An Earl to Save Her Reputation

by Laura Martin

  ‘Harry, it’s not what it looks like,’ Anna said, feeling the tears welling up in her eyes. The whole point of this little escapade was to be discovered, but she hadn’t wanted Harry to be there when it happened.

  He stepped towards her, emerging from the shadows like a predator stalking his prey. Anna felt an instant thrum of desire and knew that this reaction to him would never fade. That was why she’d been so keen to make him hate her. She couldn’t bear to see him at social events and if he hated her then he might keep away.

  Now she could see that her plan had been flawed. She didn’t want him to hate her, couldn’t bear the thought of him thinking she could be so fickle in her feelings.

  ‘It looks like you were trying to seduce Mr Warner to create a scandal and publicly end our engagement, leaving me as the victim and free to marry some nice, respectable, dull young woman.’

  Anna opened her mouth to protest, but realised he was pretty much right in every detail.

  ‘I never thought she had to be dull,’ she mumbled eventually.

  ‘Praise be!’ Harry exclaimed. ‘For the woman I’m going to marry is anything but dull.’

  She felt all her resolve slipping away as he reached out and took her hand.

  ‘Harry...’

  ‘Come here,’ he said, his voice soft but authoritative. Anna felt her body sway towards him and before she could stop herself her lips were meeting his. He kissed her deeply, passionately, and for a long moment Anna forgot all the reasons they couldn’t be together and lost herself in his embrace.

  ‘Well, I never! The disgrace!’ A voice came from behind them.

  Slowly they broke apart, turning to see Mrs Winter, the middle-aged woman who had discovered them together all those weeks ago at the Prendersons’ ball, glaring at them indignantly.

  ‘Go away, Mrs Winter. I’m having a private moment with the woman I’m going to marry,’ Harry said, turning away and taking Anna back into his arms. Anna had to suppress a giggle as she heard Mrs Winter huff in indignation. ‘Where were we?’ he murmured, and kissed her again.

  ‘Harry...’ Anna said as he pulled away after a few minutes.

  ‘Hush. I know you’re worried about marrying again and giving up your independence, your freedom to make all your own decisions.’

  ‘I know you wouldn’t treat me badly, Harry, it’s not that.’

  ‘I know, my love. I understand how few choices you were allowed to make in your last marriage and how hard you have fought to become independent now.’

  ‘I can’t give that up,’ Anna said, her voice quavering.

  ‘Do you trust me?’

  Without any hesitation Anna nodded her head.

  ‘Then I have something to show you.’

  He took her by the hand and led her back along the terrace and into the ballroom. All eyes turned to them as they entered and Mrs Winter was talking loudly with her group of indignant friends.

  They didn’t stop to talk to anyone, just marched straight through the ballroom and out the front door.

  ‘I’m meant to be chaperoning Beatrice,’ Anna said, hesitating as Harry helped her up into his carriage.

  He laughed. ‘You must be the worst chaperon in London.’

  He wasn’t wrong. The number of times she’d left early or abandoned Beatrice in the middle of a ball and it wasn’t as though she was setting a good example to her younger cousin either.

  ‘I’ll let you into a little secret,’ Harry said. ‘Your cousin helped me to get you here this evening. She knew you’d be leaving early and has made arrangements to stay under the watchful eye of Mrs Towertrap for the duration of the ball.’

  ‘The sly little—’ Anna started, cut off by Harry’s deep laugh. ‘She assured me she wasn’t scheming with you to get me to go to the ball.’

  ‘She lied. She’s very good at lying, I think.’

  The carriage started moving, weaving slowly in and out of the rows of other waiting coaches, picking up speed a little as it got away from the house.

  ‘I’m sorry about how I tried to end everything,’ Anna said after a few minutes of silence, ‘but nothing has changed, Harry. We still don’t have a future together.’

  ‘Give me ten minutes. Let me show you how much I care for you. And how much I respect you.’

  Anna nodded. It was the least she could do after her antics of the evening, but she knew whatever it was Harry wanted to show her, whatever grand gesture he had made, it wouldn’t be enough. Nothing could be.

  They travelled in silence the rest of the journey to Harry’s town house, sitting side by side, Anna’s small hand engulfed by Harry’s larger one. As they slowed to a halt he jumped down, helping her from the carriage before pulling her up the steps. Anna could see how eager he was to get inside.

  ‘This way.’ Once inside the house he led her to his study, a large, airy room filled with books and with a desk at one end. He led her to the desk and motioned for her to take a seat.

  Lamps were burning, giving the room a warm glow, and several candles were dotted around in various nooks, meaning the documents on Harry’s desk were well illuminated.

  ‘I went to see my solicitor,’ Harry said without any preamble. ‘I explained our little impasse when it comes to the subject of marriage, and discussed how to get around it.’

  ‘With your solicitor?’

  Harry grimaced. ‘He wasn’t the most supportive, but he drew up the documents I asked him to nonetheless. Everything I show you tonight is legal and binding once we obtain your signature in the presence of a witness. I have already signed both documents.’

  ‘Harry, what are you talking about?’

  ‘This first document states that when we marry I will have no claim over the Trevels Shipping Company. I cannot make any decisions pertaining to it, withdraw any money from it or borrow against it. It will remain completely yours.’

  Anna’s eyes flitted over the legal document. It was written in complicated legal terms, but in her year running the shipping company she had become used to decoding difficult papers. Laid out on the three sheets of paper was the agreement that the Shipping Company and any profits from it were to remain solely Anna’s property and Harry would never have any rights over them.

  She glanced at Harry, trying to swallow over the lump that was forming in her throat. It was a lovely gesture, probably the most thoughtful and sincere thing anyone had ever done.

  ‘Wait,’ Harry said, ‘there’s more.’

  He took a second set of papers from the pile and laid them in front of her.

  ‘This document will be kept with a solicitor of your choice. You do not have to tell me where or who. It is a document that agrees to a divorce between us at any point in the future. It states you do not need to give a reason for the divorce, you do not need to prove adultery or anything similar. It gives you equal rights to any children we have during our married life together.’

  Anna was frowning. She couldn’t quite believe everything Harry was saying. Surely such a thing wasn’t possible.

  ‘It safeguards you entirely, Anna. It means we can marry without you worrying about becoming unhappy in the future. If I ever raised a hand to you, if I ever belittled and abused you, you could get out of the marriage without any difficulty.’

  ‘Is it legal?’ Anna asked.

  ‘It is.’

  She shook her head, her eyes flitting over the words. ‘Why? Why would you do this?’

  ‘I want to marry you, Anna. I want to love and protect you, and most of all I want to make you happy. This was the only way I could think of to make you see I will not take away your independence. We will be equal partners in everything, and if in a year you find you are unhappy, then I wouldn’t want you to remain tied to me for ever. I would never deny you a divorce if you asked for it, but this document just gives you that extra reassurance that y
ou will never suffer by being married to me.’

  ‘It’s not possible.’

  ‘My solicitor advises me that it is. Highly irregular, but possible.’

  She ran her hands over the two sets of documents, trying to process what had just occurred. In one swoop Harry had removed all the obstacles to them being together.

  ‘If we married,’ Anna said slowly, trying to ignore the giant smile on Harry’s face, ‘I would be free to carry on running the business? Free to make my own decisions?’

  ‘I hope you’ll run it, because I’m not allowed to.’

  Anna stood abruptly and flung herself into Harry’s arms.

  ‘Yes, yes, yes,’ she said, her voice muffled by the fabric of his jacket.

  ‘I love you,’ he said, dropping a kiss on the top of her head. ‘And I promise every day I will strive to make you feel safe and loved.’

  Reaching into his jacket pocket, he withdrew the ring she’d given back only a few days earlier and slipped it on to her finger.

  ‘Is this really possible?’ Anna asked, pulling away slightly to look up into Harry’s face.

  ‘It’s not just possible. We’re going to be married and within the month if I have my way.’

  Nestling her head back into his chest, Anna glanced at the documents on the desk, wondering if she should just tear them up. A man who was willing to do so much for her wasn’t going to try to stifle her independence. He loved her and she believed he would support her to do whatever was important to her.

  She felt his fingers on her chin, tilting her face up for a kiss. Suddenly all thoughts of legal documents were wiped from her mind as she kissed the man she loved, the man who was going to become her fourth, and final, husband.

  Epilogue

  Hitching up the beautiful gold silks of her gown, Anna ignored the shouts from her cousin and ran down the length of the docks. Today was her wedding day and, despite her protestations that she didn’t need a grand affair, Harry had insisted they celebrate their union in appropriate splendour.

  The ceremony was to take place in less than an hour in the drawing room of her uncle’s house. Harry had insisted on obtaining a special licence so they could enjoy their wedding in private, with just a few select guests attending.

  Scanning the horizon, her eyes flitting over the ships sailing to and from London, she knew she should listen to Beatrice and return home. There was no excuse to be late to her own wedding.

  ‘Thinking of hopping on a ship and sailing for Australia?’ a low voice said into her ear, making her jump.

  She spun around, allowing the surprise to register on her face as she looked into Harry’s eyes.

  ‘What are you doing here?’ she asked.

  ‘I could ask you the same. You should be spending your last minutes as an unmarried woman preparing for married life and instead I find you down at the docks, mixing with rowdy sailors.’

  ‘Hardly rowdy,’ Anna said, looking around. It wasn’t yet ten o’clock and most of the sailors currently ashore hadn’t slept off the excesses of the night before.

  ‘Hardly respectable.’

  ‘If you’d wanted respectable, you should have married Miss Wright.’

  Harry dropped a kiss on her lips as he pulled her towards him. ‘Perhaps I’ll admit I like chasing you, never knowing where you’re going to end up next.’

  Anna turned back to the docks and motioned to the ship that had just appeared in the distance. ‘The Lady Magdalene,’ she said, a smile crossing her face. ‘The ship I told you about, the one we nearly lost in the storm off the coast of Portugal.’

  They watched as the sailors busied themselves on deck, shouting orders and scuttling about as the ship came in to dock.

  ‘All the crew survived?’ Harry asked.

  Anna nodded her head. Since taking over the running of the Trevels Shipping Company they’d only had three fatalities among the crews of the various ships, much better than almost every other shipping company Anna knew, but still not as good as she wished their safety record to be. Still, she was making improvements all the time, and with the extra money she now had available from the settlements she’d been due from the late Lord Fortescue’s will the company was going from strength to strength.

  Marrying an earl did have its advantages, Anna had to admit. Harry had taken a few key people aside and murmured in their ears about the difficulties Anna was facing with the Fortescue children denying her the settlements that were due. Suddenly Anna’s stepchildren had capitulated and the money was paid almost immediately.

  ‘Let’s go,’ Anna said, taking Harry’s arm.

  ‘You don’t want to stay and greet the captain?’

  Anna shook her head, motioning to the middle-aged woman a hundred feet away.

  ‘The captain will be more interested in seeing his wife. Perhaps we could come back after the ceremony, before we leave for our honeymoon.’

  ‘Whatever you wish, my dear.’

  They walked arm in arm back towards Beatrice, who was tapping her foot impatiently as she waited next to the carriage that had brought her and Anna to the docks. A few feet further away was Harry’s own carriage.

  ‘She’s impossible,’ Beatrice declared, addressing herself directly to Harry. ‘Who runs off to the docks on their wedding day?’

  ‘I wanted to see the Lady Magdalene returned safely.’

  Beatrice shook her head in disbelief. ‘And now I suppose you two are going to ride back into town together.’ She held up her hand before either of them could say anything. ‘No, I don’t want to know any more. I’ll stop the carriage around the corner so you can at least appear to arrive separately.’

  Anna silently kissed her cousin on the cheek, watching as the younger woman hopped up into the carriage and instructed the driver to leave.

  ‘Shall we get to our wedding, Lady Edgerton?’ Harry asked, helping Anna up into his carriage.

  ‘You’re not having doubts?’

  ‘No doubts at all. You?’

  ‘Oh, lots,’ she said breezily, ‘but none that are going to stop me from marrying you.’

  ‘I’m glad to hear it. Otherwise I might just have to kidnap you and whisk you away in the biggest scandal London society had seen in a decade.’

  ‘I’ll come quietly,’ Anna said, leaning in to Harry and feeling the warmth spread through her as he placed his arm around her shoulder.

  The carriage weaved its way through the docks, dodging the seamen and traders as they unloaded the cargo ships and whisked the goods away to the local warehouses. Anna looked back at the spot reserved for the Lady Magdalene, watching with contentment as the large ship docked and the sailors threw the ropes to the waiting men, ready to secure the storm-battered ship for unloading.

  As they lurched forward, swerving to avoid a stray dog that dashed in front of the horses, Anna felt a swell of nausea in her stomach and had to close her eyes for just a minute. Placing one hand on her lower abdomen, she took a deep breath, steadying herself before opening her eyes again. It was another little sign, another little ray of hope. The nausea had been coming for four weeks now, never bad enough to make her vomit, but an almost constant disequilibrium that made her wonder if she might just be growing a little life inside her.

  It was possible. She and Harry hadn’t exactly had a chaste engagement. There had been that time before her uncle’s dinner party when she and Harry had first been intimate. And then the time they’d been a little overcome with passion in the carriage...twice. And of course the time she had visited Harry’s town house with the expectation of taking Lydia shopping, but had been cornered by her husband-to-be and they’d spent a wonderful afternoon in his rather masculine bedroom.

  So a pregnancy was possible, it was just not something Anna had ever dared to hope for. Three marriages and no hint of a child, she’d assumed she was the one who was b
arren. Admittedly Lord Humphries had been quite elderly and Mr Trevels was barely in the country during their marriage. And Lord Fortescue hadn’t been able to consummate their union, but still she’d assumed she had been the one unable to conceive.

  She glanced at Harry. Soon she would tell him, but not yet. She barely dared to hope it might be true, so she didn’t want to speak the words out loud. Instead she closed her eyes and leaned back into the strong arms of her husband-to-be.

  Harry was whistling softly, stroking her arm and dropping the occasional kiss on her head. It would only be half an hour until they were home and the small number of guests would be gathered to watch them say their vows. The start of a new life.

  ‘What happened to Mr Maltravers?’ Anna asked quietly. Their carriage was just passing his office as she asked the question, keeping her demeanour calm and non-accusatory.

  ‘I heard he decided to work on expanding his business on the Continent,’ Harry said mildly.

  ‘Did he have any help making that decision?’

  ‘Will you still marry me if I say yes?’

  Anna regarded him for a few seconds, searching his honest, open face and realising there wasn’t much he could say to stop her from wanting to marry him.

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘I challenged Mr Maltravers to a duel,’ Harry confessed.

  Straightening, Anna turned to her fiancée and shook her head in disbelief.

  ‘I challenged him to a duel. He refused. I told him I would seek justice for his crimes, that he’d better remain vigilant at all times.’

  ‘He believed you?’ Anna asked, trying to suppress the smile forming on her face.

  ‘He believed me.’

  She supposed if you didn’t know Harry well he might be able to convince someone he was a violent man. And an earl was a powerful enemy to make.

  ‘I suggested he take a long trip to Europe and while he was there forget he ever knew you.’

  ‘Thank you,’ Anna said quietly. Despite her reluctance to involve a magistrate in the matter she had dwelled on what might happen in the future with Mr Maltravers. The idea of bumping into him in the docks or hearing his heavy footfalls ascending the staircase to her office had preyed on her mind, and now Harry had quietly and efficiently resolved everything. It was rather refreshing to have a husband who actually cared about her.