as the door was pulled almost closed, leaving only a thin shaft of light that did not much help the sputtering candle on the wall.
Edward took her hands in his. “The study, I think,” he murmured gently. “You need not be afraid, Dorothea. You are not going to be harmed.”
She looked up at him and, seeing the reassurance in his eyes, felt her heart slowly begin to resume a steady pace. There was such steadiness in him, such a firmness of character that she could not help but trust him. “I worry about you, Edward,” she replied gently, her voice whispering off the walls. “What if you are harmed?”
He touched her cheek gently. “I will not be.”
Closing her eyes, Dorothea let out a long breath and nestled into his arms. They had become so familiar to her of late, and yet there was still the same rush of emotion at their closeness. She felt Edward kiss the top of her head before resting his cheek there for a moment, feeling her heart swell with affection. More than affection, she realized. There was a love there, growing steadily with almost every moment. A love that wanted to protect him, wanted to do all she could to ensure his happiness.
“Dorothea.”
His voice was a whisper, sending a shiver of awareness through her. They had shared so much, but as she looked up at him, she felt herself wishing she could touch him in the tender, affectionate way he did her. Oh, to be able to cup his face with her hands, to let her fingers run down his cheek with gentle affection. She wanted to show him that those scars meant nothing to her, that they would never be a barrier to what she felt and thought, but still, there was a small, lingering fear in his eyes.
“Oh, Edward,” she whispered, her lips ready to form the words to tell him just how deeply she felt. “My heart is yours. Surely you must know now that I–”
He held up one hand, silencing her. She stopped dead, her breath catching in her chest as she heard the sound of a door opening and then closing tightly. Someone was muttering to themselves quietly, their footsteps making no sound on the plush carpet.
“For goodness sake, Cynthia, whatever is the matter?”
Dorothea pressed one hand to her heart, her eyes fixed on Edward’s as the sound of her father’s voice reached her ears.
“The matter?” Lady Lauder screeched, her voice filling the room. “Have you not heard, Gaines? Your daughter is to be on a year’s honeymoon! A year! Lord Johnston told me so himself!”
Lord Gaines sighed heavily. “Yes, I have heard. This was not what I expected, Cynthia.”
“I should say not!” Lady Lauder continued, her voice bouncing around the room as she made no attempt to keep her words quiet. “Your daughter was never meant to find the gentleman so…pleasant. And, he certainly was not meant to show her such consideration. Did you yourself not say that he had stated, very clearly, that he wanted a wife simply to produce an heir and that was all?”
Dorothea tensed, looking up at Edward and seeing him give her a wry smile.
“Yes,” she heard her father say, in a determined voice. “Yes, that is precisely what the gentleman said. He stated firmly that he intended to beget the heir and the spare and then, subsequently, send his wife to another estate somewhere. A separate life, he had said. I thought that would mean–”
“You thought your daughter would be pliable,” Lady Lauder interrupted. “You thought there would not be true care or affection between them, did you not? And now we hear they are to go away for twelve months whilst we remain here, waiting to see if she will return just as biddable as before! Who knows what she will say to Lord Turner in such a time?” Her voice had become almost a shriek, clearly both angry and upset. “This is quite the
mix-up, Gaines, and I hold you entirely responsible.”
Edward leaned down towards her, his arms gently around her waist. “I have no thought of doing any such thing,” he whispered in her ear, sending shivers all through her. “I will not be separated from you again.”
Closing her eyes, Dorothea leaned into Edward for a moment, her breathing still a little quick. This was both terrifying and illuminating at the very same time. She did not quite know what Edward intended but knew that soon, very soon, he intended to reveal himself to both Lady Lauder and her father.
“I have had enough!”
Dorothea shuddered as her father’s grating tones took on a sneering, disgusted edge.
“I have done your bidding long enough, Cynthia! I will not do it any longer. My daughter will recompense me with her husband’s good fortunes, but I will not ask her to take for you also. This has gone on long enough.”
Lady Lauder’s laugh crackled across the room, her spite evident. “Do not think for one moment, Gaines, that I have forgotten your debts to me,” she replied, with an angry twist to her words. “I was the one who ensured you had enough coffers to see you through when Lord Turner took almost everything from you. I have been the one who allowed you to share my bed without even the smallest recompense expected. You owe me a very great deal, Gaines. There is no escape for you.”
“No.”
Dorothea heard her father’s voice become low, as though he were weary and tired.
“No, Cynthia,” he said again darkly. “I will not gain a fortune, simply to have to give it all back to you. I have paid my debts to you over and over again. When you wanted your revenge on Lord Turner for ruining you so terribly, I did what you asked of me.”
“The night we met,” Lady Lauder replied in a singsong voice. “Fated, we were to meet, Lord Gaines. You, with your terrible losses, and I, so cruelly disposed of by the gentleman who I thought would marry me.” She laughed horribly, and Dorothea felt her skin crawl. “You may believe, Gaines, that you are able to step away from this, but I can assure you, you will not go free. You are not the only gentleman who owes me a great deal – and should you refuse, then the consequences of such a refusal will be on your own head.”
Dorothea looked up to see the surprise in Edward’s eyes, the same astonishment she felt in her own heart reflected back at her. Her father had, perhaps willingly to start with, done the bidding of Lady Lauder, but now that he was trying to step away, she would not let him. He was at her mercy, just as Dorothea had been at his.
“I have done enough, Cynthia!” Her father’s voice was rising now, angry and furious. “I set the fire; I burned his house near to the ground. I have kept my daughter back and forced her into matrimony. I will have my revenge on Lord Turner and receive back from him twice as much as he took from me, but you will have to find your own way to take from his vast fortune. I am finished with you.”
“No.”
Dorothea let out a gasp, as Edward suddenly stepped away from her, pulling the door open and walking into the room. She felt herself fixed to the floor for a moment before hurrying after him, unable to stay away.
Edward was blocking her entrance to the room but, peering carefully around him, she saw her father staring at Edward as though he were a ghost. A pistol was in her father’s hand, and it was pointed at the lady by the fire, who Dorothea took to be Lady Lauder.
“You ought to put that down, Gaines,” Edward said gruffly. “I am afraid the truth is out.”
Lord Gaines was breathing hard, his face white as he looked from Edward to Lady Lauder and back again.
“You have been found out,” Edward said simply, spreading his hands. “It is all at an end, Gaines.” Slowly, he turned his head towards Lady Lauder, who was looking at them both with dark, fierce anger. “I am surprised to hear that you are so involved, Cynthia. Did I not tell you, all those years ago, that there was nothing between us? Why then would you continue to pursue me in such a fashion?”
Dorothea jumped violently, as Lady Lauder laughed wildly, her eyes dark with rage. “You do not recall, Turner, do you?”
“Recall what, Lady Lauder?” Edward asked softly, as Lord Gaines kept his pistol trained on her. “What is it that has upset you so that you would do such a thing to me? You were happily wed, were you not?”
“Happily wed?” Lady Lauder asked, her eyes burning with anger. “You ruined me, Lord Turner! I was forced to wed an old, disgusting gentleman with barely any sense, simply so that I would no longer be a burden to my father and mother.”
Edward frowned. “What did I do to you, Cynthia?”
“You kissed me!” she shrieked, her hands waving about her wildly. “You kissed me publicly, in front of the ton, and the moment you quit the room, everyone began to whisper about me.”
Dorothea, her hand on Edward’s arm, felt him tense.
“You do not recall, do you?” Gaines murmured silkily, adding pain to the already evident wound that Lady Lauder had been carrying with her for some time. “You kissed her on the cheek, Turner, before declaring that you would not have her. That was after you had taken almost every penny from me. I am quite sure that you cheated in doing so.” Slowly, his arm began to move towards Edward, the pistol still held tightly in his hand. “That fire was to be your just punishment, and yet, somehow, you managed to escape. Cynthia suggested I keep my daughter back so that, one day, I could ensure she married you. That way, I would always be able to have as much recompense as I required for what you took from me.”
“No, Father!” Dorothea breathed, trying to get in front of Edward as the pistol was trained on him. “No, you cannot truly be thinking about doing this! Lord Turner is my husband! You cannot simply shoot him in cold blood!”
Lady Lauder clapped her hands, as though she were delighted by this sudden turn of events. “Oh, but he can. In fact, I think it quite a suitable end for such a disgraceful creature. You, Dorothea, will be able to ensure that the fortune Lord Turner is sure to leave you is given to both myself and your father. After all, we have been the ones most severely injured.”
Dorothea struggled in vain to move past Edward in order to prevent her father from shooting him where he stood. Tears began to pour down her cheeks. “No,” she sobbed, her heart breaking all the more. “No, please. You cannot. I love him.”
Lady Lauder laughed again, her tone cruel. “Do hurry up, Gaines. Bring this all to a rather delightful end.”
Dorothea clung onto Edward as best she could, her tears soaking his shirt. He did not move an inch, completely steadfast in his decision to protect her and, seemingly, to accept the punishment that was to come his way.
“Perhaps this is what I do deserve,” he admitted quietly. “Mayhap this is all I have ever deserved, Lord Gaines. The fire, whilst a terrifying and painful ordeal, forced me to consider the man I had become. I bear these scars each and every day, and they are a reminder to me that I will never again become that gentleman. I will not allow arrogance or selfishness to dominate me. I can only apologize for what I once did to you both. In a way, I think I am glad of the fire. It has changed me a very great deal – and for the better I think. Besides which, it has brought me the most wonderful lady, who even now is doing all she can to save me from this end.” Turning his head, he looked down into her eyes with a tenderness that brought fresh tears to Dorothea’s eyes. “You have my heart, Dorothea. I love you.”
The sound of a gunshot had her screaming and, as Edward reeled back, Dorothea clung to him all the more, trying to help him to remain standing. He let out a bellow of pain and fell back onto the floor, landing in a heap with Dorothea beside him. Slamming one hand over his arm, he groaned loudly as Dorothea scrambled to her feet, seeing her father stuttering over his lack of finesse when it came to attempting to shoot Edward dead.
Lady Lauder was screaming with rage, attempting to usher Lord Gaines from the room, her eyes wide and golden tresses tumbling down from the back of her head.
And then, in the midst
of it all, the door opened and Lord Johnston, accompanied by another gentleman, stepped inside.
“Put it down, old boy.”
Lord Johnston shut the door firmly behind him, gesturing towards Lord Gaines and his now redundant pistol. Evidently, he had been waiting outside the library door, perhaps with his ear pressed to it, so that he would know just when to enter.
“I said, put it down.”
The firmness of his tone made Lord Gaines do precisely that, although he then began to look about him for another way of escape.
“Are you quite all right, Lady Turner?” the second gentleman asked, moving closer to her. “We did not think that Gaines had a pistol, nor that he would have the courage to fire it, else we would have entered much sooner.”
Dorothea had been unable to lift her eyes from her husband, who had managed to sit up, shrug out of his jacket and was now examining what appeared to be a rather nasty wound to his arm. The sight of blood did not overwhelm her, but rather the fear that her husband would suddenly collapse and die, leaving her entirely alone.
“I am quite all right; I thank you,” Edward muttered, as the second gentleman nodded and stepped back towards Lord Johnston. “Can you help me stand, Dorothea?”
Somehow, she managed to take his arm and help him to stand, despite the trembling in her limbs. Edward seemed to notice this and, with a reassuring expression on his face, drew her into his side and pressed his lips to her forehead.