Luci only sat mute, her eyes fixed but unseeing on Bradley.
“My Lord,” Bradley began in an impossibly calm voice, “if you will direct everyone to be seated—and perhaps send your servants away—you will discover that I am here on urgent business. As it turns out, you have pledged your daughter in marriage to a man who is not who he says he is.”
All eyes turned to Gideon, even Luci’s, but he still kept his glare fixed on Bradley. “I will destroy you, you cowardly scoundrel!”
“Destroy me? For telling the truth?” Bradley asked slowly. “I hope everyone takes note of how he has yet to say I’m lying, only threatens my life for the news I bring here.”
“Would everyone please sit?” Lord Thornshire demanded. He waved off the servants, who left the room and closed the door behind them, then waited while the others complied. Gideon was last to move, apparently warring between obeying his host and father-in-law and moving to harm the Earl.
“What is the meaning of this offensive intrusion?” Lord Thornshire demanded.
“My Lord, as you have already been made aware, I had every intention of seeking your daughter’s hand,” Bradley began. “I was prevented by my good nature and sense of duty, in that I would not make such a request until my business affairs were in order.”
“Your business affairs?” Gideon said wryly. “Or would that be your gambling debts?”
“There are some who might confuse the two terms,” Bradley acknowledged, “but in any case, the debts were to be paid before I would consider proposing marriage. Unfortunately, this good-for-nothing beat me to it.”
“Well then, there is nothing to discuss,” Lord Thornshire said firmly. “You did not make any such request, Lord Ambergrave did, and therefore it is final.”
“But not quite,” Bradley said. “You see, My Lord, despite your efforts at keeping your affairs quiet, word has gotten ‘round about your business failure and the loss of your fortune.”
Lady Ambergrave cried out softly, but pressed a hand to her lips. Luci reached for her mother’s hand and held it comfortingly.
“My business affairs are no one else’s concern,” Lord Thornshire shouted, turning very red in the face. Gideon though, beside him, was suddenly very pale.
“But did you not know that your partner had intended to ruin you all along?” Bradley pressed, a triumphant tone in his voice. He looked smugly at Gideon and continued, “From the very beginning, your unnamed partner sought to ruin you. Isn’t that right, Lord Ambergrave?”
Everyone stared at Gideon, who only sat and glared fiercely at Bradley. Lord Thornshire looked between the two men for a matter of moments before realization dawned.
“You?” he whispered to Gideon. “You were my silent partner all that time?”
Gideon did not answer. He looked at Luci from the corner of his eye and noted the agonized mask of revulsion on her face. There was nothing he could say that would dispel any loathing, any hatred for him.
“I demand an answer!” Lord Thornshire roared, slamming his heavy fist upon the table. “Were you my business partner?”
“Oh, he was,” Bradley said arrogantly. “Do not let him concoct some excuse or lie. I have it on very good authority, and have also done my own investigating into the matter. The Duke of Renfeld, my brother, was able to procure documents attesting to Lord Ambergrave’s involvement in your shipping business. Does it not strike anyone else as odd that only days after you learn that your partner has reclaimed all of his investment and leaves you in ruin, that he should come here and offer to pay a hefty bride price in exchange for your daughter’s hand?”
No one spoke. The clock above the mantel continued to tick away the seconds, its gentle mechanical sound echoing through the room like a death knell. The only other sound was Luci’s hoarse whisper when she eventually asked, “Gideon? Is it true?”
Without looking at her tear-stained face, Gideon simply answered, “Yes.”
“How could you?” Lady Thornshire screamed, already rising from her chair and coming to stand protectively beside Luci.
“Why would you do such a thing?” stormed Lord Thornshire.
“Because you killed my parents,” Gideon answered angrily, no longer concerned about truth and explanations. “I spent nearly ten years plotting my revenge and working to make it come to pass. You took the most important thing in the world to me, and I simply returned the favor.”
His voice grew quieter and his expression softened when he turned to Luci, though.
“But that was before I grew to love you.”
Luci, still shaking from the revelations before her, only turned her head away, refusing to look at his imploring face. Even when Gideon rose and gestured for her mother to move away, falling to one knee beside her chair, she would not look at him.
“Luci, dearest. Please look at me. I assure you that what I am saying is absolutely true. I have confessed to my horrible motives, so what need have I of lying to you now?” he begged.
“What you have done is inexcusable,” Luci muttered, her voice barely above a whisper.
“Agreed!” Bradley called out.
“No!” Luci shouted, turning her attention to the Earl. “You are not to speak to me either, not after what you did. You sought me out in my husband’s house, attempted to ruin me with your ill-conceived scheme, and then forced yourself on me while I protested. You are the lowest sort of scoundrel and I’ll not have anything to do with you.”
“I see that I was wise to keep you clear of my daughter,” Lord Thornshire said. “I had heard through connections in the ton that you had attempted such a scheme in the past, coercing another man for his daughter’s hand in order to improve yourself with her dowry. I would never have permitted a marriage between you, no matter how much my daughter may have loved you.”
“Love?” Bradley scoffed. “Unfortunately, that doesn’t matter,” Bradley said, still looking as smug as he did before. “Who cares for love when there’s money to be gained? I never cared for Luci, as one nobleman’s spoiled, silly daughter is the same as the next. I only cared for her dowry.”
“But if it is as you say and you knew I had been ruined in business, why did you continue your pursuit?” Lord Thornshire demanded.
“Blackmail,” the Earl replied with a terrible laugh. “You might not have the funds to marry your daughter off properly, but you’d move mountains to prevent me from ruining her reputation. You would either pay, or I would inform certain tongue-waggers of all the times I had my way with your very willing daughter.”
There was a flash of movement followed by a dreadful crashing sound as Gideon flew from Luci’s side and launched himself at Bradley, knocking the Earl to the ground before pummeling his face repeatedly. At Lord Thornshire’s command, two servants hurried forward and removed Gideon from atop the battered man before hauling Bradley to his feet. Blood dripped from the corner of his mouth as he cried out.
“You have made a grave mistake, My Lord. Your part in all of this shall be made well known.” Bradley spat a mouthful of blood onto the floor, only to have Gideon land another punch squarely in his stomach, causing him to double over. “You have no idea of the revenge I’ve already set in motion against you for taking what was mine.”
“Get that man out of here!” Lord Thornshire bellowed, pointing to Bradley. “And send word to my solicitor that I must see him at once. I will be bringing charges against you for blackmail, Lord Stillscar. There are witnesses present who can attest to your crimes.”
“You wouldn’t dare,” Bradley hissed, trying to look at Lord Thornshire through eyes that were beginning to swell. “All of your names would be dragged in, there would be nowhere safe you could show your faces that everyone will not know of this.”
“Considering the source,” Gideon answered hotly, coming to stand directly in front of Bradley and causing him to shrink back, “I doubt you will be believed.”
At that, the servants half-carried Bradley from the room, leaving the rest of t
hose assembled still reeling in astonishment and outrage. Luci was beside herself, clinging to her mother as quiet sobs shook her shoulders.
“Luci,” Gideon breathed, hurrying to her side once more. “Please let me explain.”
“Is this why you were so sullen as we traveled here?” Luci demanded accusingly. “You who have been so kind, so attentive, yet you turned cold and distant the moment we stepped into the carriage. Why did you suggest this unless it was to cause me grievous pain?”
“I never should have come here, I am sorry,” Gideon replied, reaching for her. Luci pulled away, but he continued. “You have been so ill and so heartbroken, I only meant to lift your spirits. If that meant facing what I’d done, so be it. Please let me make it clear—”
“Get away from me,” she whispered in fear, turning and burying her face in her mother’s shoulder. “I have nothing to say to you.”
“You should leave,” Lord Thornshire said darkly, putting an arm around his wife’s shoulders and the other around Luci. “I am grateful for your assistance with that cad Stillscar, but it does not diminish the fact that you stole my daughter from me during a desperate time in my life, a desperation that you yourself had caused.”
“My Lord, I beg of you to allow me to explain, to make amends. I cannot undo what I have done, but I can make it right,” Gideon begged, but Lord Thornshire was steadfast.
“I have no desire to speak to you of this matter, and it does not appear that my daughter would wish it, either. Good evening, Lord Ambergrave,” he replied formally. He looked to the doorway and nodded to Pierson, who waited intently to show the Marquess out.
Gideon stood still, uncertain as to what to do. His wife refused to look at him and he was being cast out of her family’s home, to where he knew not. Only Lady Thornshire looked in his direction, but the stare of pure loathing she bore him did nothing to assuage his concerns.
“This way, My Lord,” the butler finally said, and Gideon had no choice but to follow.
Chapter 24
Immediately after Gideon’s departure from Stonefield Park, Luci took to her bed. She was not to be consoled by anyone, though her mother and Christina made every attempt. Her grief was only compounded as the thoughts piled higher and higher. Why would Gideon be so cruel as to use her as a pawn in his revenge? What had he truly intended for her, a lifetime of marriage and a family whilst keeping his ruse a secret? Or a plan to break her heart and ruin her reputation by divorcing her when he tired of his ruse?
“And then Bradley… why?” she cried out in her torrent of tears. “To proudly confess that he had never cared for me, that I had been nothing more to him than a means to a fortune-seeking end? Let him say what he will, I will gladly sacrifice my reputation if it means his life ends soon with him penniless in a gutter.”
Through all of her heartache and indignation, there was another thought that pricked at Luci’s brain and refused to leave, giving her no relief from the memory of it: what had Gideon meant about her father? In his sharp retort to Bradley’s accusation, her husband had willingly confessed to his aim of revenge, but revenge for what? He had blatantly accused her father of killing his parents… and her father had not said a word in his own defense.
“But that makes no sense,” Luci muttered as she sobbed, clinging to her pillow in misery. She thought back to the fire at Ashworth. “I saw the damage with my own eyes. It is not possible that my father had a hand in that some ten years prior. I must know the meaning of this.”
When her mother next came to look in on her, Luci tearfully pleaded with her for answers. Alas, her mother had nothing to share with her.
“I know not, myself,” Lady Thornshire insisted, clinging to Luci’s thin, cold hand. “But what a horrible accusation. Your father has never harmed anyone in his life, and he has certainly never killed anyone. But to suggest that he set a man’s house ablaze and allowed its occupants to perish… why, I would that I were a man and could call out Lord Ambergrave myself.”
Luci began to weep again, turning her face to hide her shame. Her heart was broken, her family in shambles, and now, her marriage to an inexcusable blackguard meant she was trapped with a man who sought revenge against her own father…and had used her as his pawn.
“How can a person be so cruel?” she wailed, clutching her pillow and nearly tearing the fabric. “First to accuse Father of unspeakable acts, but then to assuage his own grief by ruining my life. It is unconscionable.”
Luci cried fresh tears as the rest of the horrors returned to her afflicted mind. Bradley, the man she had pined for, the one she had prayed to be allowed to wed… he had proven to be worse than a false love. A man such as that merely changes his mind when a more beautiful young lady strikes his fancy. No, Bradley knew he did not care for her though he’d said often that he did. He wanted nothing more than money, no matter what it cost her in the end.
As if able to sense where her daughter’s thoughts had traveled, Lady Thornshire got up and came closer. Lowering her voice so that none other might hear, she whispered a gnawing question.
“Luci, dear. Is there any truth to what Lord Stillscar spoke of?” her mother asked, her words faltering as she hesitated slightly.
“Is what true?” Luci demanded, though she feared that she already knew the answer.
“He spoke of… your willingness.”
“And after all that he’s said and done, you still would believe there was a possibility that was true?” Luci fired back. “My own mother questions whether a liar and a criminal was speaking the truth where my virtue is concerned? Is he to be believed because he’s a man and an Earl, and I’m just stupid girl? Or did you really think you had raised me to hike my skirts and throw my virtue to anyone who smiled in my direction? Is that what you think of me?”
“No, of course not,” her mother answered, clearly flustered and now regretting her words.
“Then what gave you cause to ask?” Luci cried, sitting up and glaring at her mother.
“It is nothing. Forgive me, I shouldn’t have spoken.”
“No, Mother, you shouldn’t have. You… you came in here at the most horrible moment of my life, the moment when I now know my ‘adoring’ husband has used me to bring pain to my family, the moment when I now face the most outrageous accusations that the ton will undoubtedly believe…” Luci fought for air as her words failed her, only later to manage to whisper, “And you dare to ask me if I am a wanton slamkin who bedded that man?”
A strange feeling came over Luci then, one that left her reeling. It felt as though someone had enclosed the room in a glass bell jar and lit a paper underneath the lid. Slowly, painfully, the air seemed to seep out of the room as the weight of her mother’s accusation burned all of the air away, leaving nothing but a vacuum for her lungs to try to grasp.
Lightheaded, Luci’s crying stopped for but a second before she fainted, falling back against her pillow as her mother screamed.
It was nearly dawn by the time Gideon reached Ashworth Hall, weary from traveling for so long but also feeling an emptiness inside his chest that left him wondering if his heart would still beat. He looked out the window of the carriage as they crossed over the small stone bridge, its enormous form looming before him in the glow of moonlight.
“I never should have come back here,” he muttered sadly, looking at his childhood home. “I should have stayed far away.”
The carriage arrived at the wide expanse in front of the manor but Gideon directed the driver to return him at the back of the house. He climbed out without waiting for the driver to open the door, then bade the tired man a goodnight.
As Gideon opened the door to the kitchens and entered the darkened room, a flicker of lamplight floated throughout the large space, drifting over the walls and surfaces. Derwall stepped out of the hallway and immediately ducked back apace, embarrassed by his state of undress.
“My Lord, I was not expecting you. Let me wake the staff, we will have some refreshment prepared immediately—
” he began, but Gideon waved him off.
“No thank you, Derwall. Let them sleep. I will be in my rooms until very late in the day, I should think. Don’t disturb them,” he said kindly.
“But where is Lady Ambergrave?” Derwall asked, lifting the lamp higher and peering around the Marquess as though she was merely hidden from view.
“She… she will not be returning, I’m afraid.”
At receiving no other explanation, Derwall ventured to say, “But My Lord? Is something the matter?”
Gideon looked down at his feet for a long time, long enough that he sensed his butler growing very alarmed. He finally looked up and said, “Everything is the matter. Are you any good with dueling pistols, Derwall?”
“My Lord? What could you mean?” the butler pressed, coming closer despite wearing only his gown and robe. “You’re frightening me, My Lord.”
A Court of Thorns for Lady Ambergrave: A Historical Regency Romance Novel Page 20