Eric had never promised her anything. He had simply hoped to repay the life-debt with a kiss. After all, Charlene could never have hoped for better prospects. A kiss from a man who would become a duke was better than she might have ever dreamed of.
She was the one who had spun it into something else. She was the one who had been silly.
Eric had to marry someone like Annabelle. He was a Duke, and Annabelle had status in society. Annabelle would run his estates and look after the dukedom better than Charlene could ever hope to.
Charlene knew she should leave, but she couldn’t seem to make her feet move. She realized she was waiting for Eric to apologize to her.
That was even sillier than the thought that he would be hers. He had nothing to apologize for. He probably didn’t even know about the fantasies that Charlene had spun in her mind over all these years.
Then Annabelle was on her feet as well. “Whatever business you believe that you have here, you must be mistaken,” she said firmly. “I know you’ve threatened Eric in the past, telling him that you’ll murder him just as your father did with Lord Henrich, but it won’t work here!”
Charlene stared at the other woman, feeling as though she had been slapped. “My father didn’t murder Lord Henrich,” she hissed. “Nor would I ever do anything to harm Eric. I suggest you shut your mouth.”
“I suggest that you shouldn’t be around respectable people,” Annabelle retorted, narrowing her eyes. “We all know that those witchy eyes of yours show the truth. You have plotted to kill dozens of men, I’m sure. Perhaps it wasn’t your father who murdered Lord Henrich at all. Perhaps the true culprit is you!”
Charlene stood there for a moment, thinking of all the things that she could say in response to that. But in the end, she knew that there was no point.
If Annabelle had made up her mind that Charlene’s eyes were a sign of witchery, then there was no convincing the woman otherwise. She focused on Eric, the one person in this room who truly mattered at the moment.
If Eric had made up his mind to marry this woman, then that was for him to decide. She might not much like the idea of it, but that was just the way that things were. He was a duke; he wasn’t for her.
“Are you…” she started to ask. But then she realized that this was none of her business. Eric didn’t owe her any explanations. Hell, Charlene already knew the explanations.
Eric was a Duke. And she would only ever be second-class to him. She might not be a peasant, but she definitely had no right to lay claim to his time.
She felt embarrassed just standing there. She should have listened when his servant told her that Eric could not see her now. Instead, she had barged in here like she had some right to his time.
Another of the lies that she had told to herself over the years. He had sent her letters, so she had assumed that she had some claim to him. Time to realize that she didn’t.
She turned to leave, trying to deny the stinging of her eyes. She wasn’t going to cry. She just wasn’t.
Lady Annabelle followed her out into the foyer, however. “You’re going to pay for this. Don’t think that you won’t,” she told Charlene. “Someone like you has no right to approach Lord Eric the way that you have. You’re going to pay.”
Charlene spun back around to face her, but the words died in her mouth when she saw that Annabelle wasn’t the only person to follow her out into the hall. Eric was there as well, and his mother behind him. If they had heard Annabelle’s threats, they were ignoring them, however.
Suddenly, Charlene remembered that she wasn’t angry at Annabelle. She was angry at Eric. He had told her that he wasn’t interested in Annabelle. And what’s more, he had kissed Charlene.
Now, he was acting as if she was every bit the loose and immoral woman that everyone was whispering that she was. She felt anger flare hot in her belly.
“I’m disappointed in you,” she informed the young duke, her voice quavering slightly but her words ringing out with truth. “But then, I suppose you have an image to uphold.”
She took in a deep breath, willing her hands to unclench. She could feel her nails digging into her palms.
Eric looked tired. “Miss Ellington, as I’m sure you realize, there are certain responsibilities that come along with my position.”
He sounded tortured, but Charlene wasn’t going to let him off that easily.
“Of course I realize that,” she snapped. “But you were the one who promised me help if I needed it. I understand though; it was only words. No duke would care to look down at the lower class and offer them help, no matter if my father and I did save your life.”
With those parting words, Charlene started to leave. But Annabelle wasn’t through, or wanted to have the final say. “What will you do now, arrange to have him poisoned too?” she spat.
Charlene froze. She knew better than to react, but at the same time, she knew that there wasn’t any lower that she could sink in their eyes.
So when her hand automatically went up, she didn’t hesitate before making contact with Annabelle’s cheek in a hard slap that resounded through the foyer.
After that, there was silence. Then, as though in slow motion, both Eric and his serving man made to apprehend her. Charlene brushed them off, though, heading towards the door.
“No,” she muttered, as Eric opened his mouth to say something. He snapped his mouth shut before she could hear whatever it was – rebuke? Apology? Explanation?
Then, she ran off, trying to hold back her tears. She wondered if anyone had seen her leave Eric’s manor on her own this time. She wondered what they would have to say if so.
It didn’t matter, she decided. Her reputation and her life were already destroyed. None of it mattered anymore.
Chapter 19
Lord Eric Cumberland, Duke of Havenport
Eric paced back and forth in his study, his guilt eating at him. He was cut to the bones by the things that Charlene had said to him.
He hated that she had walked in to see him there with Lady Annabelle and the woman’s mother. He knew what it must have looked like to her.
It would have appeared that while she was locked away in her manor, hiding from gossip, he had forgotten all about her and moved on.
It would have appeared that while she was worried that her father could be sent to the gallows any day, Eric only cared for planning his engagement.
His heart was broken just thinking about what she must believe about him. And yet he knew that there was some truth to her accusations.
He had promised her help, and he hadn’t done anything to help her. Of course he had tried. He had tried to track down information about who had really done it.
Then again, he had been sitting on this information about Harvey Parsons for too long, without doing anything about it. That was inexcusable.
Not everything that she was thinking about him was true, however. He hadn’t been planning on meeting with Lady Annabelle and her mother.
In fact, he hadn’t known anything about that meeting until they had arrived. He wasn’t sure if he believed his mother when she said that she hadn’t agreed to the meeting ahead of time.
Then again, it wouldn’t be the first time that Annabelle had shown up unannounced at his home. The fact that she had brought her mother this time was likely so that his own mother wouldn’t think she was doing anything improper.
Either way, she had been there, and Charlene had walked in on that. It must have looked like he was truly courting the woman.
He knew how he had felt about Lord Ambrose’s proposal to Charlene; the young woman must be feeling even worse about this, thinking that Eric had actually chosen to be with someone else.
Eric hated that, but what could he do? Charlene had stormed out of there before he could explain or apologize to her. It certainly hadn’t been his idea for Annabelle to be there!
There was no way that he could approach her now without making things worse.
He hoped she realized that she couldn’t jus
t barge in there like that without causing some new rumors to spread. Lady Annabelle apparently had her heart set on marrying the Duke.
That meant that she viewed Charlene as a threat. Eric was sure that Annabelle would tell the whole town about the other woman’s repeated, still unaccompanied visit to his home, and about her outburst there.
There was nothing Eric could do about it, though. As much as he loved Charlene, he knew that he couldn’t ruin his own reputation.
He wasn’t going to give up on her father, though. Perhaps if he could find the evidence that proved the man innocent, Charlene would realize just how much Eric truly loved her. That even though their stations in life and her scandals meant that they could never marry, he would always think fondly of her.
A few days later, the man Eric had investigating Harvey Parsons returned. “I’m afraid that he’s fled, my lord,” he said, bowing his head. “I of course will do everything in my power to track him down, but it will take me some time.”
“Do whatever you can,” Eric told him, frowning. To his mind, the fact that the man had run was an open indication of the fact that he was guilty.
The trouble was, they only had a limited amount of time before Lord Ambrose sent Dr. Ellington to hang. He had hoped that after this meeting with the investigator, he would be able to bring some concrete evidence to Charlene. Instead, there seemed to be even more questions.
Sudden horror went through him. If Charlene didn’t realize that he was helping her, perhaps it was already too late and she had agreed to give her hand to Lord Ambrose. He knew she had no wish to be betrothed to the man, but if she thought that it was the only way to save her father, she just might do it.
After the investigator left, Eric found himself pacing angrily in his study, unable to sit still as his thoughts whirled around in his head. He would never be able to marry Charlene, but his objection to Lord Ambrose marrying her went far beyond that.
Charlene shouldn’t be forced against her will into a marriage because an innocent man’s life hung in the balance. There was no justice in that. Eric had to make certain that Charlene knew he was still working to prove her father’s innocence. He even had a lead now, he was sure of it.
He knew who had done the poisoning: Harvey Parsons. He just had to figure out some way to prove it. A motive, a means.
He hurried over to Charlene’s, aware that doing so was to break all protocol. Oh, there would certainly be whispers now. He had to talk to her, though. Dr. Ellington’s life, and Charlene’s future happiness, depended on it.
He was shown to the sitting room. When Charlene walked in, the look of her took his breath away. She was wearing a pretty red dress, and her hair was done up elaborately. But her eyes glittered with frost, and she put her hands on her hips.
“Just what are you doing here?” she asked him. She didn’t sound happy to see him. That was to be expected, given the way that things had gone when she had come to see him, but Eric still felt as though she had stabbed straight to his heart.
“I had to talk to you. I might have some information that could help your father. That is, I think I know who really poisoned Lord Henrich,” Eric told her.
Charlene looked off to the side. “It doesn’t matter,” she said distantly.
“You haven’t already promised yourself to Lord Ambrose!” Eric said in horror.
“I was on my way to do that now,” Charlene said, smoothing her hands across her skirts. She looked at Eric finally, her mouth a tight, unhappy line. “I’ve come to realize that even if we were able to prove Father innocent, if I scorn Lord Ambrose’s proposal, it won’t matter. He will send Father to the gallows out of revenge.”
“Not if I have anything to say about it,” Eric promised her. “If he tries anything of the sort, I’ll make sure that the right people know about it. Such an abuse of power will not be tolerated.”
Charlene sighed but didn’t say anything. Eric knew he had to convince her.
“The man who did it is named Harvey Parsons,” he said. “He was the apothecary’s apprentice, and there was some connection between him and your father. I’m not entirely sure what the connection was. Any chance you might know?”
Charlene frowned. “Harvey Parsons,” she said slowly. “The name does sound familiar, but I’m afraid I don’t know for sure who he is.”
“I was afraid of that,” Eric said with a grimace. “I’m nearly certain that he had something to do with this incident. As soon as he realized that we were looking into his history, he fled. The trouble is, we either need the man himself to confess, or else we need irrefutable proof that he was involved.”
Charlene shook her head. “It doesn’t sound like we’ll be able to find anything if we can’t even find the man himself,” she said. “In any case, I’ve made up my mind that I have to marry Lord Ambrose.”
“No,” Eric said, a hint of desperation creeping into his voice.
“Oh, what does it matter to you anyway?” Charlene asked bitterly, turning away from the man.
Eric put his hands on her shoulders, forcing her to look at him. “Charlene, you must believe me,” he said urgently. “I truly do care about you. If our situations were different, I would marry you in a heartbeat.” He paused, letting that sink in. “As it is, I wish you nothing but happiness. And I know you won’t find that at the hands of Lord Ambrose.”
Charlene looked shocked. She pulled away from him, taking two quick steps back. She looked as though she wanted to flee the room entirely, but she forced herself to stand her ground. She continued to merely stare at him, and Eric couldn’t help but feel that he had said too much.
“Just give me a little more time to determine the connection between Harvey Parsons and your father,” he said. “That is all that I am asking.”
Charlene found herself nodding in spite of herself. “My father kept many journals,” she said quietly. “Perhaps there is some clue about Mr. Parsons in there.”
Eric nodded. “That would be as good a place as any to look,” he agreed. He was quiet for a moment. “I’m sorry. About Lady Annabelle. And everything else.”
Charlene shook her head, her expression turning to stone. She didn’t say anything, and finally, Eric had no choice but to leave, even though it broke his heart to leave things thus between them.
“Don’t promise anything to Lord Ambrose yet,” he said, pausing with his hand on the door. He didn’t look back at Charlene, afraid that she would be shaking her head. “Send those journals over to me if you can. I’ll see what I can find out. Have faith.”
Then, he strode out of the house.
Chapter 20
Miss Charlene Ellington
Charlene had no more tears left to cry. The next day was her father’s trial. She had wanted so badly to believe that Eric was telling the truth when he came to see her that final time. Somehow, he had found out the truth, and once he collected proof that Harvey Parsons, not her father, was the guilty man, her father would be free.
She was still worried as to what Lord Ambrose’s reaction would be if she told him no, but she was trusting Eric to deal with things as he had promised her.
There was a part of her that wondered if she was foolish for trusting the man. After all, she still hardly knew him, and why should he, a duke, wish to help her?
His words were still ringing in her ears, though: I truly do care about you. If our situations were different, I would marry you in a heartbeat.
It was the kind of thing that she had always hoped that a man would say to her. It was the kind of thing that she had never expected a man to say to her. Especially not a man like Eric, a handsome young duke who was gentle but passionate as he kissed her.
The kind of man who would risk his reputation to help her out.
She sighed and looked out the window. London’s skies were grey and dreary, and it matched her mood. She had hoped that Eric would manage to come through for her, but she had heard nothing further from him since she had sent the journals over to h
im.
Today was the final day for her to tell Lord Ambrose that she would marry him. She had held off for as long as she could.
She seated herself in her room and let her maid fix her hair again. She only hoped that the elaborate style and the pretty dress would be enough to make Lord Ambrose forgive her for making him wait so long for her answer.
There was, of course, no disguising her eyes. They were just as mismatched as they always were, one of them green and the other one blue as they stared sadly back at her from the chipped mirror that had belonged to a grandmother that Charlene had never met.
There had been plenty of whispers about her eyes, for Charlene’s entire life. They had only gotten worse since she was found leaving the Duke’s house, however.
Regency Diaries of Seduction Collection: A Regency Historical Romance Box Set Page 71