by Ella Edon
“Mr. Cooper!” As luck would have it, the Earl of Warwick was just passing by when the door was opened for him. The earl nodded at the butler to dismiss him and approached Jerome. “Take it you are here to see Louisa?”
Jerome nearly forgot his manners in his haste. “Forgive me for intruding on you like this, my Lord,” he said, “but yes, I have come to speak to Louisa.”
“It is not intrusion at all!” The earl said amicably. “We are family now, are we not? As for Louisa, you will find her in the gardens. I’m sure she will be quite happy to see you.”
That eased Jerome’s heart to hear. He nodded gratefully at the earl. “Thank you.”
“Please do me a favor, Jerome,” the earl said, lowering his voice. “Take her home with you today.”
Jerome didn’t need any more convincing. “That is the plan, my Lord.”
The Earl of Warwick grinned broadly at that. “That is what I like to hear! Now, go along. You may find her at the large yew tree with the swing. She likes to go there to think.”
Once he was out into the open air, he realized what a problem it would be trying to find that tree in the vast gardens, but it didn’t hinder him. He rushed ahead, almost running, as he searched for her.
Minutes later, he found her. He saw her at a distance, her blond hair swaying at her back and he felt a rush of pleasure go through him at the sight. Like a thirsty man receiving water for the first time in weeks, he drank her in, slowing to a walk as he drew nearer. Her back was turned to him and she was standing utterly still.
But as he drew nearer, he noticed that she was not alone. That man—her uncle, Uncle Benjamin, Jerome remembered—was talking to her. He recalled the toast he had given regarding their nuptials, but other than that, Jerome had not paid much attention to him. Right now, however, he could not mistake the rigidness of Louisa’s posture as she faced him. She tucked her hands behind her and played nervously with her fingernails.
Is something wrong?
As quietly as he could, Jerome got closer to them until he could hear Uncle Benjamin’s voice. “You have been avoiding me, Louisa,” he was saying. “You don’t know how upset that makes me.”
Louisa didn’t respond. Her silence surprised Jerome. She always had a response for everything and yet she only stood there looking anxious as her uncle took a step towards her.
“Is it because of that man?” Uncle Benjamin asked, tilting his head to the side.
“You mean my husband?” Louisa asked, her voice so low that Jerome nearly couldn’t make it out. His confusion only deepened. Why is she being so timid?
“Yes, your husband,” Uncle Benjamin responded with an unnerving smile. “The man who has taken you away from me.”
“I was never yours.”
“You should have been.” Uncle Benjamin’s smile widened. “It should have been you that night, you know? I thought of you when I picked her, and now that you are grown, I have returned to take what is mine. You cannot imagine how upset I was to learn that you were betrothed to someone else.”
“You…you are my uncle. How can you even think that way?” Again, she sounded nothing like the spitfire Jerome knew her to be. He tensed because of it, wishing he could see her expressions. Louisa’s face had always shown him just what was going through her mind, but all that was within sight was her uncle’s.
“No, no, no,” Uncle Benjamin said with a shake of his head. “No one will stand in the way of us any longer.”
Jerome moved without thinking. Before Uncle Benjamin had the chance to raise his hand and rest it on Louisa’s cheek. Before she tensed and her hands began to shake. Before the reality of Uncle Benjamin’s words had truly sunk in, Jerome was already charging towards him, seeing nothing but red.
The other man didn’t have a chance to defend himself when Jerome came swooping in, grabbing the front of his clothes. “What do you think you’re doing?” he growled.
“Jerome!” Louisa gasped behind him.
“Get your hands off me.” Anger flickered in Uncle Benjamin’s eyes before he roughly shoved Jerome away. Jerome allowed it, putting himself between Uncle Benjamin and Louisa. “How dare you,” Uncle Benjamin seethed.
Jerome narrowed his eyes, trying to temper his rage. “If you lay a hand on her again, I will break every one of your fingers.”
“Do you truly think you can speak to me that way?” Uncle Benjamin advanced on him, his rage burning in his eyes. He looked wild, out of sorts. “This is a family matter! You do not belong here, and it is clear she does not want to be with you, so you should see yourself off this property before I have the authorities fetched.”
“Have them fetched and I will tell them of your disgusting behavior towards her.”
Louisa stepped up to Jerome’s side, lifting her chin as she faced her uncle. “You had better heed the warning now, Uncle, before what little patience we have wears thin.”
Uncle Benjamin looked at Louisa when she spoke and then back at Jerome. Then he laughed. “Since you heard it all then there is no use hiding it any longer, is there? You can do whatever you’d like, Mr. Cooper, but in the end, I will have Louisa all to myself. You, I am afraid, are only a means to an—”
Jerome punched him in the jaw. Louisa squealed behind him. Uncle Benjamin went down like a heavy log, but he was quick to stagger to his feet, holding his bloody lip. The fury came rushing back into his eyes, but Jerome didn’t care. He would punch him again and again, given the chance, as if that would get rid of those foul words he’d just spoken.
Uncle Benjamin charged after him but Jerome dodged it easily. He caught the other man’s outstretched arm and tugged it behind him, causing him to roar in pain. Then he punched Uncle Benjamin again, this time catching him the eye.
Louisa was calling for help. A part of him wished she wouldn’t see him like this, so outraged and untamed. But when her uncle had touched her cheek, he’d already known that there would be no hope for a peaceful resolution.
Distracted by her cries for help, Jerome missed a step and took a glancing blow to the chin as a result. But his youth was his upper hand.
“Jerome, stop!” Louisa’s voice came cracking through the air with all the authority of a woman who knew how to fight her own battles. Jerome didn’t look back at her as he came to a stop, not taking his eyes off the panting man for a second.
“What did he do to you, Louisa?” Jerome demanded.
“W-what?”
His anger surged. He watched as Uncle Benjamin sank to his knees. “What did he do to you?” Jerome barked. “He is the reason you scream at night when you sleep, isn’t he? He’s the bastard that traumatized you.”
She came to stand by his side. Jerome looked at her but she wouldn’t face him. Her eyes were on her uncle as she took in a shaky breath. But before she could speak, her family came running out of the manor with servants in tow. They were all horrified to see Uncle Benjamin bleeding on his knees.
“What happened here?” the Earl of Warwick demanded, coming closer.
“Mr. Cooper?” Lady Warwick joined her husband’s side, gaping at Jerome. “Did you do this?”
Jerome didn’t answer. In truth, he didn’t care about their arrival. He was focused on Louisa, on the way she seemed to be preparing herself to speak. As if she was preparing herself to face the demon that haunted her.
“When I was seven years old,” she began, her voice barely above a whisper. Despite its volume, it captured everyone’s attention, especially Uncle Benjamin, who gritted his teeth. “I witnessed him molesting a young servant girl.”
Someone gasped at that. Uncle Benjamin slowly came to a stand, spitting out blood. Jerome watched Louisa as Louisa watched Uncle Benjamin. She went on, her voice much stronger this time. “It was almost evening and I should have been inside preparing to attend dinner. But I had slipped away from my governess to play in the gardens, and there I came across my uncle taking advantage of a maid. I remember how she cried, how she looked at me with her eyes pleading
with me to help her, even though I was so young.”
There was nothing but silence at her words. Uncle Benjamin, when Jerome looked at him, was smiling and shaking his head.
“I couldn’t do anything but stare in disbelief,” Louisa went on, her voice cracking now. Jerome resisted the urge to pull her into his arms. “I knew, even then, that it was wrong. And I knew that she was in pain, at least. He saw me as well and when he was done, he told me that I couldn’t tell anyone. He said that if I did, I would be sent away. I didn’t want that to happen, so I kept silent on the matter. Only a few days later, I’d asked about that servant girl and learned that she’d left the manor.”
Tears were streaming down her face now, but she didn’t falter. If anything, she appeared stronger than ever, untouchable as she faced the man who had done such horrible things. “I knew that her disappearance had to do with what happened, and ever since then I’ve carried the guilt around with me. I was the only one who knew what happened that night and had kept silent. Because of my selfishness, I tried to pretend I didn’t see anything at all.”
“You were just a child,” Jerome said softly.
“Her name was Mildred,” Louisa went on. “Did you know that, Uncle? Her name was Mildred and you broke her when you did that to her. You turned me into the woman I am now, willing to spend the rest of my life alone because the thought of touching any man had disgusted me. Do you even regret what you did?”
Uncle Benjamin’s laughter sounded wrong, but he did it with fervor. “Surely you do not believe her,” he asked, turning to the others staring at him. “Her husband attacked me! She will say whatever she can to keep him from getting in trouble.”
“You said you were thinking about me that night.” Louisa’s tone was now sharp enough to slice through Uncle Benjamin whole.
Uncle Benjamin laughed again. His ploy was obvious. He was trying to make her seem delusional, but Jerome only needed to look at the rest of Louisa’s family to know that it was not working. The Earl of Warwick stepped forward. “First you committed such horrendous acts, coveting my daughter, and now you wish to make her out to be insane when she finally reveals the truth about you?”
“Benjamin, how could you?” Lady Warwick was in tears. The younger sisters were holding each other, as if the weight of Louisa’s words were too much for them to handle.
“It is clear your time away was not spent in remorse, Uncle,” Louisa said. “But I promise you, you will not get the chance to ruin someone else.”
Uncle Benjamin’s smiling face transformed into a wicked scowl in a second. “Louisa, you do not know what you are saying—”
But the earl had had enough. He approached Uncle Benjamin, taking him firmly by the arm. The man began to protest loudly. Jerome turned his attention back to Louisa in time to see her eyes roll into the back of her head. He caught her.
“Louisa!” he gasped.
Her eyes fluttered. For a moment, she looked at him. “I did it, Jerome,” Louisa murmured.
He nodded, smiling gently as he said, “Yes, I am so proud of you.”
A smile flickered across her face before she went limp in his arms.
Epilogue
When Louisa opened her eyes next, she was in a familiar place she never thought she’d see again—Jerome’s bedchamber. Without stopping to think, she instantly began searching for him and found him sitting by the bed.
“You’re here,” she breathed.
He smiled. “Did you think I wouldn’t be?”
“I thought it was all a dream,” she told him. Slowly, she sat up. It was dark out and only a few candles illuminated the room. Her hair tumbled around her shoulders when she sat up and she realized that she was in her nightdress. She tried not to blush as she faced him. “Was it all a dream?”
Jerome slowly shook his head. He took her hand in his and then let out a shuddering breath, lifting their clasped hands to his face. Louisa looked on in alarm. “You do not know how much you scared me, Louisa.”
“My apologies,” she said instantly. “I did not think saying all that would have taken such a toll on me.”
He lifted his head, his eyes dark despite the candle nearby. “There is no need to apologize. I am only happy that you are fine.”
Louisa wanted to smile but couldn’t. Now that she knew she hadn’t dreamed it all, it meant her truth was out. What Uncle Benjamin had done, how she’d protected him, how it had taken a toll on her. “What of my family?” she asked, wanting to delay the real question for a while longer.
Jerome looked at her as if he knew what her intentions were, but he didn’t call her out on them. “They are shaken by what you said, but they say they have not had any such experiences with Uncle Benjamin.”
“That is a relief. And Father and Mother?”
“Your mother is quite distraught, but she believes you wholeheartedly. As for Lord Warwick, he is enraged.”
“I am happy I am not there to see that,” she admitted with a sigh. “Father is quite terrifying when he is angry and Mother…well, I understand how she feels. It was her dear brother after all, and he’d always been quite adept at hiding who he was.” Steeling herself, she asked, “What happened to my uncle?”
“The authorities were called,” Jerome told her. “And he was taken away to prison.”
“It will be difficult to convict him on only my words.”
“That is true,” Jerome agreed with a nod. “But thankfully, he admitted to his wrongdoings, which meant there is no need to find the victim.”
“He did?” That surprised her more than anything else. She’d expected him to continue lying to the very end. The relief she felt was palpable. “At least he did one thing right.”
“As for that maid,” Jerome went on, not letting go of her hand. He stroked the back of her hand gently, as if he knew she needed it, “Lord Warwick confirmed it with the housekeeper and found that she did not leave because of Uncle Benjamin. At least, not entirely. She left because she’d already had plans to be married. As far as the housekeeper knows, she is quite happy.”
Louisa stared at Jerome, her eyes filling with tears. She tried blinking them away, but they came with such force that there was no use. She wiped at her face just as Jerome gathered her into his arms. “I’m so relieved!” she sobbed. “I tortured myself with guilt thinking about how I’d done nothing to help her. To know that she is happy and married gives me some…makes me…”
“I understand,” Jerome said tenderly. “There is no need to worry any longer. No one will hurt you. You are safe here with me.”
Louisa pulled away, wiping her tears. She knew she must look quite the mess with her red cheeks, but she didn’t care. “I love you, Jerome.”
Jerome stared at her for a moment, clearly taken aback. Then he smiled, the most beautiful smile she’d ever seen. “I love you too, Louisa. I’m sorry it took so long for me to tell you.”
“Don’t be,” she said. “I was the real problem. Had it not been for me, things would have gone much smoother for us.”
Jerome cupped her chin, forcing her to look in his eyes. “Don’t blame yourself for any of it, you hear me?”
Louisa nodded. It was easy to give in to his gentle command, to submit to his touch. Without stopping herself, she leaned in and gave him a kiss on the lips.
Jerome deepened it instantly. As if he had been longing for it all day, he kissed her back furiously, sparking a flame of lust within the pits of her stomach. She ran her fingers through his hair as their tongues tangled, and before she knew it, he was getting onto the bed.
Louisa scooted over to give him space, not breaking the kiss for a second. He snaked his hand around her waist, pulling her into him. The press of her bust against his chest was enough to drive that lust through the roof, and suddenly, Louisa felt like making demands again.
She broke away from his lips. “I want to see you.”
Jerome’s brows shot up even as he smiled. She understood his surprise. The last time, she’
d been tentative, and he’d constantly asked to make sure everything they were doing was fine. Now, it was her time to take charge.
Jerome did as he was told. He got undressed while in the bed, shedding each article of clothing one by one with deliberate slowness. If he meant to tease her, if he meant to arouse her even further, it was working marvelously. Louisa was longing to feel that pleasure again and so tugged her nightdress over her head and tossed it to the side as well, feeling a spark of satisfaction when she saw how his eyes grew dark with his need.
And then she kissed him again. They grappled for each other as if they couldn’t contain their yearning. Louisa trembled under his touch, panting when he broke the kiss and dipped his lips to her nipple, sucking gently. It was a pleasure like she’d never felt before, and it only grew higher and higher when she felt his hand lowering.