The Most to Lose

by Landon, Laura

  Both Celie and Hadleigh turned to look at Amanda.

  Amanda had been so uncharacteristically quiet since Jonah left that Celie had almost forgotten she was there. Hadleigh must have, too, but she’d gained his full attention at the mention of Gretna Green and marriage.

  “That’s not true. Melisande and I were going to marry. Melisande’s father and I had come to an agreement years ago. Besides, Haywood wasn’t even titled then. He was the second son of a man destined to lose everything. Why would she want to marry him?”

  “No doubt to pass off the child she was carrying as Lord Haywood’s babe.”

  Several seconds passed before Hadleigh spoke. When he did, his reaction was as violent as the eruption of an exploding volcano.

  “Lies! Who told you such vicious lies?”

  Amanda stepped closer and faced Hadleigh as if he were a servant instead of the duke he was.

  “They’re not lies, Your Grace. For your sake, I wish they were, but I know for a fact that Melisande was carrying a child.”

  “How can you know such a thing? That was a story no doubt started after Melisande’s death by some jealous females.”

  Amanda shook her head. “I’m not sure if you’d ever heard Melisande talk of Mrs. Crumpert, but—”

  “Crumpert? Of course. Melisande called her ‘Crumpy.’ She was Melisande’s nurse, then her nanny, and eventually, she stood in for a chaperone when Melisande needed someone to accompany her.”

  “Melisande’s mother dismissed Mrs. Crumpert without a reference after Melisande died because she was the only person other than Lady Kendall who knew Melisande was with child. Lady Kendall thought she could stop any rumors from circulating if she used the excuse that they’d come from a disgruntled former servant who had been dismissed. Without a reference, Mrs. Crumpert was desperate. She came to Lillian, my oldest sister, because she’d held a position with our family before leaving Father’s employ to go to Lady Kendall. Lillian, of course, took her in. She’s nursemaid to her two babes even now.”

  Hadleigh shook his head as if he needed to clear it. “That can’t be. It can’t.”

  “It is, Your Grace. Melisande was carrying another man’s babe, and she was desperate to find a husband before you announced your engagement. She wisely feared your reaction when you discovered you’d been duped. She chose Haywood because she considered him the most malleable of her acquaintances.”

  “He refused her,” Hadleigh whispered as if talking to himself.

  “Yes, because he didn’t love her. And he knew you did. Unlike you, he refused to betray your friendship.”

  “But I thought—”

  “You thought of no one but yourself and your need to exact revenge on an innocent man.” Celie faced her brother. “A man who’d once been your closest friend.”

  “But Haywood didn’t deny it when I accused him of trying to steal Melisande away from me.”

  “Would you have believed him?”

  Hadleigh opened his mouth to say something, undoubtedly something to indicate that he might have, then closed his mouth and sank into the nearest chair.

  “Dear God, what have I done?”

  Celie might have felt sorry for her brother if he hadn’t been the cause of so much pain. “I want to know what you did, Hadleigh. I want to know everything.”

  For several long minutes, Celie didn’t think her brother was going to admit anything, but eventually, he turned his gaze to Amanda.

  “You know, don’t you? That’s why you brought Haywood here, because you know.”

  “Yes, I know. So you’d best tell your sister yourself, because my version of what you did won’t be nearly so sympathetic.”

  Hadleigh nodded in acquiescence, then lifted his hollow gaze to face her. Celie braced herself for the pain she knew would follow.

  “I never meant to hurt you, Cecelia. Never.”

  “But you have. You’ve hurt me more than I ever thought I could be hurt.”

  Hadleigh’s shoulders sagged. “It’s just that I hated him so. I’d hated him for so long that destroying him was all I thought of. Do you know what that’s like?”

  He paused. “Of course you don’t know. You’re so good. So kind. The only person in the world who’s done nothing to deserve this. But I didn’t think it would go this far.”

  “How far?”

  “I didn’t think you could ever love him. I didn’t think you would ever love anyone.”

  Celie was glad she was sitting. If she hadn’t been, she feared her legs would have buckled beneath her. “Why did you think I’d never love anyone?”

  “Because you refused every suitor who asked for your hand. Because you never showed interest in anyone. I thought you loved as I did. I thought you loved someone who couldn’t return your love. I thought you’d chosen to live your life alone rather than marry someone you could never love.”

  “I had, Hadleigh. You were right—in part. I was in love with someone—Jonah. I’d loved him for as long as I could remember.”

  “But I didn’t know that. That was why I used you to ruin Haywood. Because I was certain you’d dismiss him as swiftly as you dismissed every other suitor who’d asked for your hand.”

  She glared at him, a riot of tumultuous emotions attacking her from the inside out. “What did you do? Tell me everything. Everything, Hadleigh. Every single detail.”

  She was angry. None of this was Jonah’s fault. Her brother had orchestrated the entire affair, and both she and Jonah had walked into the trap without realizing how desperate her brother was to exact his revenge.

  She glared at her brother. He sat in the chair with his arms braced on his knees and his head downcast. He didn’t resemble a duke. He possessed none of the confidence and authority he usually wore. He looked defeated. A shadow of his former strength.

  “My plan was brilliant. I knew Haywood wouldn’t be able to refuse.”

  “What did you tell him?”

  He hesitated as if he didn’t want to say the words that would tell her how desperate he’d been to ruin Haywood. How easily he’d used her to achieve his goal.

  “I covered his father’s and his brother’s debts, then offered him the one thing I knew he couldn’t refuse—the money necessary to save Haywood Abbey and bring it back to its former grandeur. The ability to provide for his tenants and give them a better livelihood. I knew he regretted how his father’s lifestyle had forced the Haywood tenants to go without. How little his father had provided for them. I knew he’d go through hell itself to make things better.”

  “So you offered him the money to make the improvements to Haywood Abbey?”

  “Yes. I told him that when you married the amount of your dowry would cover the money I’d loaned him. That I expected him to repay every pound of the money it took to repair Haywood Abbey. But I had no intention of ever letting him get his hands on your dowry. I never intended to allow him to marry you.”

  Celie sat for several agonizing moments, then slowly rose to her feet. The room closed in around her, the heavy air impossible to breathe. She reached out to grasp any piece of furniture that would steady her as she made her way to the window.

  The sun shone. A gentle breeze moved the trees in soft, flowing waves. It was peaceful on the other side of the glass. Totally unlike the turmoil and tragedy that was happening on this side. Her brother’s voice shattered her escape and brought her back to the present.

  “I didn’t for an instant think you’d be receptive to his suit. You’d never shown interest in any man’s attentions before. In fact, far from it. You spurned every man who gave you a second glance. I had no doubt you’d do the same with Haywood’s suit.”

  “Instead, I…”

  She couldn’t continue. The pain of reliving those first few nights when Jonah walked back into her life. Her fear that her brother would give him the “cut direct” and force society to do the same. The relief she felt when he didn’t and Jonah took his rightful place. The elation that first night when h
e sought her out on Lady Plimpton’s terrace, when he asked for her help, invited her to ride with him the following day—and the days after.

  “I was so sure he’d leap at the chance to get the money I dangled in front of him that it didn’t once occur to me that he might not.”

  “He refused the money?”

  “He tried, but I told him I wouldn’t agree to allow you to marry him without a decent roof over your head. I demanded that he take the money if he was serious about courting you.”

  Celie clasped her hand to her mouth to stop a small cry of joy from escaping. “He only accepted the money because you forced his hand.”

  “Bloody fool. He almost ruined my plan.” Hadleigh walked to a small table where several crystal decanters sat with various liquids and poured some of the liquor from one of them into a glass. He took a long swallow, then faced her. “I thought his estates, his tenants, and repaying his father’s debts were most important to him. I intended for him to make major improvements to his homes from the money he assumed would come from your dowry, and when he was so deeply in debt he’d never see his way out, I’d tell him you wouldn’t agree to his marriage proposal. By then he would have spent thousands of pounds he’d never be able to repay and his creditors would tear him limb from limb.”

  “Instead,” Celie said, walking to where Hadleigh sat and standing in front of him, “I not only accepted Jonah’s attentions, I told you I intended to accept his offer of marriage.”

  “Why, Cecelia? Why him when you’d never shown interest in another man?”

  “That’s hardly the point. The question is, how could you have used me like that?”

  Hadleigh’s chest rose, then fell before he answered. “I didn’t consider what I was doing as using you. I knew…” He paused to swipe his hand over his face. “I was so sure Haywood was responsible for Melisande’s death. I wanted revenge in whatever way I could.”

  “So you used me as the bartering chip. You offered him the money to improve the lives of the Haywood tenants. And all the while, your objective was to destroy him.”

  “I was desperate! I knew to save his property he’d have to marry someone who came with a sizable dowry. When he came home a war hero, it was only a matter of time until someone trapped him for her husband.”

  “So you trapped him.” Celie tried to ignore the pain in her chest. “For me.”

  The pain of knowing if it hadn’t been for her brother, Jonah probably would never have had anything to do with her was nearly unbearable. “You must have laughed yourself silly each time you thought of the money Jonah was spending to make me happy.”

  “No, Celie! Far from it.”

  Her brother bolted from his chair and stepped closer to her.

  “I thought I had everything planned out so perfectly. I never thought you would accept his proposal. I didn’t think you would want to marry him.”

  “But I did…because I love him. I’ve loved Jonah my whole life. I’ve loved him with my whole heart. How could I consider marriage to anyone else?”

  Her brother looked up with heart-wrenching anguish in his eyes. “Nothing went the way I intended. I didn’t anticipate that the two of you would get along. I didn’t expect to see you gaze at each other the way you did and laugh together at things that only people who were becoming friends found humor in. And I never thought to see you fall in love with Haywood. Or him fall in love with you.”

  Celie was shocked. “Are you listening to yourself, Hadleigh? Do you hear what you’re saying?”

  Celie’s brother, the powerful Duke of Hadleigh, sank into the nearest chair and dropped his head to his hands. “Unfortunately, I do. And it makes me sick.”

  “It should!” She glared at him. “You thought of no one but yourself and how you could destroy a man you thought had taken something away from you. And not once did you think of me!”

  She stomped across the floor in quick, angry strides and railed at her brother with all the hurt and disappointment he’d caused her. “You didn’t care that I would live the rest of my life thinking that the man I loved didn’t love me. That he didn’t want me.” Celie took a step closer to her brother. “Do you care that little for me, Your Grace?”

  “I love you, Celie. You are the dearest person in the world to me. I would undo everything I’ve done if I could, but I can’t. I thought I had everything worked out so perfectly until…”

  Hadleigh rose from his chair and stood tall before her. “What I did was unforgivable, and I’ll do anything in my power to make it up to you.”

  Celie tried to compose herself. She tried to tell herself that her brother hadn’t done something so heinous out of hatred toward her, but because he’d been so filled with the need to avenge Melisande’s death.

  She tried to rationalize his actions with the excuse that he hadn’t been able to think clearly. But she knew it would take her a long time to get over what her brother had done to her.

  Words weren’t enough. She would need much more than an apology to make things right between Jonah and her.

  “What can I do, Cecelia? Tell me what I can do to fix what I’ve done. Tell me how I can make this right.”

  She faced him with her fists on her hips and an angry glare in her eyes. “You will order your solicitors to bring enough money to cover the bills Jonah thought my dowry would pay. And tell them to hurry. You won’t have much time.”

  Celie walked toward the door. She had to see Jonah. She had to do everything in her power to keep from losing him.

  She reached for the door handle. She needed to get to Jonah as quickly as she could. “Then,” she said, opening the door and taking her first step to go to the man who possessed her heart, “you can get on your knees and pray that the man I love will take me back after everything we did to him.”

  Chapter 23

  Celie disembarked from her carriage almost before the footman had time to lower the steps. She raced across the cobbled walk, up the three steps, then across the portico. The door opened, but Bundy stepped into the opening to block the entrance.

  “If you’ve come to cause Lord Haywood more problems, my lady, then I’ll ask you to come again another day. The cap’n doesn’t need anything more to handle today.”

  “I haven’t come to cause more problems, Bundy. I’ve come to remove some of Lord Haywood’s calamities.”

  Jonah’s loyal butler stared at her for several long seconds as if evaluating the truth of her words.

  She was afraid he wasn’t going to let her enter, but finally, he breathed a heavy sigh and stepped aside.

  “Be prepared, my lady. There’s a crowd of angry men inside who’ve refused to leave no matter how much I threaten them.”

  “I’ll take care of them, Bundy.”

  She lifted her shoulders and entered the house as if she were the lady of the manor—because, in time, she would be.

  “What’s the meaning of this?” she said, scanning the men who lined the walls of the entryway.

  “We’re here to get our money,” one of the men announced. “Word reached us that we was to collect our pay today for the goods and services Lord Haywood contracted to repair his estates, or we wouldn’t get any money at all.”

  Celie lifted the corners of her mouth in what she hoped was a convincing smile. “Well, at least part of the message you received was correct. Lord Haywood knows how much each of you depend on the money for the goods he purchased, so he would like to take care of his debts immediately. What was incorrect in the message you received was where you were to go to receive payment. The Duke of Hadleigh will see to it that you are paid. He is waiting for you at Hadleigh House.”

  “Are you sure, ma’am? That’s not what the note I received said.”

  “Do you know who I am, sir?”

  “Of course I do. We all do. You’re the Duke of Hadleigh’s sister.”

  “No, sir,” Celie said with an indignant air. “I am the Earl of Haywood’s betrothed. I happen to be the Duke of Hadleigh’s sist
er by an accident of birth. I am the Earl of Haywood’s betrothed by choice.”

  “I’m sorry, my lady,” the embarrassed merchant stammered.

  “That’s quite all right. I accept your apology. Your error doesn’t, however, change the facts. If you want your money—and I’m sure you do—I’d advise you to move yourselves to Hadleigh House posthaste. His Grace’s solicitors are waiting to pay you in full for your goods and labor.”

  En masse, the group of merchants and creditors to whom Jonah owed money exited through the door Bundy held open for them. Within seconds, the hallway was empty and the house quiet.

  “That was mighty impressive, my lady,” Bundy said, closing the door on the last of them. “Perhaps you’d best be gone, though, when they come back. They’ll be heaps angrier then.”

  “No one will return, Bundy. His Grace will pay what’s owed them.”

  Jonah’s butler’s eyebrows shot upward, indicating he wasn’t convinced he could believe her.

  “Where is Lord Haywood?” she asked, not caring whether Bundy believed her or not. She had more important things on her mind. And convincing Jonah that she wanted to be his wife was at the top of her list.

  “He’s in the library.” Bundy nodded toward Jonah’s favorite room, which was located at the back of the house.

  “Thank you, Bundy. You and the rest of the staff may take the remainder of the day off. You won’t be needed until tomorrow after luncheon.”

  “Are you sure, my lady?”

  “Oh, yes. Quite sure.”

  Celie didn’t wait to see the shocked expression on Bundy’s face, but headed down the hallway to confront Jonah.

  She didn’t knock when she reached the library, but opened the door and stepped inside the room.

  The man she loved with all her heart sat behind the huge mahogany desk with his back to her. He didn’t turn around when she closed the door, but lifted the whiskey glass in his hand and took a long swallow.

  “You must be serving them tea, Bundy. The house almost seems quiet.”

  “The house is quiet. That’s because the lynch mob is gone.”