by Liz Cole
“It is probably for the best. Thank you for sharing such personal information with me. I know it must have taken a lot of courage to come to me with this.” Kolton took her hand and gave it an encouraging squeeze. “I am only sorry it doesn’t help us find Lady Prudence. Did the letter arrive by special messenger? Were you able to perhaps find out anything from him?”
“No,” she said, reaching into her ridicule again and pulling out an envelope. “It came by post. But—oh my—perhaps there is a postmark! I didn’t even consider the idea until now,” she exclaimed excitedly.
Kolton studied the envelope. The letter was sent from Brenshire, the village located near his hunting cabin. The hunting cabin! He hadn’t even considered she might go there. He had to give Pru credit. She must have known he wouldn’t have thought to check the cabin considering the nature of their time spent together there.
“I know where this is,” he said, “and I know where to find her now. If she hasn’t moved on, that is.”
Lady Hope sagged with relief. “I am so glad. Now you can go to her and bring her back.”
Yes, but there was still the problem of the blackmail. Pru would dig in her feet if she thought her sister was still in danger.
“I don’t know how to thank you, Lady Hope,” he said, taking her hands in his and kissing her knuckles.
Lady Hope blushed. “No need to thank me, my lord. Lady Prudence’s leaving was my fault. I am overjoyed that I am able to have the chance to make things right.”
***
Kolton had searched Pru’s room when she first left, but this time he did a more thorough job. He didn’t know what he was looking for exactly; he just sensed there was something he’d overlooked. If he couldn’t find some clue as to the identity of the blackmailer and stop them, there would be no way he could convince Pru to come back home.
He searched her bed, checking under the mattress and tearing off the sheets. Nothing. He went through her bedside table, pulling out the drawers and emptying their contents onto the bed. Still nothing. Her dressing room and jewelry case turned up nothing, so he turned his attention to her desk. He removed the top drawer, which he’d pried open the lock the first time he searched her room, and dumped its contents on the desk. Still, he found nothing of importance.
As he bent down to pull out the next drawer, he noticed something stuck in the back where the first drawer had been. He reached in and pulled out a wrinkled piece of paper. Clearing a place on the desk, he smoothed it out and read its contents.
He’d found the blackmailer’s letter.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Kolton was surprised when both Lady Hope and her father were announced and entered his study. He’d sent a note to Lady Hope letting her know he had more information regarding Pru’s reason for leaving and asked to call on her before he left. He had not, however, expected her to show up at his residence, let alone bring the duke with her.
Kolton was seated behind his desk, but stood when the two entered. “Your Grace, Lady Hope,” he greeted them, coming around the desk and bowing to the duke before bending over Lady Hope’s hand.
“Ravensbrook,” the duke replied gruffly. Kolton could see by his stiff posture and strained expression that the Duke of Stoneville knew all there was to know about the situation with his daughter and Pru.
“Please have a seat. Shall I ring for tea, or perhaps something stronger, Your Grace?”
“No, no, Ravensbrook. I prefer to have a clear head while dealing with this situation. You wrote to my daughter of finding something new in this matter?”
Kolton’s gaze shifted to Lady Hope. He noted her red-rimmed eyes and slightly pink nose. She had obviously been crying recently. He hoped the duke’s reaction to discovering she was not his biological daughter had not been too difficult for her. She gave him a reassuring smile and nodded her head slightly in answer to his silent question.
“Yes,” he said turning his attention back to the duke. “I believe I know who the blackmailer is.”
Stoneville sprang to his feet. “Do you by God! Tell me the name of the bastard who thinks he can threaten my family! I’ll make sure the bloody little coward is silenced permanently.”
“Father,” Lady Hope said, the anxious look in her eyes contradicting the calm, reasoning tone of her voice as she laid her hand on her father’s arm. “Please be sensible. Killing a man is not the answer.”
Adam Kingsley, while not a young man, appeared to be in top form. Kolton knew for a fact the man was a regular at Gentleman Jacks and could easily take down a man half his age. He was a powerful man with connections in both very high and very low places. The Duke of Stoneville was a man few people dared to cross, and those who were fool enough to try received no mercy.
Stoneville turned to his daughter with a look of surprise. He patted her hand reassuringly. “I do not use such drastic measures to solve my problems, my dear. Although,” he added with a malevolent gleam in his eye as he turned his attention back to Kolton, “in this case, a certain amount of satisfaction arises at the thought.”
“I too would derive pleasure from wrapping my hand around the person’s neck and throttling them, but I am afraid that I am not in the habit of thrashing women,” Kolton remarked.
“Woman? Do you mean to tell me a woman had the audacity to threaten to sentence my daughter to hell on earth?”
“I am afraid so.” Kolton reached into his jacket pocket and withdrew the threatening document. “I searched Lady Prudence’s room again and found this.” He handed the other man the note from the blackmailer. “As it is plain to see, the missive is penned in a woman’s hand.”
“The woman is either an imbecile or a fool,” the duke said as he read the letter. “She doesn’t appear to have even attempted to disguise her writing.”
“You said you might know who is behind this; is it because you recognize the handwriting?” Lady Hope asked anxiously as she studied the note over her father’s shoulder.
“Yes. I believe it is Lady Helena Whenton who penned the letter.”
“Lady Whenton?” Stoneville said with obvious surprise. “I hardly know the woman.”
“I have met her,” his daughter offered, a disgusted expression marring her lovely features. “She is a vicious, sharp-tongued, harpy.”
Both men looked at the duke’s daughter with raised eyebrows.
Her eyes flitted back and forth between them, noting the surprise and censure directed her way by the two men. “I overheard her at your engagement ball, my lord. I gave her a piece of my mind on the topic of her atrocious behavior,” she informed both men, squaring her shoulders and lifting her chin defiantly.
The duke smiled for the first time since entering the room. “I am sure you gave her a taste of your own sharp tongue if I know you, my little hellion.”
Lady Hope smiled back at her father. “Yes. I gave her quite the scathing set-down; and it was most satisfying I must say.”
“The question is,” Kolton said breaking into the conversation, “where do we go from here. I would like to leave first thing in the morning to fetch Lady Prudence, but I doubt she will come willingly if she believes Lady Whenton has not been taken care of.”
“Leave that to me,” the duke said confidently. “I believe by late tomorrow the lady in question will suddenly have the strong desire to take herself off to the continent for an indefinite period of time. She may even decide to stay there permanently.”
Kolton nodded his understanding. He had no doubt the duke would have little, if any, problem convincing Helena that England was the last place she wanted to be.
Chapter Twenty-Five
Prudence hoped the weather would hold as she sat in the back garden of the hunting cottage she and Kolton had spent two glorious days and nights not so long ago, and stared up at the overcast sky. She loved sitting outdoors while she painted or sketched as she was doing now. She looked down at what she had drawn. Kolton’s cheerful expression and laughing eyes stared back at her from th
e page. Pain and longing for what they might have had washed over her like a thick fog. She traced his features longingly, wishing it was his face she was touching.
Prudence sighed heavily and closed her sketchpad. Would the pain and regret ever ease? In a little over a week, they would have become man and wife. They would have had a happy life. She was sure. She wished, not for the first time, she had gone to Kolton and told him everything. She probably should have, but couldn’t take the chance of him refusing to break the engagement and therefore expose Hope’s secret to the whole of England.
Hope. The only family she had left in the world. Prudence didn’t discount her second cousin, Victoria, and the rest of the Stanvilles as family, but Hope was her sister—the only one she would ever have, and Hope’s wellbeing had to come first.
Prudence stood and headed into the house; it was getting close to lunchtime and she should at least try to eat something. Her appetite had been non-existent these last few weeks. She had lost weight and listless as a result.
She was slicing the bread she had bought at the local bakery in town, a pot of soup heating on the stove, when the sound of a carriage pulling up in front of the house caught her attention.
Who on earth could that be?
She wouldn’t answer the door, she thought franticly as she removed the soup from the stove. She had purposely tried to attract little attention in Brenshire, but a stranger in a small town rarely went unnoticed. She prayed it was the local vicar to pay a call on the newcomer in his hamlet, and not one of Kolton’s friends come to use the hunting cabin. She couldn’t be found now; her solicitor had yet to finalize the purchase of the small house she had decided to buy in the quiet coastal town, hours away from London.
She heard the door open and bang shut followed by heavy footsteps coming down the hall.
“Prudence! I know you’re here. Don’t try to hide; this house isn’t big enough and my patience is at an end.”
Oh no!
Kolton had found her. What had made him think to look here? Then she remembered her letter to Hope. She had to have gone straight to Kolton. But why? Didn’t she know what would happen if she did?
Prudence quickly turned and headed to the back door to make her escape. She didn’t know where she would go; all she knew at that moment was she couldn’t allow Kolton to find her.
She had her hand on the door handle, about to yank it open, when Kolton appeared in the kitchen doorway.
“Something smells delicious. What are we having?”
Prudence froze. Caught. Bloody hell! She barely stopped the words before they flew from her lips. She dropped her hand from the door. She took a deep breath, squared her shoulders, and slowly turned to face the man she had managed to elude for weeks. Her heart constricted. He looked like he hadn’t slept well in the time that had passed, dark circles under his eyes bore testament to the fact. He was leaner, his face drawn. Prudence wanted to run to him, throw her arms around him, and kiss away the pain and anger she saw in his eyes. Instead, she looked away, fixing her gaze somewhere in the vicinity of his cravat.
He leaned against the doorframe, crossing his arms over his chest. Prudence sensed the tension in him despite his casual pose. “Well? Aren’t you going to greet your betrothed? It has been quite some time since we last embraced.” he remarked, a hint of sarcasm lacing his tone.
“Kolton, I …” What could she say? She had deserted him, left him with only pen and ink serving as a farewell.
He straightened and closed the distance between them. He grasped her chin, forcing her to meet his eyes. “You don’t have to explain, I know everything. I only ask that you answer one question—truthfully, Pru.” The anger had left his expression, but she sensed the tension that remained. His eyes held hers, the vulnerability and entreaty that filled them made her blink back the moisture that gathered in her own.
Prudence had to swallow hard to dislodge the lump in her throat. “I will do my best.”
“Do you love me, Pru? No, look at me and answer my question,” he demanded softly when she lowered her eyes.
“Kolton, I can’t—”
He nudged her chin a little higher until she was forced to meet his eyes. Eyes that begged for the truth. “Yes, you can, sweetheart. Do you love me?”
“Yes.” She closed her eyes, trying to somehow block out the pain of knowing her answer made no difference. They could never be together, no matter what he said to try to change her mind.
Kolton let out a great gust of air and pulled her to him, resting his cheek against her temple. “Thank, God, Pru. It has been hell without you. The days—and even the nights—without your sweet light to brighten them were so unbearably dark and bleak. I love you so much, my dearest Prudence. Promise me you will never leave me again.”
Prudence drank in the sensation of being in his arms once again while her heart shattered into a thousand pieces. How could she possibly promise such a thing? But, how could she bear to hurt him again? If only there were some other way.
She couldn’t hold back the tears any longer. “Kolton, we can’t…I can’t …” she sobbed. “If you know everything, you must realize why I cannot come back, why I cannot marry you.”
“Yes, I know everything, love,” he said softly, pulling out a handkerchief and gently dabbing away the tears streaking her cheeks. “I know about your sister, I know about the blackmail. It is all over now, sweetheart. I know who it was who threatened you; and Hope went to her father and told him everything.”
Prudence’s heart leapt with hope for the first time in weeks. “You know who it is?”
“Yes. It was Lady Whenton.”
Prudence’s mind flashed back to the night of their betrothal ball. Lady Constance had said her aunt believed her own betrothal to Kolton had been in her future. She remembered all the nasty things Lady Whenton had said about her. It had never occurred to Prudence that Lady Helena would have the nerve or where to all to do such a thing. Obviously, Prudence had underestimated the horrid woman.
“But she has proof, Kolton. She still could—”
“The Duke knows of Lady Whenton’s scheme,” Kolton informed her. “Threatening his daughter was a dangerous move and not very bright of her, I might add.”
Prudence imagined threatening the wellbeing of a one of the duke’s love ones was ill advised. The Duke of Stoneville was as powerful a man as one could be, aside from Royalty itself. Prudence shuddered at the thought of what would befall Lady Whenton. “What will become of her?”
Kolton smiled grimly. “The Duke and I paid her a visit earlier today. With little persuasion she turned over what evidence she’d arranged to be stolen from you and agreed it was best that she leave the country immediately.”
He would have loved to have throttled the woman when she had smugly denied his accusation, and then had the audacity to suggest they resume relations. But, the look of shock and horror on the woman’s face when the duke and his daughter arrived shortly after him gave no little satisfaction. It proved amusing in fact.
Faced with the damning evidence against her, and the threat of both social and financial ruin, Helena had put up little fight before turning over the letter and diaries to the duke.
He pulled Pru against him and wrapped his arms tightly around her. “I assure you, Pru, there is nothing left to fear,” he assured her placing a kiss on her temple.
Prudence felt the crushing weight of guilt and pain, which had borne down on her since she first, read the horrible missive dissolve, freeing her to love and be loved by the most wonderful man in the world.
She threw her arms around him and hugged him back. “Oh, Kolton! I am so sorry I didn’t come to you. I didn’t want to leave, but I saw no other choice. Please forgive me for hurting you.”
His arms tightened around her. “I could forgive you most anything, my love. I know it couldn’t have been easy for you. Hurting someone is not in your nature. Just promise me you will never keep something so important from me ever again.”
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br /> “I promise,” she vowed, meeting his eyes solemnly. “I should have come to you at once; I know that now. I am so sorry—I cannot express how much.”
“I know. I know.” He cupped her face and lowered his head. His kiss was so sweet and filled with love; it brought tears to her eyes.
“I love you so much, Kolton,” she whispered when the kiss ended.
“And I you, Pru. And I you.”
Prudence rose to her toes and kissed him with all the love she had inside her. Kolton groaned and deepened their kiss, crushing her to him as he ravaged her mouth with hungry desperation. Their embrace grew heated, each striving to draw the other closer, to meld themselves into one being.
“I need you Pru. Now. I need you so much.” His voice was rough with emotion, his hands going to the fastenings of her dress and undoing them until he could lower the bodice of her gown and shift to her waist.
Prudence cried out when he cupped her breast and captured her nipple between his lips and suckled her. Her knees gave out and he caught her. Turning, he lifted her onto the table and stepped between her legs.
Prudence was on fire. She couldn’t wait to feel his bare skin pressed to hers. She pushed his jacket off his shoulders and opened the fastenings of his vest. When she came to his cravat she grew restless, yanking at it roughly until it fell open. Impatiently, she fumbled with the fastenings of his shirt until she gave up and tore at it, sending buttons flying in all directions.
Kolton gave a feral growl of approval against the curve of her neck, tossing up her skirts and deftly opened the fall of his pants.
“Now,” he rasped, grasping her bottom and plunging his hard shaft deep inside her and letting out a heavy groan of pleasure.
“Yes, Kolton!” she cried, wrapping her legs around his waist and pulling him deeper.
He set a rhythm that was fast and strong. “I love you, Pru,” he breathed, capturing her lips in a hungry, openmouthed kiss that sent spears of excitement straight to her womb.