She needed to quit holding out hope that the justice system would work the way that it was intended to. She needed to stop being so naïve.
At the same time, she couldn’t picture a future with the Marquess. It felt as though either way, her life was over – financially, emotionally, and especially in the way of romance.
At the same time, with this level of scandal to her name, her life was over either way. Again, especially in the way of romance. No man in his sane mind would agree to marry her now.
If she couldn’t save herself, at least she had a chance to save her father. Wasn’t that worth something?
That thought didn’t make her feel any less hollow, however. Charlene stood abruptly, excusing herself without giving her aunt an answer. She could hear the woman’s sigh of exasperation as she fled to the privacy of her room, but Helene didn’t pursue her.
Chapter 16
Mrs. Helene Ellington
The house was quiet, and Helene couldn’t help but feel the ghosts pressing in around her. She had always hoped to fill this place with love and warmth, but these days, the place felt exactly the opposite.
She thought back to when she was younger. The whole family had lived here, her brother and her and their parents, plus a few of their cousins had come to stay as well.
Everything had changed when the whole family had come down with some sort of plague. Of course, the city of London in general seemed to have an outbreak every year, but they didn’t always affect the upper class the way that this one had.
The doctors still weren’t sure what exactly it had been, perhaps some epidemic sent by God to test them. Helene knew that she had been tested, all right. She and her brother had been the only surviving members of their family.
Her brother had decided, then, to devote his life to the study of medicine. He had left the following season to study in Cambridge, leaving Helene alone to look after their property in London.
She had hated staying here, but she didn’t know what else to do. Someone needed to tend to the place, after all.
Besides, wherever she went, in the whole of England or the rest of the world, she knew that she could never be rid of these feelings of loneliness that ate at her. Gone from the house was the laughter and the joy.
Helene had sworn to herself that she would bring it back, though. If it took her entire lifetime, she would see this house filled with family again.
Of course, with no father to broker marriage deals for her and her brother throwing himself into his studies at the university, Helene had known that it was unlikely that she would find herself married any time soon.
Especially since she was now a woman living alone, something which everyone seemed to find a very novel concept.
Helene had always hoped for better for Charlene. That was her thought in bringing the young woman here to London to live with her.
She knew, of course, that Charlene was more than happy in Bath, helping out with her father. Her brother Aldric had made that very clear to her when Helene had first asked him to send Charlene to her.
In actuality, Helene had been a little alarmed when she heard how her brother was raising the girl. She was educated, and she had all the knowledge of a dedicated healer. That just wasn’t proper in a woman.
She had fretted even then that she wouldn’t be able to find a suitable match for Charlene.
Still, she hadn’t wanted to face defeat. Charlene might be happy now, but Helene had a feeling that the older the woman got, the more she was going to realize that she should have started a family when she had a chance.
Wasn’t that, after all, the regret that Helene herself had?
Oh, she had never really wanted to be married. She’d never met a man whom she wanted to marry, and again, there were all of those logistical details that she didn’t know how to solve.
A chaperone could help her in the courting phases, but she needed her brother for much beyond that.
That said, she likely could have been married, if she’d really wanted to be. And she had wanted to have children. She certainly had wanted that.
By the time she realized that her desire for children outweighed her desire to remain unmarried, however, she had been too old for any to be interested in her. She’d had to content herself with doting on her young niece.
Not that Helene would have raised the child at all similar to the way that her brother had.
She had to smile at that thought. She supposed she wouldn’t know how differently she would have done things unless she had actually had a child of her own. But Aldric had given the girl far too much freedom and raised her far too much like a boy.
A young woman needed a mother’s influence so that she could become graceful and glib. Charlene, on the other hand, was always a tad too blunt and spirited.
Helene poked her head into her niece’s room now. The girl hadn’t come down for supper, and to Helene’s surprise, she was already in bed with the curtains drawn and the lights out.
She listened for a moment to the deep, easy breathing of sleep. Well, at least one of them could still sleep.
As for herself, Helene felt she hadn’t slept since she had first heard the news of her brother’s arrest. What little family she had left was in danger. And she knew that if Aldric was hanged, there would be no hope for any more family in the future.
She didn’t know what she and Charlene would do to support themselves. Their family’s old fortunes wouldn’t last forever, and neither of them would be able to find any sort of work.
Charlene would never have a chance to marry again. Oh, she didn’t have much of a chance now, anyhow.
Helene’s worst fears were proving true about the girl: she was far too spirited for most of the gentlemen to want to take her on. She risked scandal with every step, it sometimes seemed.
Helene was shocked to hear that the Marquess was interested in marrying the young woman. But then, she like everyone else had heard the rumors surrounding his first wife’s demise.
She didn’t want anything like that for Charlene. Then again, she doubted that Charlene would let Lord Ambrose treat her the way that his first wife had.
It was the only reason that Helene was at all willing to consider the Marquess’ proposal to her niece. She knew that Charlene wouldn’t be cowed by the man. She just wished that Charlene seemed as sure about that.
Instead, she could see the fear in Charlene’s eyes every time the marriage proposal was mentioned. It wasn’t just that she was afraid that her father would be hanged if she didn’t accept the offer.
No, Helene knew her niece better than that. Charlene’s fears for her father were all tangled up in anger. She didn’t believe that the system could fail the man that way.
She refused to let go of her righteous indignation that someone would dare accuse her father of either misdiagnosing Lord Henrich or abusing his position and deliberately poisoning the nobleman.
This was a different kind of fear, her fear of Lord Ambrose. Charlene looked like she expected to be in the grave by the time the year was out, if she agreed to marry him.
She looked haunted. It made Helene wonder what she thought was really going to happen. She wasn’t sure how to talk to her niece about that, though.
At the end of the day, it was Charlene’s decision if she wanted to accept the Marquess’ proposal. Helene hated that it had come to this, but it had.
She hadn’t been lying when she had told her niece that she would have done whatever she could if it was at all in her power to save Aldric. He and Charlene were the only family that Helene had left.
She hated to think that if Aldric was hanged, Charlene would one day find herself with no remaining family as well. Not even a brother and a niece to comfort herself with.
She would truly have no one. She would end up in a worse position than Helene herself had been in.
Bitterness welled up inside of her. As much as she had wanted more for her niece, it seemed certain that the girl’s life would end i
n only a worse heartache than the one that Helene had had to contend with. What else could she do now, though?
If there was any way in Helene’s power to save her brother, she would have done it by now. There was nothing that she could do. There was no way for her to spare Charlene from this fate.
Chapter 17
Lord Eric Cumberland, Duke of Havenport
If only focusing on his dukedom could keep Eric’s mind off Charlene! He felt as though he’d barely been able to stop thinking about her since she had asked for his help at that first ball.
Yet everyone, including his mother, seemed certain that Eric ought to be thinking about Lady Annabelle instead.
“She would make such a lovely bride,” his mother sighed over her tea. “And your children!”
Eric fought the urge to roll his eyes. His mother hadn’t been subtle, these past couple years, about the fact that she was desperate for grandchildren.
She had been somewhat more subdued in the aftermath of her husband’s death, but he had been sure that the subject would come up when she wrote him a letter informing him that she would be visiting London shortly to formally come out of her mourning period.
He had half a mind to suggest that she find herself a new husband and try for children of her own, but he bit his tongue.
He couldn’t help feeling short of temper lately. There was still no new information pertaining to Dr. Ellington’s case, and not only had Eric not had any contact with Charlene, he hadn’t even seen her at any of the social functions around London.
He wondered if she had gone back to Bath, but he dismissed that idea quickly. No, her aunt would never allow her to go back to Bath on her own, not in the middle of a scandal like this.
Especially not by herself. He wondered how she was handling the gossip. They still hadn’t tired of calling her vicious names, and Eric imagined she must be upset.
He wanted to be there for her. But he wasn’t sure how to approach her without putting both of them, and her father, in danger. Lord Ambrose was known to be a ruthless man, and Eric didn’t want to anger him while so much hung in the balance.
He sighed, and his mother’s gaze grew sharp. “I do wish that you could feign at least the tiniest amount of interest in Lady Annabelle,” she said.
“She would make a good match for you. She could help you with the dukedom. The people would love her.” She paused. “Not only that, but an alliance with her family could make us quite rich.”
“We’re already rich, Mother,” Eric pointed out. He knew that no amount of reasoning would convince her that he shouldn’t marry Annabelle, though.
Nor was he going to tell her about the real reason why Annabelle and the other women didn’t stand a chance. All because there was a wild-woman with sure and steady hands who had won Eric’s heart instead.
It was his mother’s turn to sigh, as though she could read Eric’s thoughts. They hadn’t talked about the scandal surrounding Charlene and him, but he had a feeling that her return to London had been a little too coincidental in timing.
She was here to look out for him. To make sure that he married the right woman.
Oh, he had no doubt that his mother wished for him to be happy. She had made that clear from the time he was a young boy.
She had always doted on him, spoiling him practically rotten but making sure that his manners were learned as well. She would give him the world, if she could.
But there was a certain amount of responsibility on his shoulders, especially now that he was the Duke of Havenport. He couldn’t ignore that, and she was simply here to remind him of it.
Not that he truly needed reminding.
“Well, at least be sure to save a dance for Annabelle tonight at the ball,” his mother said finally.
Eric snorted. “You know as well as I do that she won’t let me out of her sights for the whole night,” he reminded his mother.
“She certainly is persistent,” his mother said, giving him a smile. “That’s an admirable quality in itself.”
Eric snorted. “Oh come, Mother. The way that she’s been throwing herself at me is unseemly. I’m surprised that I have to remind you of that.”
He paused. “I understand that you think that she would make a good match for me, but let’s not pretend like the way that she is handling things is the way that they’re supposed to be.”
His mother’s lips tightened together into a thin line. “Perhaps it’s not the way that things are normally done,” she finally conceded.
“But it says to me that Lady Annabelle would be a great help to you with the dukedom. You wouldn’t need to supervise her every move. Perhaps you could delegate some tasks to her. Or to one of her brothers. She comes from a good family.”
“I don’t need to delegate my work,” Eric grumbled. “I’ve been doing a fine enough job of it myself.”
Even as he said it, he knew that it wasn’t entirely true. No doubt yet another reason that his mother was here to supervise him. He had been too distracted of late, and it showed in how he did his work.
Oh, his tenants and their holdings were still flourishing, but he couldn’t help noticing that each time he stepped in to settle a disagreement, they seemed less pleased to see him.
He wondered if they were regretting the fact that he had taken over in the wake of his father’s death. Perhaps they didn’t like that he didn’t do things the exact way that his father had.
“You’ve been doing wonderfully,” his mother agreed, inclining her head towards him. “I can see how it wears on you, however.” She grinned crookedly at him. “What good is it being a duke if you have to work just as hard as everyone else?”
Eric snorted. “I’m doing just fine,” he assured his mother. “I don’t need a wife or her brothers to help me out.”
His mother pursed her lips once more, but finally, she let the matter drop.
“Well,” she said, setting aside her teacup, “I do need to be getting ready for tonight’s ball.” She winked at him. “It’s not every day that a mother gets such a handsome escort to bring her on his arm.”
Eric laughed. “I’m sure you’ll look beautiful, like you always do,” he said. “As for myself, I’ll make sure to look my absolute handsomest.”
Michael came in just after his mother had exited, clearing his throat nervously.
“There’s a man here to see you,” he said. “One of your investigators. I didn’t think you would want your mother to know that you were, um, looking into the matter of Dr. Ellington’s death.”
Eric smiled gratefully at the servant. “You guessed correctly,” he said. “Has he been waiting long?”
“Not too long,” Michael said, shaking his head. “I had a feeling that the Lady would be heading to ready herself for the ball soon. Otherwise, I would have told him to come back some other time.”
“Excellent,” Eric said, nodding approvingly. “Well, send him in.” Eric wiped his palms down his trousers, suddenly nervous. It had been so long now since he had first requested information about what had really happened to Lord Henrich.
So long, without any promising news. What if this was the news that he had been waiting for all along?
Or, what if the man came bearing news that Dr. Ellington truly was to be hanged? That his time had run out, and that there was nothing more that they could do to save the man?
That thought was like a stab to his heart. He could only imagine Charlene’s disappointment in him if that was truly the case. He had promised her that she wouldn’t have to marry Lord Ambrose.
He hated the thought of her having to marry Lord Ambrose.
Fortunately, when the investigator told him his information, Eric’s heart soared. Not only would Dr. Ellington not be sent to the gallows just yet, the man had come with a piece of information that could change everything.
“The apothecary’s apprentice was barred from medical practice years ago,” the investigator said gleefully.
“At the time, he was going
under a different name, but we’ve managed to ascertain that Harvey Parsons was in fact born Harvey Blake, who was once Dr. Ellington’s apprentice.”
Eric stared at the man. “Why was he barred from practicing medicine?” he immediately asked the investigator. That was huge. If it was anything to do with the doctor, then perhaps this Harvey Parsons had some motive for framing the doctor.
But the investigator was shaking his head. “That information, I can’t find,” he admitted. “I’m sure that there is a record of it somewhere, but the medical college is hardly going to hand over that information to me.”
“What if they were to receive a sizeable amount of money with the request?” Eric mused.
Regency Diaries of Seduction Collection: A Regency Historical Romance Box Set Page 69