Hessian wanted to ruin Walter Leggett as many ways as a man could be ruined. Lily, abetted by her sister, had come up with a plan that met with Hessian’s heartiest approval.
“And how will Leggett account for the money gone missing from the trust accounts?” For he’d lost nearly every penny, thanks to the diligent efforts of the Royal Navy.
Careful investigation over the past week had revealed that, indeed, Leggett had invested heavily in various forbidden trades. While the war with France had been in progress, risk had been low for Leggett and men of his ilk. Peacetime had resulted in more resources devoted to enforcing the laws at sea, and more risk for those intent on eluding justice.
“I’ll be curious to hear his explanation for funds gone missing,” Worth said. “If an explanation he has.”
“Your guests have arrived,” Hessian said as the Leggett town coach rolled up on the street below. “The first order of business for you is to prevent violence.”
“You think they’d be that stupid? We’re bigger, stronger, and faster than either noddy—Leggett Senior or Junior.”
“I’d be that angry. Lily counseled restraint, but I have spent the past week being restrained when I wanted to call out the pair of them.”
Worth rose from behind his desk, shrugged into his coat, and assumed the air of a man of serious business.
“Rosecroft and I have already agreed we’d make a fine pair of seconds. Lady Rosecroft volunteered to bring the medical kit.”
Her ladyship would do it too. Such were the friends Lily had made despite all effort to the contrary on Leggett’s part.
Worth managed the meeting, by arrangement. Hessian remained mostly silent, while Walter Leggett strutted, huffed, and gradually grew quiet, then silent. Hessian’s only possible contributions—“Damn you to hell,” or, “Name your seconds”—would not have added much to the conversation.
“If you insist the vows were spoken under duress,” Walter said, “you can have the marriage set aside. Few females know their own minds, I’ll grant you that. Still, Lily is family, and I expect you to return her to my care.”
Worth sat back, collecting the evidence of annulment. “My lord, what say you?”
Hessian checked his watch. “I say I have never met a greater pair of scheming ne’er-do-wells. The woman in your care is not Lillian Ann Ferguson. That good lady departed for parts north more than a decade ago, intent on becoming the lawfully wedded wife of one Lawrence Delmar. Mr. Delmar well recalls your plan to defraud Lady Nadine’s daughters of their inheritance.”
Hessian tugged the bell-pull. Oscar had gone pale, while Walter rose and glowered down his nose.
“I have never heard such a preposterous tale. My niece is very much alive, and I have paid dearly for Lily’s upbringing. I admit she has become a trifle unbalanced. Her mother was never very steady, and this story fits exactly with what I’d expect from a young lady whose mental condition is rapidly deteriorating.”
Worth pinched the bridge of his nose. “Sit, Leggett,” he said gently. “Nobody alleged that you’ve a dead niece. Nobody but you, that is.”
“Perhaps we’ve heard enough,” Oscar said, popping to his feet. “Lily and I had a misunderstanding, plain enough. I wish her the best, and Father and I will just be going.”
“You haven’t heard nearly enough,” Hessian said. “Did you know your father has been profiting from the illegal enslavement of others, Oscar? From smuggling and trafficking in contraband goods? Or trying to profit? Every groat he could steal from his nieces—note the plural—has been invested in out-lawed trade. Your own inheritance from your sainted mama was similarly squandered.”
Oscar sank back into his chair. “I don’t have an inherit—? Papa?”
“You were a minor,” Walter snapped. “Managing the funds for you was my duty, just as managing funds for that spoiled, ungrateful, undeserving, lying, little—”
The door had opened quietly, and Mrs. Delmar stood in the doorway. “You were saying, Uncle?”
Oscar mopped his brow with a handkerchief. “Oh God. That’s Lily. That’s the Lily who’s my cousin. She looks a deuced lot like the other Lily. I think I shall be sick.”
Delmar ushered his wife into the room, seating himself between Mrs. Delmar and her uncle.
“Leggett,” Delmar said. “Greetings, from Scotland. And yes, this marriage was and is legal. Had I any idea the chicanery you were capable of, I’d have eloped with my dear bride that much sooner. You look a bit peaked. Felons tend to have the loveliest complexions. Years without seeing any sunlight has at least that benefit.”
Leggett braced his hands on the back of his chair. “You can’t prove any of this nonsense.”
“Have a seat,” Hessian said, when he would rather have smacked a glove across Leggett’s arrogant face, “while I regale you with proof. Roberta Braithwaite has letters from Lady Nadine confirming the conception and healthy birth of a second daughter more than a year after the death of Lady Nadine’s husband.”
Actually, Hessian had those letters now, and had been glad to pay handsomely for their possession.
“The present vicar of a certain Derbyshire parish,” he went on, “has signed an affidavit confirming that one Lilith Ferguson was in the care of his predecessor and sent to work at the age of nine at a specific inn in the same town. Mrs. Delmar has a birthmark on the inside of her elbow that exactly matches the birthmark Lillian Ann Ferguson still bore at the age of seventeen.”
Leggett more or less fell into his chair.
Alas for Leggett, Hessian was not finished. “The innkeeper confirmed the girl’s employment and description, and further confirmed that her uncle, one Walter Leggett, took her away at the age of fourteen. Said uncle was good enough to sign the guest registry in a very legible hand, and his signature is dated. Ephrata Tipton, now the wife of Captain John Spisak, has contributed extensively to the narrative as well. Shall I continue, Leggett?”
“Papa, we need to go,” Oscar croaked. “We need to leave and pack, for this is ruin. A few years on the Continent and we might return, but Grampion is an earl. Lily is friends with a countess. We need to leave.”
And now came the best part, the part Lily had devised with her sister’s consent.
Hessian forbade himself to smile, though Worth was looking quite smug. “You, Oscar,” Hessian said, “may take yourself to darkest Peru, but your papa faces a different fate.”
Finally, Leggett had nothing to say. Hessian wished Lily could see him in that moment, afraid and ashamed, held accountable at last. No false smile lit his features, no sly self-satisfaction lurked in his eyes.
“There’s money,” Leggett said. “The Fergusons have funds that would go to Nadine’s daughter upon her marriage or her twenty-eighth birthday, whichever shall first occur. The sum is handsome, and nobody need do without because I made a few unfortunate investments.”
Mrs. Delmar snorted. Oscar half rose and sat back down.
“You will do without,” Hessian said. “You will do without your freedom. We’ve seen Lady Nadine’s will, Leggett, and her estate was left to her offspring living at the time of her death, share and share alike. She was purposely vague so that both of her daughters would inherit. You lied to the judges in Chancery—under oath, of course—the better to further your schemes.”
Leggett’s shoulders sagged. He’d aged ten years in the past quarter hour, but his purgatory was just beginning.
“Do you know, Leggett,” Hessian mused, “what it’s like to have no hope, no joy, no affection for years on end? To hold on to your honor as best you can regardless, to be as decent under the circumstances as you can be, despite all the injustice visited upon you?”
Leggett was staring at the carpet. Oscar was simply gazing into space.
“Mrs. Braithwaite,” Hessian said, “had the letters from Nadine proving the existence of two daughters. Her silence on the matter comes at a price, one only you can pay. You will propose to Roberta Braithwaite in good fait
h, marry her in a legal and binding ceremony. You will become responsible for her welfare and her expenses, and you had best not displease her. She is no longer in possession of the letters, but she has a fine memory for a slight.”
“I’m to be… married?” Walter said.
Laughter welled, but Hessian contained himself. A gentleman never ridiculed another’s misfortune, even when that misfortune was the most exquisite justice.
“You are to be married,” Hessian said, “and may God have mercy on your soul.”
Leggett was silent for a long time, regarding the documents on Worth’s desk before he pushed to his feet. “Come along, Oscar. We’re finished here.”
They were finished in every sense, almost.
“One final item,” Worth said. “Miss Lily Ferguson is missing the sum of seventy-eight pounds, which was taken from her by her cousin Oscar. She wishes him the joy of his thievery and hopes he’ll use that money to learn a trade or seek his fortune abroad, for it’s the last money he’ll ever see, save for what he can earn with his own efforts.”
Oscar remained in his seat. “But I’ve already spent twenty pounds. Celebrating my upcoming nuptials with the fellows.”
“Do hush,” Worth said, “before you become more pathetic than you already are. I’ll see you out. Now.”
Leggett shoved Oscar on the shoulder. “Come along, boy, and prepare to meet your new mama-in-law.”
Worth escorted them from the room.
Hessian pulled out his grandfather’s watch, but it was no good—no damned good at all. He tossed the watch in the air and caught it. He was still laughing uproariously when Worth returned with Lily, a tray of glasses, and a bottle of champagne.
* * *
“I’m told the bride was radiant,” Lily said, though Lady Rosecroft had actually used the word gloating. Walter Leggett’s bride had been gloating and resplendent in a new gown edged in cloth of gold.
“One hopes the groom was overwhelmed by his good fortune,” Hessian replied, joining Lily on the park bench. “A pity Oscar could not attend.”
Oscar, in a gesture that Lily had found oddly hopeful, had returned twenty-nine pounds to her, with a promissory note for the remaining forty-nine pounds. He’d taken ship for Stockholm, where a friend had found him a clerk’s position in a counting house.
“The real pity is that Daisy wants nothing to do with her aunt,” Lily said. “Could this day be any more gorgeous?”
Hessian was looking gorgeous, all dapper and lordly, though he’d forgotten to wear his pocket watch.
“In point of fact, yes, this day could be more gorgeous.”
Spring was at her finest, the sunshine benevolent, the park’s trees in full leaf, birds flitting about in the greenery overhead. Daisy and Bronwyn were casting corn to the ducks. Worth and Jacaranda, Andromeda at their side, occupied a bench in the shade, the baby cradled in Worth’s arms.
“I don’t see how this day could be improved upon,” Lily said. “Your family is with you, my situation has been resolved, and all is well.” Except all was not quite well. Annie and her husband had returned to Scotland the week before, and Lily already missed her sister, already watched the post for letters from the north.
And biding as Lady Rosecroft’s guest was no sort of plan for Lily’s future.
“It’s about family that I wanted to speak with you.” Hessian’s gaze was on Daisy, who was trying to lure the ducks within petting range. Bronwyn’s corn had long since been snapped up, while Daisy was parceling hers out to ducks brave enough to come near.
“You disagree with my decision to approach my father,” Lily said. “I think he has a right to know the truth.” Soon, not yet.
Worth, as Lily’s man of business, waited for her direction regarding Mama’s estate, half of which Walter had been unable to touch. Annie, who’d never known material want, insisted that Lily decide what was to be done with any money and with the Fergusons.
“As it happens,” Hessian said, “I agree with you where His Grace of Clarendon is concerned. Rosecroft’s papa has a passing acquaintance with your father. He reports that Clarendon is an amiable, pragmatic fellow, liked and respected by all who know him. When the time is right, I’m sure he’ll welcome you on any terms you choose.”
Daisy crouched before the boldest duck, and Lily wanted to tell her to step back. Ducks could pinch awfully and were amazingly fast where food was concerned.
“She’ll be fine,” Hessian said. “She has my affinity for animals.”
Something in his voice made Lily regard him more closely. “You miss Cumberland. You and Daisy are both longing for the north.”
Hessian dug his fingers into his watch pocket. “I keep forgetting I gave the dratted watch to Worth. I do miss home, and Daisy is torn between wanting to see her brothers and loving her new friends. A father hardly knows what to do.”
The rest of the beautiful spring day faded, leaving one very dear man beside Lily on the bench. “Daisy is your daughter?”
He nodded. “Her mama was desperate for more children, and I was handy. It’s all in her ladyship’s diary. Both her guilt for having prevailed upon me—though I hardly resisted—and the great joy she took in being Daisy’s mama. Now the joy is mine, though I wish…”
Daisy laid down a bit of corn, and as the duck nibbled its treat, she touched gentle fingers to the top of its head.
“Were you in love with her mother, Hessian?” Would he always be in love with a memory? Was that why he’d not proposed to Lily again?
“I was not,” he said. “I was lonely, she was determined, and then I was having relations with another man’s wife. I am ashamed of that, but I could never be ashamed of Daisy. I want you to know that. I want to be as forthcoming about my past as you’ve been about yours. You deserve to know the man I am, not the man I want you to think I am.”
Lily took his hand, for parsing out Hessian’s philosophical flights was always easier when she touched him.
“Lord Evers gave you guardianship of all of his children. I’d say your transgression, if a transgression it was, has been forgiven. We make mistakes, Hessian, we choose poorly sometimes. With time and love, we come right. I hope my father sees it thus when I explain why I agreed to Uncle Walter’s scheme. If Papa chooses to be judgmental, then I’ll have some pointed questions for him about my conception.”
Hessian withdrew a piece of paper from his pocket. “You are so fierce, and I love you so much.”
Lily leaned against him, his words a greater blessing even than the sunshine and the gift of his trust.
“I love you, Hessian Kettering. I’m sure you have four other names, at least, but the names don’t matter so much, do they?”
As far as society was concerned, the woman on the bench with Hessian was Lily Ferguson, only daughter of the former Lady Nadine Leggett. The Fergusons would learn otherwise, Worth would handle disbursement of any inherited funds discreetly, and neither Lily nor Annie would provide any explanations to the contrary. On that, Lily and her sister had agreed easily, and to blazes with what anybody else thought.
Hessian gestured with the paper. “The name on this special license is your true, honest name, Lily. If you agree to marry me, the ceremony will be legal and binding. Before I could ask that of you, I also wanted you to know exactly who I am, and that Daisy is very dear to me. The boys are older, they won’t be underfoot as much, but my daughter…” He paused, blinked, and put the paper away. “My daughter will always be a part of my household.”
He’d been right—the day had just grown more glorious than Lily had imagined possible. “You’ll tell Daisy the truth?”
“Her mother, in her journal, said I might, when the time is right. Will you have me, Lily? Will you have me and Daisy? I tramp about with my fowling piece by the hour and never manage to bring down any game. I nap in duck blinds, or I used to. I go for mad gallops and pretend the horse got the bit between his teeth.”
Burden after burden rolled away from Lily’
s heart. The burden of an uncertain future and a difficult past, the burden of loneliness, the burden of secrets, the burden of loving and not knowing what to do about it.
“I want to be married here, Hessian, in this park, and soon.”
“To me?”
“Of course to you. Only to you, always to you. I want our wedding to be as public and joyous as my past was private and miserable. I want everybody here when we speak our vows—the little girls, your family, the ducks, the dogs. Everybody, even Hannibal. Let there be no mistaking the fact of our union or that the Earl of Grampion, despite marrying an heiress, has found himself a great, passionate, romantic love match.”
Hessian kissed her, a chaste, lingering, smiling brush of lips, but still—a public kiss in a public park, with children, ducks, dogs, and family looking on. Lily was so pleased she kissed him back, rather thoroughly.
Very thoroughly.
The wedding took place the next week, with the Earl of Rosecroft escorting Lily to the service, and Worth and his lady standing up with the bride and groom. Daisy, Bronwyn, Avery, Andromeda, and Scout stood as witnesses as well, and Hannibal looked on from Lady Rosecroft’s lap. When Daisy sprinkled corn all about, the ducks came to join the ceremony, and the situation grew quite messy, also hilarious.
Grampion was beaming as he spoke his vows, Lily recited hers between fits of laughter, and every single guest of every species was smiling too.
And Lord and Lady Grampion lived happily, if not always quietly, calmly, or tidily, ever after.
To my dear Readers,
I hope you enjoyed Hessian and Lily’s story, and yes, there will be more True Gentlemen to come. Jacaranda’s many brothers are in my crosshairs, as is Mr. Jonathan Tresham—Yikes, did I just get the eyebrow raised at me!
His Lordship's True Lady (True Gentlemen Book 4) Page 29