by Fanny Finch
The Marquess smiled. “She was wrong about that.”
Lavinia nodded. “I know. Shall we go tell her now?”
The Marquess squinted his eyes at her and gave her a mischievous grin. “Are you sure you are not asking to go so I can tell you what your father told me?”
Lavinia blushed fiercely. She wished she had not thought that very thing a few minutes earlier. “I am not, my lord. I truly want to marry you.”
“Are you sure?”
“I am. I am completely sure.”
Chapter 24
It was only a few minutes after 5 o’clock and Myles was sitting at his study trying to clear some of the papers on his desk. There was a lot of work to be done and he had been focused on Lavinia for the past few months.
It had been two days since he had asked Lavinia to marry him and he still could not believe it. A man who thought he would never marry had just proposed to a woman he never expected.
When she had said that he should marry one of the women of the ton, anger had run right through him. The only thing he wanted at that moment was to make her stop talking. How strange the only way he had found fit was to kiss her. Yet that kiss felt like the most natural thing he could do.
When he realized what he had done, he pulled away entranced by Lavinia. He was shocked by his own action and was left staring at her face dumbfounded.
And when she had told him that she did not want to marry any of her prospects, suddenly everything started making sense in his mind and only one option to prevail. The only way to protect Lavinia was to marry her himself.
She had feelings for him and it was more than obvious now. Sure she had been shocked when his lips had touched hers but she had done nothing to stop him. She could have screamed or push him away yet none of those had happened. And after their kiss, she had blushed and looked down trying to hide her feelings for him.
He had been left thinking for a few minutes until he decided to speak. And then there he was, asking Lavinia to marry him making her happier than ever. Yes, she would be his wife, something he had never imagined.
Suddenly a knock sounded on the door taking him out of his thoughts. He looked at the entrance to his study where his butler appeared.
“My lord, Mr. Gentry is here for you!” he informed Myles.
“Let him in please,” Myles said gathering his thoughts and focusing on the man entering the room.
“Mr. Gentry. It was kind of you to come on such short notice,” Myles welcomed the man.
“I come whenever my clients call me, my lord,” the man replied in his growling voice. “Although I have to say I have nothing new to report on Sir Franklin or Sir Henry. Of course, I have heard that…”
Myles lifted one hand to silence the detective before he went on further. “I am no longer in need of your services, Mr. Gentry,” he said firmly. “Thank you for all your work and time. I will be giving you your last payment today and we can close our business.” Myles moved some pieces of paper around on his desk to ensure he found the right ones. “In fact, I have the calculations here. I want to make sure you are satisfied with the final payment so everything is settled.”
Mr. Gentry shook his head. “I would not expect you to cheat me out of any payment, my lord.” He stepped forward and looked down at the papers Myles was shuffling around. Myles then turned them around so Mr. Gentry could read them properly, waiting for his reaction.
Mr. Gentry looked up at him, nodding his head. “Those figures look fine to me, my lord. However, I am surprised you would like to stop the investigation now. Has something happened to the lady in question?”
Myles felt a twist of a strange satisfaction in his chest. The Lady, as Mr. Gentry said, was his bride to be now.
“Yes, something has happened to her. Hopefully something good Mr. Gentry. Miss Bronson has accepted my proposal of marriage and we are to be wed. There is no need to worry or search for further information about her prospective suitors any longer.”
Mr. Gentry’s shaggy eyebrows rose up in his forehead, creating deep wrinkles in his loose skin.
“You are to be married to her?”
Myles nodded, wondering about the look on the man’s face.
“I dare say there is something you should know,” Mr. Gentry said, taking a step closer to the desk and looking Myles in the eye.
Myles felt his chest and muscles tighten again. He hated the feeling and knowing that just a moment ago, he had been at peace and happy with life.
“What is it, Mr. Gentry?”
“Well, Sir, it was reported to me by a reliable source that Sir Franklin has been seen around London with a woman. A woman with long blond hair.”
Myles frowned. “This is news? There are many women in London with long blond hair.”
Mr. Gentry looked regretful. “Aye but this woman was named to be Miss Lavinia Bronson.”
Myles felt rage slide through him. He clenched his fists and his jaw at the same time. The feeling of dread he had felt for so long before he had proposed to Lavinia returned. There was no way the woman was Lavinia. There was no way.
“This is not possible. She has been gone for several weeks on holiday with her friends. She only returned a few days ago. How can this be possible? It is not true. How do you know it was her?”
Mr. Gentry gave him an innocent look. “I do not know about her holiday, Sir. I only know what I have been told and it was told to me that the woman was definitely one of the ton and, though it was reported that she was seen at a distance, it was more than likely Miss Bronson.”
Myles wanted to slam his fist into his desk but did not want to display such angry emotions in front of Mr. Gentry.
“Miss Bronson has agreed to marry me,” he said in a gruff voice, barely holding on to his temper. “She has no reason to speak to Sir Franklin Ashdown or anyone in that family. She knows everything now. She has no need to speak to him.”
“I can only tell you what I have been told, my lord. It may not have been her. There is no way of knowing unless you speak to her about it.”
Myles was filled with rage. How dare this man tell him what he needed to do?
“I am well aware of what I need to do, Mr. Gentry! You may leave now.”
Myles bent over the table and scribbled a check to the man. He ripped it off the ledger and handed it to him. Just as Mr. Gentry held out his hand to take it, Myles snatched it back.
“I expect you will keep quiet about what I hired you to do. I will not have Miss Lavinia’s reputation tarnished again. Do you understand me, Mr. Gentry?”
“Yes, sir. I will not speak of this to anyone.”
“See that you do not.” He held out the paper check again and Mr. Gentry was able to take it from his hands. He took a step back, meekly holding his hat in between his hands in front of him. He bowed slightly. “Thank you, my lord. If you need my services again, please do not hesitate to call on me.”
Myles had nothing to say. He was too angry, thinking about the tarnishing of his future wife’s reputation. It had to be a rumor.
Mr. Gentry had to be wrong. Even at the insinuation that she might be entertaining someone, Lavinia had been offended at once during their dance that first night. Also, she had just agreed to marry him.
Mr. Gentry was definitely wrong. Myles had to trust her
Chapter 25
Lavinia smiled as she hurried through the fabrics, looking at all the elegant and plain ones available. She did not know which one to pick from the colorful array of soft fabrics.
She picked one that and had the clerk wrap it for her. It was a beautiful color of green, a color Lavinia had noticed the Marquess liked. Whenever he saw her in the dress she owned of the same color, his eyes lit up.
She would never tell him how she noticed that the first night they had danced together at a ball.
Lavinia remembered the dance with fondness now. She had spent days afterward with such conflicted feelings, not knowing whether the Marquess’ intentions were truly honorab
le or not. She had been attracted to him that night, she could admit it now.
At the time, it was the last thing she would have confessed to. But now that he would be her husband, she was no longer worried about it. She would shout it from the rooftops if given the chance. She wanted to dance and sing along the street but the scandal would be too much to bear.
She could hear their words in her head. She had lost her mind, gone crazy, was a lunatic. She kept her composure and just walked with a smile on her face.
Lavinia was walking down the street towards her house when she felt a hand on her arm. She was jerked to the side and turned with angry eyes to look into those of Anna. Her friend looked harried and upset, on the verge of tears.
“Lavinia!” Anna said frantically.
“Anna? What’s going on?Lavinia asked seeing her friend in a frantic state.
“We need to hide! Right now!” Anna said quickly without any explanation.
She pulled on Lavinia’s arm so the two women were jogging down the side street, turning up another and running gracefully toward the Astor townhouse. Lavinia did not have time to ask any questions. The running was taking her breath away and Anna looked too distressed to ask.
She contented herself that she would find out what was going on once they got inside. Anna turned as soon as they were inside the townhouse and slammed the door shut. She flipped the lock, turned back around so she was facing Lavinia, covered her face, and burst into tears.
Anna let herself slide down to the floor, hanging her head and covering her face with both hands. Her long hair fell like a curtain around her. “Oh, Lavinia!” she sobbed.
Lavinia knelt next to her friend, putting one arm around Anna’s shoulders. “Anna! You must tell me what is wrong! What can I do to make you stop crying?”
Anna looked up at her friend through tear-filled eyes. “Oh Anna, it is so awful! So dreadfully awful!”
“Tell me what is wrong, Anna,” Lavinia urged her in a gentle voice. She looked up when Sir Henry came out of the parlor and stared at his sister in a heap on the floor. He cast her a worried look, sighed, and approached the two ladies.
“Anna, I’ll go get you some tea. You should go in the parlor. I will let you and Lavinia talk alone if you need to. But you should go in there and not sit on the floor in the foyer like a little girl.”
His last words only made Anna cry harder. Lavinia frowned and hugged her with one arm. “It will be all right, Anna. I am here for you. Sir Henry is here for you. It will be all right.”
Anna shook her head, not bothering to get up from the floor. “Oh, Lavinia, you just do not know. It is so horrible. I am so afraid of what you will think of me.”
Lavinia stood up and helped Anna to her feet, insisting she stand by pulling on her arms almost violently. Anna got up and Lavinia walked with her to the parlor door. She pushed it open further so the two women could pass through.
She and Anna dropped down together side by side on the couch. Anna leaned forward, once more covering her face with her hands. Lavinia reached out and pulled Anna’s hands down.
“Tell me, Anna. You will feel better once you do.”
Anna sighed heavily and swallowed visibly. She tilted her head to the side and let her eyes drift away from Lavinia’s face. “There is another reason why I have been warning you not to have dealings with Sir Franklin,” she said in a weak voice. When Lavinia had no response, she continued. “There was a time… in the past… when I was seduced by him. I truly thought I had fallen in love with him.”
Lavinia pulled her eyebrows together. “Oh, Anna. I did not know that. I would never have considered him at all if I thought you had feelings for him.”
Anna huffed. “I do not have feelings for him, Lavinia! He is a vile and cruel man and I would never have let you marry him. I would have told you all that he has done before you had a chance to make such a horrible mistake.”
Lavinia shook her head. “I have no intention of marrying Sir Franklin, Anna. None whatsoever.”
Anna nodded. “I know, I know. I think that is why my brother has been so interested in courting and marrying you. To save you from that vile monster.”
Lavinia was a little shocked by the venomous tone Anna used when she spoke of Sir Franklin. Lavinia had never seen her friend react with such intense disgust.
“What did he do, Anna? Did he hurt you?”
“He has hurt other women before,” Anna responded. “But he never hurt me. I heard he pushed a woman down the stairs while she was pregnant with his bastard child. I heard he ruined the reputations, lives, and hearts of at least two other women besides me. I was able to get away from him with some dignity intact. These women were not so blessed.”
Lavinia shook her head. She thought Sir Franklin was a rake but this was more than she had ever thought.
“Sir Franklin is the kind of man who is incredibly jealous and will not tolerate a woman he considers to be his even talking to another man. He does not want any woman he has been with to be with anyone else. He is blackmailing me, Lavinia. I have been paying him since the end of our relationship.”
“Oh my goodness,” Lavinia breathed, one hand covering the edge of her mouth. She stared at Anna in disbelief, listening as her friend continued.
“I think Henry has been trying to save you from Sir Franklin. He does not want you to be with that man after what he did to me.”
Lavinia was impressed with Sir Henry’s nobility but it was the Marquess who had truly been protecting her. Now he was in love with her and they would marry. Her life was complete.
But Sir Franklin was truly a vile monster for blackmailing her dear friend.
“What does he have to blackmail you with, Anna?”
“We have some family secrets, Lavinia, all families do. I trusted him. I told him many things I should never have told him. There are also letters…”
Anna pulled in a deep mournful sigh. “Oh Lavinia, what shall I do!”
“I think you should not do anything right now,” Lavinia said, her voice turning hard. “I no longer need to be saved, as the Marquess has asked me to marry him and I have agreed to do so.”
Anna’s head snapped up and she stared at her friend. “Is this true?”
“Of course it is true. I would not have said it if it was not.”
Anna jumped up and threw her arms around Lavinia. “Oh, Lavinia, I am so happy for you!” she cried out.
Lavinia returned the hug, feeling a mix of happiness for herself and anger at Sir Franklin swirling inside her.
“I will take care of Sir Franklin,” she said in an unladylike voice, standing as soon as Anna released her from the hug.
“What?” Anna looked frightened. “You? Oh, Lavinia, you cannot do this! You cannot confront him! He will hurt you!”
“I do not care. I will not stand for this treatment of my dear friend. You do not deserve such cruelty. I will set him straight.”
She turned and stomped toward the door of the Astor townhouse.
“Lavinia! You cannot go out there! You are not safe out there!”
“I am going to the Ashdown home. I will speak to him about his abhorrent behavior and tell him to cease and desist immediately!”
She went out the door, ignoring Anna’s cries of her name, begging her to stay.
Propriety be damned! she thought as she rode in the carriage to the Ashdown estate. She was breaking all the rules of the ton. It certainly was not her place to confront Sir Franklin. But she was going to anyway. And she would be the one to do it.
She did not care that a man could have taken care of the situation in a better way. She knew she could have asked the Marquess to tell Sir Franklin to leave Anna alone. But Anna was her friend and Lavinia was determined to fight the battle for her.
Sir Franklin himself was standing on the lawn of his house and turned to watch her as she came up the pathway. He raised his eyebrows and a smile crossed his face. He walked up to the door to meet her there, opening it before she
got up to it.
“Well, good afternoon, Miss Lavinia. To what do I owe this visit?”
“You know very well why I am here, Sir Franklin!” Lavinia barked at him.
He grinned. “If you wanted to see me so badly, you could have just said so, my dear. You did not need to come bursting in and frightening my staff.”
Lavinia’s rage lifted up into her head so she could hear the blood pounding in her ears. “I have done no such thing,” she snapped. “You must cease your blackmail of my dear friend Anna. You must cease harassing her and bothering her.”
Sir Franklin chuckled. “Oh? And why must I?”