Regency Romances for the Ages

by Grace Fletcher

  They would have to ignore the hostilities. It wasn’t fair to leave them out of the good news. Hopefully, it would finally bond them all.

  There was a knock at the door, and Miles appeared.

  “Yes, Miles?”

  “Your Grace, Dowager Lady Ipswich has just arrived. My lady’s parents are with her.”

  “Oh, good.” Deborah stood, slipping her hand into her husband’s. “I can’t wait to see them.”

  “Make sure they’re settled in the drawing room, Miles.”

  “Of course.” Miles bowed and left.

  Deborah smiled up at Ipswich. “He’s certainly a better valet than Randle. I like him.”

  “He likes you as well.” Ipswich smiled. “It’s the whole reason I chose him.”

  When it came to choosing a new valet, Ipswich didn’t need to look far. Miles was young, but he was eager and a hard worker. And he was loyal. Ipswich liked him; the young man possessed a lot of genuine warmth, and it had been evident when he was in Deborah’s presence. Ipswich wanted a valet who could be loyal to his new wife as well, something Randle wouldn’t have been able to manage.

  “I do feel a little awful for Randle, though.” Deborah murmured.

  Ipswich snorted. “Don’t be. He wasn’t very nice to you. Quite a few of my London servants weren’t. They didn’t deserve to be in my service if they were going to treat you with such disrespect.”

  He hadn’t done anything about anyone else, but Ipswich was going to make a point of going back to London to go through his servants and see which ones would accept Deborah as their countess. If they refused, they would be out. Hopefully, the staff would know where their loyalties lay.

  “You do so much for me,” Deborah said. “I feel like I’m not doing enough in return.”

  “Oh, love.” Ipswich kissed her. “You’re doing more than enough. You focus on carrying our child, and I’ll look after everything else.”

  They made their way downstairs. There was much talk coming from the drawing room, mostly with the deep booming voice that belonged to Deborah’s father, Sir Terence Ray. The two men had liked each other on sight, and Ray had shown much respect for Ipswich in looking after his daughter. Ipswich could tell his father-in-law was proud of his daughter, no matter what she did. That was love.

  When they entered the room, Ipswich took stock of the scene. Dowager Lady Ipswich and Lady Delores Ray were next to the huge Christmas tree standing by the window while Ray was talking to Miles near the fireplace. Sitting on the couch, both of them silent and scowling, were Mr and Mrs Allwood. Neither of them looked very happy to be there. Their scowls deepened even more when they saw Deborah enter the room.

  But Deborah ignored them, hurrying over to her mother with a beaming smile. “Mother.”

  Lady Ray turned. Her face broke into a big smile as she kissed her daughter’s cheek, hugging her tightly. “Deborah, darling.” She drew back and inspected her daughter. “My, you look radiant.”

  “You always say that.” Deborah laughed. She turned as her father reached them. “Father.”

  “Deborah.” Sir Ray kissed Deborah’s head. “And your mother is right. You look like you’ve got some colour in your cheeks today.”

  Ipswich caught Deborah’s eye. Did they suspect?

  Deborah giggled and turned to her mother-in-law, who greeted her warmly. “Merry Christmas, my lady.”

  “Merry Christmas,” Dowager Lady Ipswich responded, her eyes glinting. “I trust you’re well.”

  “Very well.”

  Ipswich could see the looks his brother and sister-in-law were giving Deborah. She looked very much at home being a hostess. There was a sparkle about her that had bloomed as her confidence grew. The few times they had entertained others, Ipswich had been worried that Deborah’s nerves would get the better of her. He couldn’t have been more surprised when his wife showed how perfect she was at his side.

  Allwood and his wife clearly didn’t like that. Ipswich almost smirked, but he kept that to himself. He approached the happy group by the Christmas tree and shook Ray’s hand.

  “Sir and Lady Ray.” Ipswich bowed over Lady Ray’s hand, smiling at her, which made his mother-in-law blush. “Thank you for coming here for Christmas.”

  “How could we refuse?” Lady Ray smiled. “We’re very relieved that you’re feeling better, Ipswich. You had us worried earlier this year.”

  “I think I worried myself.” Ipswich was aware of a growl from behind him, but he ignored it. “But I’m stronger than that. I’m very glad you could come here to celebrate our first Christmas.”

  “Of course we would. Our daughter is the one person we can’t refuse.” Ray tapped Deborah on the nose with his finger, which had Deborah squealing and swatting his hand away.

  Ipswich laughed. “I’m glad about that. Actually, we have something to say that we wanted to tell the family first, and I thought this would be the perfect time.” Ipswich laid a hand on Deborah’s back, resulting in a smile from his wife that warmed his belly. “Some people would call it the perfect Christmas gift.”

  Ray looked curious. The light in Dowager Lady Ipswich’s eyes started to sparkle. Even Lady Ray was starting to get excited.

  Mrs Allwood rolled her eyes. “Are you going to make a speech now, Ipswich?” she grumbled. “We came up here to celebrate with family, not have speeches.”

  “Patience, you two.” Ipswich slid an arm around Deborah’s waist, kissing her head. “Deborah and I have something special to tell you.”

  The excitement coming from the parents was palpable. But there was a definite chill coming from his brother and his wife.

  Mrs Allwood snorted and nudged her husband. “They’re going to say that they’re having a baby now.”

  “Heaven forbid,” Allwood mumbled. His face had been getting darker and darker by the second.

  Dowager Lady Ipswich shot them a sharp look. “You two, enough. Go on, son.” She turned back to Ipswich. “What is it?”

  Ipswich looked down at Deborah, noticing the sparkle had faded a little from her eyes. She was looking at Allwood, who was openly glaring at her. Instinctively, he tightened his arm around his wife. “Shirley’s right. We’re having a child. It’ll be arriving at some point in July.”

  Chapter 10

  A Christmas Shock

  Deborah had been aware of her brother-in-law glowering at her, his wife sitting beside him like they were being forced to sit through a boring recital. They didn’t want to be here, which made Deborah wonder why she extended the invitation to celebrate Christmas with them. If they didn’t want to be there why did they come?

  Dowager Lady Ipswich and Lady Ray reacted the same way. They both let out excited squeals, grasping onto Deborah’s hands before her mother hugged her tightly, almost stopping Deborah from breathing.

  Ray was a little more restrained, but he was beaming as he shook Ipswich’s hand. There was even a tear in her father’s eye, the first time Deborah had ever seen him close to crying.

  But there was a definite chilly silence from across the room. Deborah chose to ignore it; she wasn’t going to let them ruin this.

  “David?” Ipswich had turned to his brother. “What’s the matter? You’ve gone as white as a sheet.”

  It was then that Deborah looked across. Allwood and his wife were as still as statues, both with shocked looks on their faces. It was as if Deborah and Ipswich had declared they had murdered someone and had just asked them to bury the body.

  “She’s…” Allwood spluttered. “She’s carrying your baby?”

  “Of course.”

  Mrs Allwood’s mouth curled in a sneer. “How do you know it is yours?”

  Deborah gasped. She tried to start towards them, but her mother held her back. “How dare you?” she hissed. “Of course this baby is my husband’s.”

  “Well, you did marry him for money,” Mrs Allwood shot back. “You needed to keep hold of him, so you would secure the line of succession for the dukedom. Took it awa
y from my husband.”

  There was a sudden silence that descended on the room. Deborah saw her husband tensing, his hands clenching into fists. She wanted to go to him, but her mother held her back. Her father moved to stand in front of Deborah, but she was able to look over his shoulder.

  Ipswich walked towards his brother and sister-in-law. “You’re not making any sense. What do you know?”

  Allwood stood up suddenly, grabbing his wife’s arm. “That’s enough, Shirley. We’ve said enough. I think it’s best that we left.”

  “I think it’s best that you stay,” Ray said sharply.

  Allwood glared at him. “We don’t answer to you.”

  “But you answer to your brother.” Ray started moving towards the door. Deborah realized he was blocking the exit. “I know that you two have not made my daughter feel welcome, but there’s something else going on. And you will be telling us.”

  Allwood snorted. “We don’t have to say anything.” He went to push Ray out of the way. “Get out of my way, old man.”

  “David, that is enough!” Dowager Lady Ipswich’s bark had Allwood stalling.

  Ray folded his arms, facing the younger man down. “What do you know, Mr Allwood?” he asked. “Are you upset that you’ve possibly lost the dukedom?”

  “Do not talk to my husband like that!” Mrs Allwood cried, storming past her husband. “You have no right to speak to him like that.”

  “And you have no right to be disrespectful to our daughter,” Lady Ray pointed out. “She did nothing to you.”

  “Except make him fall in love with her!” Allwood snapped. He grabbed his wife’s arm. “Come on, we’re leaving.”

  “No, you’re not.” The dowager countess strode across the room, grabbing her son’s arm to pull him back. “You are staying here.”

  “Mother…”

  “No, I won’t hear it!” Dowager Lady Ipswich held up a hand, stalling her son’s protests. “You are going to talk to us. You and your wife are acting strangely, and I want to know why. You will listen to me.”

  “Like big brother Pete listens to you?” Allwood sneered.

  “Don’t talk about your brother like that.” Dowager Lady Ipswich’s expression was cool, but her eyes were blazing. “What do you have against Lady Ipswich? She’s a perfect choice for your brother. And she’s carrying your niece or nephew.”

  “She’s not of the same social status!” Allwood shouted. “She shouldn’t even be here! She’s tainted our bloodline now. Shirley and I didn’t want her. We never did, but nobody would listen to us.”

  Deborah stared at her brother-in-law. She had seen him looking at her with dislike, but this was a genuine hatred. Whatever he had shown before was clearly tempered down. The penny dropped. A cold dread crept up Deborah’s spine. Somehow, she knew. “It was you,” she whispered. “You stole from your brother.”

  “I did nothing of the sort!”

  But the denial came far too quickly. And then Deborah saw something. It was for a split second, but Deborah knew what it was. “If you didn’t steal from him, why is Mrs Allwood wearing my husband’s ring around her neck?”

  Allwood spluttered. Mrs Allwood put a hand to her neck, but Ipswich was there first. He pulled her hand away and tugged out the necklace. Dowager Lady Ipswich gasped as they saw the family ring dangling on the silver chain. Mrs Allwood tried to grab at it, but Ipswich snapped the chain, staring at the ring in his hand. Deborah wanted to wipe away the betrayal on his face.

  “You stole from me? And then tried to blame it on Deborah?” Ipswich looked up at his brother. “Why? Why would you do that?”

  “So you would get rid of her.”

  Deborah jumped. She hadn’t expected Allwood to admit it so readily. Sir Ray looked furious. Lady Ray was pale. Dowager Lady Ipswich was, for the first time, speechless. And Ipswich… Deborah wanted to cry at the look in his eyes.

  Allwood carried on. It was like he didn’t care anymore. “We asked Randle to help us out, and he was more than happy to take what we asked of him. He had easy access to everything. But then you refused to believe it was Deborah, so we had to go about it another way.”

  “You poisoned him,” Deborah whispered.

  Dowager Lady Ipswich let out a whimper. Ray went to her aid and held her upright as she swayed. Ipswich’s face had gone grey.

  “You tried to make it look like my daughter was poisoning your brother,” Lady Ray croaked. She swallowed. “Your old valet again?”

  “Of course. Randle knew his place, and he knew Miss Ray’s place was not as his mistress.” Allwood sounded very proud about it.

  “You… you willingly had me poisoned?” Ipswich’s face was ashen. Deborah was worried he was going to pass out. “You tried to kill me, just to get rid of Deborah?”

  “We had to do something!” Mrs Allwood shrieked. She turned and pointed a finger at Deborah, spitting fury. “You threw all of our plans out the window when Randle was fired, but we would have found a way around it. And we would’ve done something to get rid of that impurity,” she added, gesturing at Deborah’s belly.

  Deborah felt cold. They would have tried to take the baby away from them. From her. A dull ache started in her back, causing Deborah to bite down on her lip.

  “You don’t deserve to have the heir!” Allwood snapped. “You don’t deserve to be part of this family!”

  He started towards Deborah, but then Ipswich was there, shoving him back. Now he was red, anger practically steaming off him. “That’s enough!” he bellowed.

  Deborah jumped. She had never heard her husband speak like this before. She had barely heard him raise his voice. The dull ache was becoming a sharp stabbing pain in her sides.

  Ipswich beckoned Miles over from his position by the fire. “Miles, fetch Branson and Williams and get these two out of here right now! I don’t want them anywhere near us.”

  “With pleasure, Your Grace.” Miles left the room, returning a moment later with two burly footmen. They herded Allwood and his wife together and began to lead them out. Mrs Allwood tried to fight against it, but she was forced to huddle closer to her husband. Allwood was still shouting as they were taken out of the room.

  Deborah wanted to cry. She was cold, and the pains in her stomach were getting worse. One was so painful that it had her falling to her knees. In an instant, Ipswich was at her side, her mother on the other.

  “Deborah, darling?” Ipswich slid his arms around her. “What is it?”

  “My stomach.” Deborah could barely speak through the pain. “It hurts.”

  Then the whole world went black.

  ***

  “I’m so glad you’re feeling better,” Lady Ray said.

  Deborah managed a smile as she settled herself against the cushions. “This isn’t exactly how I wanted to spend Christmas, Mother.”

  “At least you can rest.” Lady Ray giggled. “You’re allowed to have people bowing down to you now.”

  Deborah laughed. She was feeling a lot better now she had been taken back to her bedroom, and the doctor had checked her over. Those pains in her belly had frightened her. What if she had lost the baby? But the doctor had been optimistic that the baby was going to be fine, on condition that Deborah was put on bed rest. She was to stay in bed for the rest of the Christmas holidays. That was annoying, seeing as Deborah hated sitting around doing nothing, but she wasn’t about to argue with the doctor.

  Or her husband, who was insistent that she stay in bed. Deborah knew Ipswich was attentive towards her, but this was something else. It was very sweet, seeing a duke reduced to serving a woman. Deborah planned to make the most of it.

  “I would like to come down for Christmas dinner, though.”

  “We can bring it all up here,” Dowager Lady Ipswich suggested from her point at the end of the bed. “There’s enough room in here for all of us.”

  Deborah giggled. “I don’t know what the servants would say to that. Or my husband.”

  “The servants would say
nothing to it.” She jumped when she heard Ipswich’s voice. He was standing in the doorway. “And I say that sounds like a very good idea.”

  “But, darling…”

  “The doctor said bedrest and you must be on bedrest.”

  “I know that, but…” Deborah huffed. “I’ll go mad if I stay in here.”

  “I know.” Ipswich walked over and kissed her head. “But do it for me. For the baby.”

  How could she refuse anything like that? Deborah knew her husband was right. They had a baby to think about. She smiled up at him and leant into him as Ipswich sat on the bed. “All right. If you say so.”

  Dowager Lady Ipswich cleared her throat. “I think we’ll leave them to it, Delores. We’ll go and make sure your father isn’t sneaking a look at the gifts.”

  Deborah laughed. “I think you’d better. If he hasn’t already.”

  Lady Ray patted her daughter’s hand before following the dowager countess out of the room. As the door closed behind them, Ipswich shifted onto the bed until he sat beside his wife, stretching his legs out on the covers. He put his arm around Deborah’s shoulders, and Deborah leant into him again when he gave a gentle tug.

  “How are you feeling now?”

  “Sore.” Deborah rested her head on his shoulder. “And a little scared.”

  “The doctor said the baby will be fine as long as you rest.” Ipswich paused, then let out a heavy sigh. “Listen, Deborah, I don’t know how… how could you forgive me for all this?”

  “What?” Deborah thought she had misheard it. “Forgive you? You didn’t do anything wrong.”

  “Allwood is my brother. I have a responsibility towards him. I should have seen what was happening. He…” Ipswich’s voice caught. “He tried to have you thrown out as a thief, and then he tried to have you accused of my attempted murder. Had I stayed in London with Randle still in my employ, I wouldn’t be here now.”

  Deborah could feel his body tensing. She looked up at him and cupped his jaw, kissing his chin. “But it didn’t happen, and you’re alive. I’m alive. Our child is going to be fine.”