by Suzi Love
Carina shook her head. “You’ll marry whoever you wish and whenever you wish. Peter won’t force you into anything. Now, shall we return to the ball?” As she linked arms with her sisters and walked to the door, Max murmured, “We shall finish our conversation later.”
They rejoined the crush and danced for several more hours. Lucy and Georgie chattered on the drive home, prattling on and on about the wonderful gentlemen they’d met and those they’d danced with. They were happy and looking forward to a better future, and Carina would do everything in her power to see that it happened.
Since Max had entered their lives, her sisters had blossomed and were more content. Even Gertie trusted Max and extolled his virtues. She also trusted him, despite their relationship having begun with lies, trickery, and shame. And she’d witnessed his softening attitudes. Though with Alice, he remained unbending and formal.
If he couldn’t treat Alice as compassionately as he looked after her sisters, she’d leave and let him concentrate on calming and caring for Alice. If he didn’t resolve the situation quickly, she’d solve it in her own fashion by disappearing.
Chapter Sixteen
The door knocker banged loudly enough to disturb the family seated around the breakfast table at Woods House the next morning. The butler showed in their visitor and announced formally, “His Grace, the Duke of Stirkton.”
His Grace, however, hadn’t waited for the announcement but stormed into the room, his face like thunder. He stood, feet braced, hands on the end of the dining table, and stared down its length at Carina.
“What happened last night?”
She dropped her toast and watched jam spread across the white linen tablecloth. “Damn, you frightened me.” Glancing at Georgie, she expected the worst. But Gertie took Georgie’s hand and rather than cowering, she smiled sweetly.
“Good morning, Max.”
The others looked at Georgie in shock while Max, belatedly remembering his manners, dipped his head towards her. His gaze swung back to Carina and he stretched forward, looking menacing and furious.
“What did you say to Alice?”
His jaw clenched so tightly as he awaited her answer, she worried he’d break a tooth. “Why? Has something happened?”
With a loud hiss, he strode around the table to Carina’s chair and jerked it backwards, nearly tipping her to the floor. She grabbed the edge of the table and glared at him. “What is wrong with you?”
“I need answers.” He stabbed a finger towards her chest. “About what’s been going on behind my back.” Lucy looked stunned, though unafraid, but Georgie shrank into her seat and twisted her napkin around her fingers.
Max followed her quick sideways glances at her sisters and he saw Georgie’s stricken expression. “Damnation!” He let go of Carina’s chair, walked around to Georgie, and took the empty chair next to her. He her hand and stilled her compulsive slaying of the hapless napkin. “I promise I’ll never hurt Carina, or any of you. Do you understand?”
Georgie nodded. “You rage made me remember.”
“Remember your marriage?” Georgie nodded. “Your husband had a temper. Did he beat you?”
Georgie first looked to Carina for guidance, before facing Max and nodding. “He was very cruel to me. He broke my wrist, and another time he pushed me down the stairs and I broke my ankle.”
“Dear God,” Max said. “If the bastard was alive, I’d kill him myself.”
Carina, Gertie, and Lucy watched Georgie nervously. But to everyone’s surprise, Georgie gave Max a small and tentative smile.
“If my husband had lived this long and continued with his torments, I’d have killed him myself.” She turned to Carina, whose shoulders had slumped with relief. “You understand, don’t you? Disposing of your husband is the only way to be free. I couldn’t have survived much longer.”
Carina drew a deep breath. “Yes, I understand perfectly.”
Max wondered for the hundredth time if Carina had murdered her husband. Not that he’d blame her if she’d sent the evil bastard to a fiery hell. Nonetheless society would condemn her. Men, especially men with titles, held a stronger position than women and if anyone suspected that Carina had hastened her husband’s demise, she’d be in grave danger. The law seldom judged his male peers harshly; yet any woman, countess or not, could be prosecuted, tossed on a ship and sent to the Colonies, and outraged men would stand in court and cheer her sentence.
He averted his eyes, because she read him well and she’d know his suspicions regarding the Earl’s death. “Ladies, I don’t care about the past, only the present. An hour ago, Lord Johnston came to my house and informed me that his daughter is missing. He believes she eloped.”
Out of the four ladies, Carina was the only one looking unsurprised. “If she confided in you, Carina, you must tell me. Has she eloped? Run away with Featherstone? If so, I might still catch them before they reach Gretna Green, or wherever the foolish pair are headed.”
“I’m sorry, but I’ve no idea.” Georgie made a strangled noise and Carina turned to her with a frown. “Do you know where Alice has gone?”
“No, not that…only Alice said─”
“What?” Max knew he shouldn’t have snapped at Georgie, because she almost jumped out of her seat. He toned down his frustration and reassured her. “I’m not angry at you, or Alice, or even Featherstone. But her parents are frantic.”
“Alice didn’t want to marry─” Georgie covered her mouth.
“Me! Alice didn’t want to marry me.”
Georgie nodded.
Max accepted the devastating news with as much outward calm as he could muster, despite his inner pain. Being rejected was nothing new, but it reinforced his belief that his mother had left because he hadn’t been worthy.
After a glance at Carina’s face, stark with horror and embarrassment, Gertie motioned Lucy out of her seat and helped Georgie to her feet. “Lucy, we’ll take Georgie upstairs to rest and let Carina and Max discuss this in private.”
Max could barely contain himself until the three ladies were well out of earshot. He didn’t want them to witness what was coming.
“Well,” he said. “Go ahead and tell me I’m thick-headed and unseeing and uncaring, and I should have listened to you, to all of you. Alice’s parents blame me and they’ve every right to do so, because I stupidly expected a seventeen-year-old girl to suddenly mature beyond her years and accept me for who I am.”
“Max, I explained. Alice needs time to grow accustomed to your…”
“Oh, good God. You’re going to say my arrogant attitude, my ill-mannered boorishness.”
She gave his arms a little shake. “You were brought up to believe that Meachams are one step below gods, so it’s hard to relax your guard. Except at Brent Street of course.”
“I’m only comfortable with you.” He ran a finger down her cheek. Even when dealing with rejection by another woman, he wanted Carina’s opinion.
“You should treat Alice the way you treat me, with respect and understanding and...”
“And what? Love?”
“Tenderness! You’re in lust with me, not love, and that will fade as quickly as it has with the others. But you and Alice will learn about each other and she’ll bear your children…”
“You dislike the idea.”
“Max, concentrate on finding Alice before she and Freddie–”
“Featherstone. She’s with that poetry-spouting whelp?”
“I’m not sure, but yes, she might be with Freddie. He’s very nice and he reads her his poetry, and does all the romantic things that an impressionable young girl appreciates.”
“I’m not going to write about my beloved’s pink cheeks.”
Carina choked on a spurt of laughter, making Max even crosser.
Max scowled. “Go ahead and laugh. I imagine Alice considers me an antique.”
“Mmm.” Her lips twitched. “She did mention graying hair.”
Max’s touched his hair and frown
ed. “I have gray hairs?”
“I didn’t know you were so vain.” Carina chuckled. “A lady of my age might see a man nearing thirty as in his prime, but to a young girl like Alice…”
He snorted. “I’m the monster who’ll wed and bed a child to get an heir.”
“Something like that, yes.”
“So why didn’t you run from me too?”
“We made a bargain and I always honor my word.”
“Is that the only reason you’re with me? For honor and our pact.”
“What other reason could there be?”
She wouldn’t meet his gaze so he tipped her chin up so he could read her eyes. “I thought you might care for me, even a little.”
“I care more than I should, but caring brings unhappiness.”
He frowned, trying to grasp her underlying meaning and wondering if she could ever bring herself to love a man she’d been sold to like a common street walker. “My grandfather believed that women only love titles and wealth.”
“He was a bitter and unloved old man, who wanted you feel as unlovable as him. But you’re not like him and Alice will come to love you.”
“I’ve ruined my chances.” He rubbed a hand over his throbbing head. “I must go and speak to Johnston and discover if Alice has miraculously returned.”
“If it’s any consolation, I don’t think Alice will disappointment her parents by doing something scandalous. I’m guessing that she’ll be home today, apologetic and unscathed.”
“Then come with me. She’ll listen to you.”
“You can’t imagine that I’m the best person to plead your case with Alice.”
“Yes … no. I honestly don’t know. My life was charted down to the last detail, and now everything is in chaos and I don’t know what to do for the best.”
“Before you see Alice, be prepared to promise her everything she thinks she’s missed until now. Promise her that you’ll treat your marriage like a partnership whenever possible, and that you value her input and presence in your life.”
Without thinking, he said, “That’d be easy if you were my wife.” Neither spoke for a minute. “Perhaps I should break our betrothal, free Alice from my unwanted embraces and marry you instead.”
“You’re not thinking rationally. If you cry off, you’ll loathe being the subject of gossip and scandal, and tossing aside nearly thirty years of plans will tear you apart.”
“And if Alice rescinds? I’ll be condemned as the evil villain who petrifies chits until either they faint or run.”
“The woman is normally blamed, not the man, and that’s why you must protect Alice.” She cupped his cheek and he turned into her warm touch.
“Whether or not I marry Alice, I’ll still want you. Body and soul.”
Her hand fell away from his cheek as if burned and he felt chilled. “Please, don’t. Declarations like that are unfair when our being together would cause heartache for others.”
He latched onto the only words that mattered. “But do you wish it could be different? Be honest. Does the thought of me living with another woman, making love to her, make your stomach churn as mine does?”
Her eyes were damp when she turned to escape, but he caught hold and ran a finger through the tears flowing down her cheek. “Go, Max, please go. You must be stronger than me and walk away before I weaken.”
He kissed her, gently pressing his lips to her pouted mouth, miserable that her lips were sealed and she wouldn’t allow him entrance to her soft mouth. As usual, she perceived the deeper consequences of their alliance far better than him and understood that declarations, even private pledges, were futile. Alice and the protection of her good name was his priority and after that, he knew from his cousin’s recent letters that he was close to finishing his mission to improve the lives of the women from his past.
His mother had been driven away; his father and uncle doomed to misery; and if it weren’t for the few good memories he clung to instead of cowering to Augustus’s whims, he too might have turned to drink, gambling and women. Real courage was standing strong through adversity and forging a better path, the way Carina had survived, and hopefully Georgie would so soon.
Carina’s quest to grant her second man forgiveness and to perform a cleansing ritual by locating the third was noble and courageous. Yet she’d fixated on number four and seemed obsessed with exposing the man so he could be punished for an ordeal that never eventuated. He needed to unravel that particular puzzle before Carina lost patience with their slow and tedious probing into Augustus’s hidden secrets and decided to publicly humiliate the man. Retaliation was her right, but if the man was disgraced his reputation might be tarnished in the short term, while Carina’s would suffer irreparable damage. Unfair, but in their realm, men ruled and women were always the losers.
***
A short time later, Lord Johnston’s butler ushered Max into his Lordship’s study, where Johnston paced and grunted and looked to be at his wits’ end.
“I spoke with Lady Dorchester and her sisters and, yes, they were with Alice shortly before she left.”
“It’s her fault!” Lady Johnston barreled through the doorway and screeched her accusation. She caught her hip on a side table and a vase rocked, but obviously well used to such catastrophes, Johnston grabbed the porcelain before it crashed to the floor.
“Now, Gloria, some blame must lie with Alice for disappearing without a word.”
“How dare you blame our sweet daughter? She’s been wronged by a devil in disguise.” She sneered at Max. “Had I known the true character of her intended, I’d have protected my angel from your cruel and callous treatment.”
“Madam,” Max warned, “take care. No man, or woman, besmirches my name. I accept that in this instance, a portion of the blame lies with me.”
“If you’d devoted a trifle of your precious time to Alice, she’d have learned to accept your severe mannerisms. But no. You’ve been preoccupied with that woman, the conniving Countess, and ignored Alice’s distress.”
Max flinched at yet another taunt about his affair with Carina. He’d taken pains to keep his liaisons secret and could have sworn no one knew the identity of any woman he visited. Yet he’d not remained vigilant when he began his affair with Carina, arrogantly assuming that she’d welcome a month as a duke’s lover and, if anyone discovered her identity, would shrug off any smear to her name.
“I owed Carina a debt from our younger days, and I was glad of a chance to repay her by presenting her sisters socially. Alice knew, and understood.”
“Carina! You call your lady love by her Christian name, yet in all these weeks you’ve not addressed my angel by her beautiful name.”
“Gloria,” Johnston said, leading his wife to a chair. “You’re overtaxing yourself. I set runners on the roads out of London and I’m confident we’ll soon hear good news.”
“We’ll all be ruined,” she moaned. “The jealous harpies would like nothing better than to bring down my angel, as she’s a diamond in a sea of plain stones.” She pressed her handkerchief to her red eyes, while tears continued to flow down her pudgy cheeks.
Max was about to console the lady when the door flew open and in rushed his would-be–bride, closely followed by Featherstone. Seeing her distraught mother, Alice threw herself at her mater’s feet and sobbed as loudly as her parent. Johnston glared at Freddie, obviously wishing he could throttle the hapless young man, but Max stepped between them.
“Featherstone, please explain where you’ve been and why you’re Alice’s escort.”
To give Featherstone his due, he faced his elders with a straight back and his head held high. “Alice is unharmed. Her maid is seated outside and will verify that she’s been with her mistress every moment.”
“But where in hell have you been?” Johnston barked the question at Freddie, obviously recognizing the futility of asking his sobbing daughter.
“Your daughter, Alice—”
“I know her name, you black
guard. Answer my questions.”
“Papa!” Alice jumped up and rushed to Freddie’s side, and Max was impressed that she was, at last, showing some backbone. “Don’t speak to Freddie that way. You should be thanking him and praising his efforts to keep me safe. After rescuing me, he took me to his family and he’s returned me here, unharmed, and he stopped me making a huge mistake.”
She glanced sideways as Max, who bowed slightly in return. “Freddie showed me that marrying the Duke is my duty and that by running away, I nearly destroyed everything Mama worked so hard for.” She stiffened. “I’m ready to marry you, Your Grace, if you can bring yourself to forgive me.” She stared at him for a moment before turning to Freddie and reaching for his hand.
Freddie addressed Max, while keeping a firm clasp on Alice’s hand. “You’re a lucky man, Stirkton, and I hope that you’ll show a little more appreciation for the paragon you’ll have as your duchess. If Alice was mine...” Freddie huffed.
“You’d treat her better than I have, is that it?”
“Yes, by God, that’s exactly it. Alice is a jewel, a rare beauty, who deserves to be worshipped and treated like a princess. Not neglected, as you’ve done.”
Alice listened to Featherstone’s prosing in rapt adoration. “Thank you for helping me, Freddie, and for being my friend.” They gazed at each other like a pair of lovebirds.
The excess of publicly expressed sentiment was slightly nauseating, but who was he to gainsay young love? Even a jaded man recognized the symptoms and these two were blatantly in love. Only a few weeks ago, Max would have utter some caustic remark about the stupidity of any gentleman who found himself tangled in love’s web, but then he’d been conscious of his promises to Alice and the rules for arranged marriages, all of which ran contrary to him finding eternal happiness. Or whatever drivel the poets wrote about endlessly.
Max pulled on his haughty ducal mask. “Might I be allowed a few moments to speak privately with Alice?”
“No!” Freddie yelled. “I’ll not allow you to browbeat her again.”