Rescued by the Viscount's Ring

by Carol Arens

  ‘It makes sense now. I always wondered why the Captain jumped to do your bidding. But it does not make sense that you lived in steerage and worked such a difficult job.’

  ‘The first owner of the Edwina did a careless job of running it. He was more concerned with making a fast Atlantic crossing than seeing to the comfort of his passengers. I worked as a crewman in order to discover which employees had become lax under his employ.’

  ‘Most men of your station would have hired someone else to do it.’

  ‘My mother will tell you that if something important needs doing I don’t trust anyone else with it. But in this case, with so much to see to, I did hire a couple of men to help watch.’

  ‘You are assuming I will meet your mother in order for her to tell me that.’

  ‘As I’ve said. I will not leave here without you.’

  ‘Have you considered that we would not be in this situation had you been truthful from the beginning? And why lie about who you were? Did you not think I would keep your secret?’

  He gripped her shoulders, but gently in spite of the tension within him. He turned her so that she had nowhere to look but at his face. If she would not listen to his apology, perhaps she would see it in his eyes. ‘The truth of it is, I married a stranger. I could not know whether you would or not. Everything happened so quickly between us. One moment we were strangers and the next we were married and the one after that, in love.’

  ‘And later, after you did know me? You could have told me then.’

  She tried to arch her brows at him, but the gesture failed.

  ‘I meant to. But the plain bald truth is, I was scared. I thought when you knew you would not give me the three months.’

  ‘I was a convenient way for you to be rid of the commitment to Miss Mosemore? Yes, I see it now.’

  ‘No, you do not, not completely. In the beginning I offered the three months because I was afraid you would not marry me. But then, Madeline, I did not want three months with you. I wanted for ever. If I had told you everything, I feared you would leave me.’

  ‘And so I have. But just so you know, it is not because of the title, but because of the lies.’

  ‘I wanted to tell you—I tried to. I thought I had more time, but things happened to get in the way. In the end, though, I was simply a coward.’

  ‘Yes, there was the fire. You were in charge of the passengers’ safety. With all of it, I imagine I was not uppermost in your mind.’

  ‘You imagine wrong.’ He looked into her eyes, holding her gaze and praying she would see what was inside him. ‘You were always first in my mind.’

  Her shoulders rose and fell under his hands when she exhaled a great sigh.

  She stood up, breaking his hold on her, then paced in front of him. The swish of her skirt swirled a cool draught around his bare ankles.

  She stopped suddenly, frowned down at him, her fingers beating a rhythm on the satin sash at her waist.

  ‘All right. I will meet your mother.’

  ‘And after that?’

  ‘I agreed to three months and I will honour it, unless I find my grandfather first. If I do—’

  Leaping to his feet, he wrapped her up, kissing her until she returned it.

  ‘We have gone beyond needing three months. I take them back.’

  ‘You can’t just—’

  He kissed her again, taking possession of her in a way words could not.

  ‘I can—I have.’

  ‘Do you always get your way?’

  ‘Mostly, yes,’ he stated with more confidence than he felt. Having been a viscount from a very young age, he expected to get what he wanted.

  Until he’d met Madeline Macooish Dalton. Now nothing was as expected.

  ‘How do you know you will this time?’

  He smiled, lowered his lips close to hers, felt the brush of skin on skin when he murmured, ‘There’s this between us.’

  ‘Oh.’ Her breath was warm, sweet as the memory of summer peaches on his face. ‘Not three months, then. I’ll stay until I find my grandfather. Then, after that, we’ll see. For the sake of this, we will see.’

  ‘We will find him. You and I together.’

  ‘Together, then. We will find him and my cousin together.’

  ‘You forgive me?’

  ‘I understand.’

  ‘It’s not the same thing.’

  ‘I forgive you.’

  ‘My angel.’ He buried his face in her hair, rocking her tightly in his arms. ‘It won’t be long, I promise. We will find them. I vow it.’

  It might be an easy thing if his thoughts about them being in Derbyshire were correct.

  He tried to ignore the selfish voice suggesting that he take his time finding out.

  The time he had with Madeline was no longer a set three months, less than that now, but it was to be determined by locating her family.

  His fate rested on an event. An event he might have the power to hasten.

  He only needed to convince her of his devotion before it occurred.

  * * *

  After waving goodbye to Mary from the carriage window, Madeline pressed back against the seat cushions, looking at the finely appointed cab.

  While she would not have minded travelling in a rented hackney, this was quite a bit more comfortable.

  Rees sat across from her, but close enough that their knees brushed when the wagon bounced over uneven cobbles.

  ‘I’m sorry I made you look for me all night in the rain.’ Even now he did not seem recovered from the ordeal. He huddled in a blanket, his eyes halfway closed.

  ‘It was worth it.’

  ‘Not if you take sick.’

  ‘I won’t, not as long as I get a bit of rest before we reach home.’ He yawned, then closed his eyes completely. ‘I’ll need my wits to explain all this to Mother.’

  ‘Will she be angry?’

  ‘Not angry as much as in a tizzy with all the wedding arrangements to be cancelled and explanations to be invented. She’ll want what’s best for both her sons, though.’

  ‘What will she think of you bringing home an American wife?’

  He opened one eye. Even in the dim light of the carriage his blue gaze gave indication that he didn’t care. ‘Funny, but most marriages of the sort are gone into for financial gain, or for position. I don’t need your money and you don’t want my title.’

  ‘The title might help, though, when it comes to begging Grandfather’s forgiveness. I will have fulfilled his goal for me, however accidentally it came to be.’

  The other eye opened. ‘I suppose that what he really will want is for you to be happy. It’s what I want, as well.’

  He closed his eyes again. She ought to let him rest.

  She watched out the window. Liverpool was a busy place with people strolling the pavements and wagons rushing here and there. It was noisier than she cared for. Birdsong and leaves rustling in the breeze were more to her liking.

  If she decided to stay with Rees after he found her grandfather, she would need to get used to the bustle.

  She would get used to it because, in spite of the fact that she clung to the appearance of having a choice in remaining married to him, she desperately wanted to.

  One did not lightly skip away from the man one loved.

  Watching her husband sleep, wanting to reach across the way and touch the dark-red hair that slipped over one eye, she thought of Oliver Cavill, the Earl of Fencroft.

  Grandfather had thought them to be an ideal match since the Earl was fond of gay times and laughter, the same as she was.

  Clementine, however, was not. If she was married to the Earl, she would be miserable.

  Madeline was not sure how she would live with the guilt of being blissfully wed to a viscount when she had forced her cousin into a uni
on with someone unsuitable for her.

  Tears welled in her eyes, so she closed them tight, hoping to trap them. With the battle lost, she dashed the moisture away with the back of her hand.

  She opened her eyes to find Rees looking at her.

  ‘Are you so unhappy, Madeline?’

  ‘I need to know my cousin is all right.’

  Rees opened the blanket, motioning for her to join him under it.

  She snuggled against his side and he hugged her close with his strong, comforting arm.

  ‘Don’t think the worst. If she did marry, I’m sure she knew her groom better than you knew me when we said our vows. If she didn’t like him, she could have refused.’

  She shook her head. ‘Clementine would not disappoint Grandfather.’

  Her cousin would never run away from her obligation and leave others to deal with the consequence.

  Madeline did not say so aloud, because the vow she was about to make was between her and the good Lord.

  Inhaling deeply, she recited it in her mind. I will not run away from a problem again. No matter what happens, I will stand and face what comes.

  There was a rap on the hood of the cab.

  ‘We’re here—are you ready to meet Mother?’

  ‘I am eager to.’

  ‘I wish I was.’

  The door to the coach opened before the driver even stepped down.

  A small woman with springy silver strands poking from her coif climbed into the cab. She plopped down on the bench across looking distressed and clutching a sheet of paper in her fist.

  ‘Hello.’ Madeline felt the need to say something because the woman stared at her, her face gone from pale to bleached bone.

  * * *

  ‘A note.’

  Rees’s mother shoved the damp parchment at him, her attention shifting between him and Madeline.

  He’d best set the facts straight before she thought he’d brought home the governess she’d been asking for and was behaving inappropriately with her under the blanket.

  Shaking her head, his mother turned her agitated gaze fully on him.

  ‘It says—oh, I hardly know how to speak the words.’ Her gaze flashed once more to Madeline, who had slid away from him and was hugging as close to the wall as she could get.

  ‘Mother?’

  ‘I’ll just say it quickly—rip the bandage off, so to speak. It’s from your brother—from Wilson. Oh, but he’s run for Gretna Green with your fiancée.’

  ‘Ah, good, then.’

  ‘I know you are heartbroken over it—but have you lost your mind?’ She grabbed his hands and squeezed them between her own. ‘No doubt the shock has left you senseless, my poor boy, but you need to be prepared. The scandal will be unmatched by any we’ve seen. Worse than when your father—’ She pressed her lips together, clearly reluctant to discuss Father’s mistake with an outsider. ‘Well, much worse than that.’

  ‘Better a scandal than a disaster.’ He extended his hand towards Madeline. With a nod he urged her to take it.

  With a small smile she placed her fingers in his, slid back towards him.

  ‘Mother, I’d like you to meet my wife, Madeline.’

  Normally a strong woman, the news of the morning was apparently too much. She fainted where she sat.

  Rees carried her up the steps and into the house. It took three minutes with the smelling salts to bring her around.

  That was all it took for half the household staff to gather. Less time than that for Victoria Rose and Emily Lark to come paddling into the room, porcelain dolls tucked under their arms.

  Victoria Rose stood beside the couch, nose to nose with her faint grandmother. Emily Lark clambered up, sat on top of her and peeled up her eyelids.

  ‘Granny napping,’ Victoria Rose said, reprimanding her twin.

  Even at such a young age Rees knew that Victoria Rose was bossy and Emily Lark mischievous.

  ‘Don’t worry.’ He caught his sweet imp to him, saving his mother from further indignity. ‘She’ll wake soon.’

  Mrs Warren, the housekeeper, clapped her hands. ‘Back to work, all of you. It’s as the master says—Lady Dalton will be right as rain in a moment. She will not wish to see you hovering.’

  Murmuring, they did as Mrs Warren ordered.

  Victoria Rose stroked fat little fingers over her grandmother’s cheek while Emily Lark smeared wet kisses all over his.

  ‘Faddie scratchy.’ She puckered her lips and scrambled out of his hold.

  Apparently finished welcoming him home, she dashed over to Madeline and stared up at her. After a moment of consideration, she lifted her arms to be picked up.

  Without visible hesitation, Madeline knelt and scooped her up.

  ‘Whose you?’

  ‘I’m Madeline.’

  Victoria Rose’s attention snapped away from her grandmother.

  She scurried over to Madeline and tugged on her skirt. ‘You’s pretty.’

  Madeline bent over, then set Emily Lark on the floor beside her sister. She cupped Victoria Rose’s chin in her fingers. ‘So are you—both of you are as sweet as newly hatched chicks.’

  Something inside Rees shattered in that moment. Seeing the unreserved affection Madeline offered his daughters, again he knew she was his miracle and nothing less.

  During his engagement to Miss Mosemore, he had never seen her give more than a passing word to the girls.

  He heard a gasp and fabric rustling on the couch when his mother sat up.

  ‘Ach! You’re back with us, my lady.’

  Luckily Mrs Warren bustled about his mother, because Rees’s attention was caught up with the other ladies in his life.

  For all that Madeline had claimed to have no experience with young children, she took right to them. And they to her.

  What she did have experience in was kindness. Practice had not taught it. A loving, generous spirit came as naturally to her as breathing.

  During the carriage ride from the docks to the town house, she had instructed him to send unstinted financial gratitude to no less than four, or perhaps five, people who had been kind to her on her journey, one of them a ticket master in New York.

  Kind, generous, gracious and beautiful—what more could he ask for in his Viscountess?

  ‘Do you feel like standing, my lady?’ he heard the housekeeper ask.

  It was time to return his attention to the trouble that would soon come tapping on the door. Or not tapping as much as pounding and rattling until it came off the hinges.

  ‘I suppose I must, after all, if I wish to be informed of what is befalling my family.’

  Rees thought it best to speak first. ‘Mrs Warren, please meet my wife, Madeline, Lady Glenbrook.’

  Mrs Warren did not faint. To her credit she looked taken aback for only a moment before she smiled.

  ‘Welcome, my lady. It will be a great pleasure to serve you.’

  ‘Faddie?’

  Victoria Rose tugged on his trouser leg. Her still-babyish voice wrapped him up, squeezing his heart. He hoped she never learned to pronounce the word father correctly.

  ‘She is our mama?’

  He wanted to tell her it was true, but did not. He could hardly compel his wife to commit to caring for them all their days. She had not even given him that commitment.

  He waited, breath held to hear how, or if, she would answer.

  In spite of the fact that she loved him, she was not ready to give him her future.

  Who could blame her? Their short marriage had been founded upon deceit.

  Patience was what he needed now, along with honesty. While he waited for Madeline to understand her heart, he must be above board in all his doings.

  What he also needed was time to convince her of the rightness of their marriage. The problem was, he
might not have much of it.

  With Fencroft Manor so close to Green Knoll, he did not feel at ease. If the Cavills were in residence, he would need to discover if Madeline’s family was among them sooner rather than later.

  He needed later.

  The longer the family remained in Liverpool the more time he would have to woo his wife, to prove they were meant to be together.

  Whenever the reunion for Madeline and her family came, it would be a wonderful surprise. He could think of no better wedding gift.

  He could tell her what he suspected about the neighbours being more than simply neighbours, but he would not cause her heartache if it turned out not to be true.

  No, he would investigate and then surprise her.

  Surely when he arranged the surprise reunion she would be more inclined to remain his wife. Such a thing would prove, in a way words could not, how much he loved her.

  Rees watched Madeline’s face while she looked down at his baby girls. Her smile was hesitant at first, but grew warmer by the second. He could not recall ever seeing her so lovely.

  There was admitted love between them. All he needed was a little more time to let it grow deep roots.

  Yes, the longer the family remained in Liverpool the better. He was going to insist they remain for a while.

  ‘You our mama!’ Victoria Rose hugged Madeline’s skirt, her small arms getting lost in yards of fabric. It was a gut punch to his heart, seeing the longing in his child’s round brown eyes. ‘Pweese!’

  Rees held his breath. He ought to step in, prevent them from hearing what she might say. It was one thing for him to be broken-hearted if Madeline went away, but quite another for his small girls. He could not allow their desperate need for a mother to harm them.

  But what if she consented? By promising herself to them, she promised herself to him.

  As he saw it, there would be no waiting for her to decide for or against him.

  His heart thudded against his ribs so hard he thought everyone must hear it.

  ‘We will leave for the country immediately,’ Mother declared, coming to her feet and clapping her hands. ‘Mrs Warren, please inform the staff to be ready to travel.’