To Love and Protect

by Tammy Jo Burns

  “Hampton, please ready two guest chambers immediately. After that have one of the maids ready Mamma and Papa’s chamber as well. He did send for them, didn’t he?” Clarissa nodded mutely. “Good. Come with me and we will gather some things that will help until Mamma can get here.”

  “What about Justin?”

  “His bedchamber is always kept ready,” the woman waved her hand airily. “I never know when my son might appear,” she said breezily, as she wrapped a wool knit shawl around her shoulders.

  Clarissa followed Justin’s mother through the kitchens and to the herb garden in the back. Green leaves showed valiantly through the dusting of snow. Lady Southerby picked several herbs and handed them to Clarissa. The countess picked a few more items and then directed Clarissa to follow her back into the kitchen. She instructed Cook to boil several of the herbs into a tea and steep the rest for a poultice. “Mamma will be coming, so be prepared to lose the rights to your kitchen.”

  “We’ll see ‘bout that,” the old woman harrumphed.

  The countess laughed huskily and walked out of the room. “Mamma and Cook have been the best of friends for ages. Now let’s see if they have your father settled, shall we?” Clarissa followed her up the stairs to the room indicated. The men were rolling her father off of the door and onto the bed. He looked so weak that Clarissa could not hold back the tears that gathered in her eyes. The countess pulled her into her arms and whispered comfortingly to her. She had not realized until that moment how much she missed having a mother. “Justin, your da’ is in his shop tinkering. Go get him to help you with Miss Blackerby’s father. I’m going to take her to her room so she can freshen up.”

  “Yes, ma’am,” he said obediently giving Clarissa a little wink before disappearing from the room.

  “Papa might wake. He might need me.”

  “If he does, I promise to send for you. Right now, you are exhausted and of no help to anyone. I promise I will call for you.”

  Clarissa walked over to her father and bent down to brush a kiss on his clammy forehead. “Hold on just a little longer Papa.”

  He opened his rheumy eyes and looked at her. “Love you,” he said weakly.

  “I love you, too, Papa,” she cried, happy to have heard his first words in days. “Justin’s grandmother is going to help you and everything will be better, I promise.” She leaned over and brushed a lock of silver hair off his forehead. The duke fell asleep once more.

  The countess put her arm around Clarissa and gently led her from the room.

  Chapter 8

  Justin entered the study clean and refreshed. His mother, Maureen, and father, Edward, were sitting on the settee together talking and calmly waiting for him. Justin cleared his throat announcing his arrival.

  “I’ve already poured you a glass, son,” his father announced in his booming English voice.

  “Thank you,” he walked over to the chair the glass sat by and lowered himself into it. Not for the first time, he watched his parents and their actions. They were not the typical ton match by any means. His mother’s parents were Scottish clansmen who had fallen on hard times, and his father had been the son of an English merchant who accidentally inherited a title. Edward had been overseeing business for his father when he met his future wife, Maureen, at a ball in Edinburgh. Her parents had scraped together the last of their coins in order to try to win their daughter a wealthy Scottish husband who could save the clan from bankruptcy and poor management.

  Maureen and Edward had set up clandestine meetings since their first encounter, because her parents did not approve of her being courted by an Englishman. Finally, after weeks of covert assemblies, Maureen defied her parents, eloped, and married a Sassenach. Justin’s parents claimed it had been love at first sight. Edward had worked hard to get in the good graces of his in-laws. He assisted them by figuring how best to use their land for investing, while allowing them to retain the rights to it. It had not been automatic, but it had worked, and the clan had been saved. That along with the birth of Justin and Jonathan within the first year of their marriage had forever won Edward the grudging respect of his father-in-law.

  Seeing his parents show their affection for one another had always been prominent in Justin’s life. Never, in all his time growing up, had they been ashamed to touch one another, to show their love and affection for one another. They each had their eccentricities but neither seemed to mind, in fact it only seemed to make their love stronger. Even now, his mother sat cuddled against his father, one of his arms wrapped around her, holding her securely to his side. When he had to marry, that was the type of marriage he wanted. He found his mind drifting to his blonde traveling companion that was even now, somewhere in this house, stripping out of her traveling clothes, and…

  “Well, are you going to just sit there, or are you going to tell us what happened?” his mother asked breaking him out of his reverie and deflating the desire that had caused him to have an erection only moments earlier. “She seems to have been through quite a lot.”

  “Yes. She is exhausted and deserves the rest.” He took a drink of the stout Scotch whisky his father always kept on hand, willing the blush he could feel on his neck and cheeks to go away. Justin leaned his head back and let the liquid burn a path down his throat to his stomach, enjoying the revitalizing feeling it left radiating from his very core outward. “Mamma, I’m not even sure where to start.”

  “You said Gertie started this.”

  “Yes,” he quickly told them about the missive Gertie had sent and what had happened when he arrived.

  “You mean that is the Duke of Hamilton upstairs?” his father asked.

  “Yes. Haven’t you met him before?”

  “Yes,” his mother said, “but that was many years ago when we were in finishing school. Hamilton had been on his Grand Tour and stopped by to see his favorite sister. He married not many months after that visit.”

  “To Clarissa’s deceased mother.”

  “Yes. He is much changed from the charming man that came to see his sister,” his mother mused.

  “He has suffered, we’re just not certain how much. It took us well over a week to locate him and then we just stumbled upon him. He had been missing a month before that, so who knows how long he suffered at their hands?”

  “How did you two find him?”

  “We posed as man and wife and traveled by horseback between London and Liverpool looking for him.”

  “You did what?” the earl roared, his face became red and blotchy.

  “Dear, we must hear him out. I’m sure they had a good reason.”

  “There better be.”

  “We could travel faster on horseback than by carriage. Clarissa insisted on accompanying me, regardless of what I said. She would have followed me anyway. I caught her trying to cut her hair so that she would look more like a boy.”

  “She couldn’t look like a boy if she tried,” his mother interjected.

  “Exactly. And then all that beautiful hair would have been gone forever,” he looked out the window into the fading light of the day and missed the look that passed between his parents. “Besides, I think she is almost as stubborn as Meggy.”

  “Have you discovered who kidnapped Hamilton?” his father asked.

  “His new wife and her brother. I doubt they did it themselves, but they definitely had it done.”

  “You can’t be serious.”

  “Unfortunately, no. The village that we found him in is where we saw them. However, there is something suspicious going on.” He informed them of the story the little maid at the inn had told Clarissa.

  “How horrible,” his mother gasped.

  “I just can’t get over why they would want to force two deaths in the same family.”

  “What do you mean, son?” his father questioned.

  “Well, with the father gone, why not just be caught in a compromising position with the daughter so that she is forced into marriage. The bounder would have control of al
l that she inherited, and she would have no voice.”

  “Justin, that’s horrible,” his mother said.

  “I know, but I’m trying to think like a villain at the moment.”

  “He is right, love. Arrange for some sort of accident for the father and force the daughter into a marriage where she loses all her rights and control of her life. Instant wealth.”

  “There is something else. When I reconnoitered the area I came upon the couple in question in very intimate relations.”

  “You mean as in husband and wife relations?” his mother asked haltingly.

  “Yes.”

  “Either these people are very sick individuals, or there is more to the story than immediately appears,” his father surmised.

  “Indeed. Now, why is Meggy home?”

  “The finishing school sent Megan home for being a hoyden.”

  Justin couldn’t help himself, he burst into laughter. “Not our Meggy,” he cajoled. “How many does this make?”

  “Don’t ask,” his mother said, shaking her head. “I am growing old before my time with that one,” his mother sighed.

  “She acts just like you did when I first met you. You were as wild as anyone. You hated the confines of ballrooms and were more at home on a horse roaming the countryside.”

  “Are you saying I am paying for my upbringing?”

  “Perhaps we both are, love,” he leaned over to capture her lips in a teasing kiss.

  “Well, I’m glad she’s here. Mayhap she can help keep Clarissa’s mind off her father’s recovery.” He stopped, took another fortifying drink of whisky, and asked his parents a question he dreaded. “How was Italy?”

  Silence reigned supreme in the room. Finally, he heard his mother say softly, “Beautiful.” Justin looked up and saw tears sparkling in his parents’ eyes. “Perhaps one day you will be able to go. Have closure,” she whispered.

  “I...” Justin’s voice broke and he cleared it before starting again. “I should write Gertie and let her know that all is well.”

  “Son, we need to talk. There are things you don’t know.”

  “Would you like me to include anything to Gertie for you?” Justin asked his mother, cutting his father off, something he rarely did.

  “No. I will write my own letter and enclose it with yours.”

  “Use my desk son, we’ll leave you to your correspondence. By the way, I wouldn’t let your grandfather or grandmother know the two of you posed as man and wife, otherwise, there will be hell to pay,” his father predicted. The earl and countess left the study, his arm draped around her shoulders and her arm around his waist. “What do you think, my love?”

  “I think it is a shame what that poor girl has had to suffer.”

  “And?”

  “I think Justin is still hurting from Jonathan’s death.”

  “We all are,” Edward said.

  “Yes, but they were twins. He needs to talk about his anger.”

  “He is dealing with it in his own way,” her husband said wisely.

  “He needs to know the truth.”

  “I wonder if he doesn’t already know,” Edward surmised.

  “Do you think Liam went to him first?”

  “I think it very likely. They no longer speak and it would explain why Justin said there would be no way he would allow Meggy to marry Liam.”

  “He didn’t! Why, I have a mind to go in there right now and cuff that boy back into his good senses.”

  “No, you won’t. And another thing, I don’t want you interfering with Lady Hamilton and our son.”

  “What do you mean?” Maureen asked innocently, her Scottish brogue causing a reaction in him he never tired of. He arched an eyebrow in her direction. “Are you attempting to be lord of the manor?” she teased her husband, but he met her with silence and a warning glare. “I think our son is smitten, but will not make a commitment.”

  “And?”

  “What?” she asked exasperated, her hands fisting at her hips. They were halfway up the stairs and she stood on the step above, putting them at eye level. She could not help the low moan from escaping when he reached out and caressed a breast.

  “You are not going to interfere. You are not going to tell your parents anything about the way they traveled here either.”

  “I don’t see the harm if I just gave a little nudge. And quit trying to take my mind off the matter at hand.”

  Edward looked at where is hand was and back at her, a smirk on his lips. “You are going to nudge the girl right out of his life. When have you known any of our children to ever do what we wanted them to? Maureen, I mean it. The boy will run as fast as he can the other direction. Now, back to this matter at hand,” he squeezed gently.

  “You didn’t,” she replied teasingly, pulling out of his grip, and scampering up the stairs.

  “Didn’t what?” he asked, stunned by her quick move and his hand grasping air.

  “Run the other direction,” she teased.

  “Wife, get back here.”

  “I have things to see to in our bedchamber,” she called over the banister looking like she did on the day they married.

  “I’ll help you,” he called out, chasing after her.

  ***

  Justin had just completed his correspondence when a soft knock sounded on the door. “Come in,” he called, not looking up from sanding the letter for Gertie. He tried to relieve her anxiety without giving too much away. The last thing he wanted was for her to be caught in the middle of this entire fiasco.

  “Southerby,” the soft voice that heated his blood every time he heard it called from the doorway.

  “Come in, Clare.”

  “You know, that is the first time since we left England that you have called me that.”

  “And I can count on one hand the number of times you have called me Justin.” He watched the blush that climbed over her chest and face and felt instantly ashamed. “I apologize. Please have a seat. I thought you were resting.”

  “I couldn’t, and yet there is nothing I can do for Papa now either, except pray.”

  “As soon as Grams arrives, she will know what to do.”

  Clarissa merely nodded her head in acceptance of his declaration. “Your mother is quite a, well, um...”

  “It’s all right, Clare. Mamma is a spitfire, and I wouldn’t have her any other way. Unfortunately, Meggy, my sister is much the same, which is why she is at home and not at school.”

  “Isn’t she a little old for schooling?”

  “I suppose. You see Megan, that is her given name, has been dismissed from every finishing school in Switzerland.”

  “Hence her advanced age,” Clarissa guessed timidly, not wanting to sound accusatory.

  “Meggy turned twenty this last July.”

  “Why, she is almost my age,” Clarissa replied in shock. She could not imagine running about and flinging herself into anyone’s arms, not even as a young girl. She had always done everything with the greatest amount of decorum. Well, perhaps not everything, she thought as she remembered throwing mud at Justin.

  “Yes, and a true hoyden.”

  “Oh. Well, I guess I should go and check on Papa once more before we eat,” she had her hand on the doorknob before he called her name. His voice sounded almost desperate. She turned and saw him walking her direction. “Yes?” Clarissa vaguely heard herself get the question out, surprised at how breathless she sounded. She could not get over how he looked like one of those big jungle cats stalking their prey that she had seen at the traveling menageries.

  He placed a hand on either side of her head against the door. “I’ve missed you, Clare.”

  “We’ve only been here a few hours.”

  “I know, that’s the damndest part of it all,” he growled before capturing her mouth. “Open your mouth. Kiss me like you did before.” Clarissa let out a small moan and gave in to the tantalizing pleasure of his teasing mouth. He pulled away and began tracing kisses from her ear to the jun
cture of her shoulder and neck. Clarissa felt as if she were a feast for a starving man. She felt him move lower and place hot, open-mouth kisses on her chest.

  “No, Justin, th…this isn’t a good idea,” she gasped and placed a hand on either side of his head.

  “Oh, it’s a very good idea,” he whispered against her ear before returning once more to the area above the neckline of her dress. She felt him slip the buttons free of their mooring.

  “Justin,” she moaned.

  “Was that a protest or encouragement?” he asked, chuckling softly.

  “I wish I knew,” she whispered, tugging his head up and capturing his mouth once more. She felt more of her dress being opened and tugged down her arms, pinning them to her side. Then she felt it, the wonderful sensation of his calloused hand covering her breast, a thin shift separating their flesh. “What are you doing?” she asked, her voice shaky.

  “You’ll see,” he replied coyly and moved his mouth down to where his hand lay. He placed soft kisses on the mound of her breast and then teased the peak with his tongue, dampening the cloth.

  “Oh, my.”

  He chuckled against the mound and then captured the peak in his mouth, suckling gently. She arched her back away from the door and held his head firmly, afraid he would take away his magical mouth. Clarissa felt a great ache between her thighs and tightly clamped her legs together to try to ease it. She felt pressure as he insinuated one of his long, muscular thighs between hers.

  “What are you…” she broke off, feeling his leg lift between her thighs, putting pressure on that area that felt hot and achy. “Oh, my,” she sighed, wiggling to ease the ache that threated to burn her alive.

  “Let me help,” he watched as she nodded frantically. He went back to suckling her breasts, showing each equal attention. Justin slowly raised the hem of her dress, caressing her thigh. Knock, knock, knock. “Yes,” he croaked out.

  “Justin,” his sister’s voice infiltrated the calm and peace followed by harsh banging on the door. He felt Clarissa tense in his arms.