Counterfeit Earl

by Anne Herries

  'And the best thing you have ever done, I dare say,' the Earl replied. 'You have no need to fear that

  you will end your days as Stanhope did, a raving lunatic. If that is what you fear, you may set your

  mind at rest at once.'

  'Then the madness was not hereditary?' Jack could scarcely believe it. 'Was it some foul sickness

  that came upon him?'

  'I did not say that,' replied the Earl. 'The madness was inherited from your grandmother's family.

  My poor Mary never suffered herself but she passed it on to her son, as did her grandmother. It

  was a form of sickness that was transferred through the female line but showed its worst form only

  in the males of the family. I believe several of her uncles and cousins inherited it, though of course

  I knew nothing of this until after Stanhope was born.'

  Jack frowned. 'Then I am doomed to suffer the sickness later in life. I could pass it on to my son...'

  'No, that is not so. You do not carry the same blood...'

  'I do not understand what you are saying, sir...unless I am not Stanhope's son?' Jack's eyes

  narrowed as he thought he saw the answer in Heggan's eyes. 'Then my mother.,.was carrying me

  when she married Stanhope?'

  'You are not the child of either Lady or Lord Stanhope,' the Earl said and sighed heavily. 'Forgive

  me for keeping this from you for so many years, Jack, but it was forced upon me. Silence was the

  price I paid for making sure you were accepted as Lady Stanhope's child.'

  Jack was bewildered. 'I fear I do not understand. If I am not their child...whose son am I?'

  'Have you not guessed yet?' The Earl looked tired and ill. 'Forgive me, I must sit down. I had

  returned to Ireland when your letter reached me at last, having been sent on from Stanhope. I had

  not been well and I have travelled without rest to reach you, knowing how you must be suffering

  thinking yourself the child of my son.'

  'Please be seated, sir. Would you care for a glass of brandy?'

  'Yes, please.' The Earl placed a hand to his breast, waiting until Jack poured the brandy from a

  decanter on the sideboard and brought it to him. He drank it down in one go, then closed his eyes

  for a moment.

  'If you are ill this can wait.'

  'No, no,' the Earl said and opened his eyes again. 'I should have spoken years ago, but I gave my

  word and I have kept it. For years Stanhope did not seem to be badly afflicted by his sickness, and

  since he seemed not to be capable of giving his wife a child I hoped that I would never need to

  speak. Now, I must do so. You are my son, Jack, not Stanhope's, the child of my autumn years.

  You may forget your fears, there has never been a shred of insanity in my family I promise you.'

  'Your son?' The colour left Jack's face. 'But not Lady Heggan's?'

  'No, not poor Mary's,' the Earl said, and a tear issued from the corner of his eye. 'After Stanhope

  was born she told me the truth and begged that I would never visit her bed again. Her fear that her

  son would develop the illness made her an invalid. Your mother was a gentle girl, Jack. Helen

  was not beautiful, but she was generous and sweet, and she gave me a great deal of happiness. She

  came of good birth, from a family that had been reduced to poverty by gambling. I employed her to

  be a companion to my wife, but in the end she became so much more. I loved her desperately, you

  see, and when she died some hours after your birth I vowed that her son should inherit all I had to

  give.'

  'But I am a bastard,' Jack said. 'If Stanhope had had a son...'

  'By this time I had learned that he was blaming Lady Stanhope for being barren,' the Earl said. 'I

  believe he may have treated her badly, Jack, though she has never complained to me.'

  'I once saw him rape and beat her,' Jack said. 'I was a child and could do nothing to stop him. I

  thought she blamed me for letting him hurt her. I thought it was the reason she seemed to turn

  against me, to shut me out of her life.'

  'She desperately wanted a child when I struck my bargain with her,' the Earl said. 'I thought it the

  natural desire of a woman for a baby, but perhaps she thought it would keep Stanhope from her

  bed. She made me promise I would never interfere in your life, that no one should ever know you

  were not truly her child.'

  'But how was she able to deceive Stanhope? To make the world believe I was hers?'

  'She was often alone at Stanhope in those days. Six months had passed since her husband had

  visited her. She was always quite a large woman. We brought in a midwife who declared her with

  child, and we smuggled you into the bedchamber. Lady Stanhope screamed a great deal and the

  servants were kept from the room. I believe there are some women who show no signs of being

  with child, others who have given birth without ever knowing they had conceived until the last.'

  The Earl paused for breath. 'Besides, she had few friends, no one she might have confided in. Her

  mother was dead, though her father visited her sometimes. Sir Joshua may have suspected

  something, indeed I have often thought he may have suspected the truth. However, he never gave

  any sign that he was anything other than your grandfather.'

  'He always loved me,' Jack said and frowned. 'I would not like to think he was deceived.'

  'You are thinking of the fortune he left you. Rest easy, Jack. He had no one else he loved so well

  as you.'

  'Then I am truly your son?' Jack could still hardly believe it, but he was beginning to realise that a

  black cloud had been lifted from his life. 'I cannot pass on Stanhope's madness to my son?'

  'No one can predict the future with certainty, but you have as much chance as any man of giving

  your wife healthy children.'

  'No one can predict the future with certainty...' Jack nodded. 'Olivia said something similar to me.'

  'She is a sensible woman besides being a beauty. You were lucky to find her, Jack.'

  'Yes, I know.'

  'I hope you have not distressed your wife with this nonsense,' the Earl said and frowned as saw

  the answer in Jack's face. 'You had better go and find her, put her mind at ease.'

  'Yes...Father.' Jack was suddenly overcome with emotion. He went to kneel by the Earl's side,

  taking the frail hand in his own. 'You have worn yourself out to come and tell me this, sir. I can

  never express my gratitude sufficiently.'

  'Stuff and nonsense!' said the Earl stoutly. 'I am a little tired at the moment, but I dare say I shall

  live long enough to see my first grandchild. Off with you and find that lovely girl you married.

  When you have told her all she needs to know, you may bring her to me. I have wanted to tell her

  she reminds me of my Helen. It is just a look when she smiles, no more, but it is there.'

  'I shall bring her to you soon,' Jack promised and kissed his hand. 'I am glad you have told me the

  truth at last. Perhaps we can make up for all the lost years.'

  'Perhaps,' the Earl said in a gruff tone. 'Whatever else you think of me, Jack, believe that I always

  loved you. I wished a thousand times I had not given you to the Stanhopes, but to have taken you

  back would have deprived you of your birthright.'

  'Titles mean very little, sir,' Jack said. 'It is the people who love you who matter.'

  'Then waste no more time in bringing that girl back to me!'

  'I shall find Olivia now,' Jack promised as he rose to his feet. 'God bless and keep you, Father.

  You have
given me the greatest gift possible.'

  The Earl nodded, leaning his head back against the chair as his son went hurriedly from the room.

  He had been in time, which was all that mattered now. Jack's happiness was secured and if death

  claimed him now, he was ready. Yet he would pray to be spared long enough to see Jack's child in

  the arms of that beautiful girl he had married.

  Jack felt as if he walked with winged feet as he left the parlour and ran upstairs to his wife's

  room. He was free at last to show Olivia just how much he adored her, free to hold her and kiss

  her—to take her to his bed whenever they both wished for it. The shadows which had lain over

  for him for so many years had gone, melted away like the morning mist. All his life he had known

  that Stanhope hated him, sensed that his mother did not truly love him, though she had often been

  kind when he was small. It was only as he grew to manhood that she had become cold towards

  him. Yet how could he blame her after the life she must have lived?

  Jack sensed that the man he had believed to be his father had suspected his wife of betraying him

  with another man. Stanhope had never in later years given her a child; he had accused her of being

  barren before Jack was born. Did he afterwards think he himself was sterile and therefore that his

  wife must be a whore?

  It did not excuse his behaviour towards her, but it explained why he had come to hate both her and

  Jack. As his madness closed in on him, he had lost touch with right and wrong, becoming the

  monster Jack had so despised. Yet now he could find it in his heart to pity Stanhope.

  'My wife?' Jack asked as he entered her bedchamber and found the maid packing her clothes.

  'Where may I find her, please?'

  'I do not know, sir,' Rosie replied. 'I believe she went out earlier—when Viscount Gransden left

  this afternoon...'

  Jack's heart jerked with pain. Olivia had left at the same time as Gransden? She had gone with

  him! He had driven her away with his jealousy and his unkindness. He was too late! He loved her

  so much and she had gone.

  'I think it was to the stables,' Rosie went on, unaware of the anguish she had momentarily caused

  her master. 'To see that great brute of a dog, I believe.'

  'To the stables? Thank God!' Jack cried, startling the maid. His eyes narrowed as he realised what

  she was doing. 'Why are you packing her things?'

  'Mrs Jenkins told me to pack one small trunk,' Rosie said, feeling scared by his furious expression.

  'Her ladyship is to accompany Lady Burton home, sir.'

  'Ah yes, of course,' Jack said and nodded. 'I remember she mentioned something of the kind.'

  He turned and walked from the room, hurrying back down the stairs and out of the house. The fear

  that she might have gone, that he might have lost her, was still with him, but then he saw her

  walking from the direction of the temple with Brutus at her heels.

  'Olivia,' he cried and hurried towards her. 'I wondered where you were. I was anxious. You have

  not been to the woods again?'

  'No—though I have been told the gypsies have gone.'

  'Yes. I doubt they will return,' Jack said. He did not wish to tell her that the man who had attacked

  her would never be able to return, nor that they had found him dead of his wounds. Olivia would

  find that horrifying and he did not want her to become afraid of the faithful dog that had killed for

  her sake. 'But you must still take Brutus with you whenever you walk there. You will promise me?'

  'Yes, I promise.' Had he forgotten that they had agreed she should go away? Olivia's heart began

  to beat wildly as she saw the look in his eyes—a look she had not seen since he was courting her

  at Camberwell. 'I had to take Brutus for a walk. He was missing me.'

  'I have missed you, Olivia,' Jack said. He took a step towards her, his eyes beseeching her not to

  turn away. 'I love you so much, my darling. Forgive me for the pain and hurt I have caused you

  since our wedding. I beg you to love me, and believe that I shall never willingly hurt you again.'

  'You did not do so willingly this time,' she whispered, her throat tight with emotion. A shiver of

  pleasure went through her as he trailed his fingers lovingly down her cheek. 'What has happened,

  Jack? Something has changed. You are no longer afraid to touch me.'

  'I was afraid only for your sake,' he said huskily. 'Afraid that my touch would defile you, destroy

  your loveliness.'

  'I never thought that,' Olivia said. 'You are not insane, Jack. Even if your father was , at the end of

  his life, you are not touched by his sickness.'

  'No, his sickness cannot touch me,' Jack said, 'because I am not his son. I am the natural son of the

  Earl of Heggan—not his grandson. The madness came from Lady Heggan's family and since I do

  not carry her blood, I am free of it. My mother was a gentle, sweet girl of good family who was

  employed to be her companion.'

  'Oh, Jack...' Tears filled Olivia's eyes. 'Oh, my darling! I know how much this means to you...to us

  both.'

  'Then you can forgive me for my jealousy and my unkindness to you, Olivia? I have not killed your

  love?'

  'How could you ever think that?' she asked, then nodded as she gazed up into his eyes and

  understood his unspoken fear. 'I was leaving for your sake, Jack. After I saw what I had done to

  you. You had drunk too much wine to help you forget. I knew that as the empty years went by you

  would grow to hate me, and I thought it better we should part.'

  'I could never hate you, Olivia. You are all I have ever dreamed of—and at last I have learned

  how to love. I thought I would never feel true love. Passion, affection for friends, yes, I have

  known them in the past—but never the kind of love I feel for you. I would rather die than live

  without you, my darling.'

  'Then you shall live until we are both old,' she said, a teasing light in her lovely eyes. 'For I do not

  intend to leave you, Jack. Not ever.'

  'As long as you promise to return I can bear it,' he said. 'Lady Burton will expect you to keep your

  promise to see her home, dearest.'

  'Yes, but she would be even happier if you were to accompany us,' Olivia told him. 'She likes you,

  Jack. She told me she was happy that we had found each other.'

  'The compliment is returned,' Jack replied, his eyes intent on her face. 'I wondered if you were

  wise to invite her here, Olivia, but after observing you together, I have seen the affection between

  you. We shall certainly accompany your aunt to her home and stay with her for a few days. You

  might like to go out in company and see your friends?'

  'Yes, that would be pleasant,' Olivia said. 'But I should be just as happy here. Besides, you have

  not forgotten that you promised me a trip to Italy?'

  Her lovely eyes were alight with wickedness. Jack slipped his arm about her waist as they began

  to walk back to the house together.

  'No, I have not forgotten,' he said. 'If it is your wish we shall travel abroad this autumn. You have

  only to tell me what you wish for, my darling, and it shall be yours.'

  'Then you mean to spoil me?' She tilted her head at him. 'I was a very spoiled child, you know. I

  had begun to improve my character, but I shall soon slip into my old ways. I think you would do

  better to beat me, Jack.'

  'Oh, no,' he said softly and drew her to him, both a
rms about her waist. 'That is one thing I shall

  never do, my darling.'

  Olivia lifted her face for his kiss. Her heart was beginning to sing as his mouth came down to take

  gentle possession of hers. She had never imagined that he would deliberately hurt her in any way.

  These past weeks had revealed his nature to her and she knew what a loving, thoughtful man he

  truly was.

  'Then I must resign myself to being spoiled,' she said, giving him a wicked smile. 'In which case

  you will not refuse to let me take Brutus with me when we travel?'

  'That brute?' Jack turned his head to look at the dog, who was watching them with interest. 'You do

  not expect me to share a carriage with him, I hope?'

  'Oh, no, he may travel with the luggage and my maid, though not Rosie. She doesn't like him. I

  shall ask one of the others to accompany us.'

  'And leave poor Rosie behind?' Jack raised his brows. 'I think she may sooner grow fonder of

  Brutus rather than be left behind.'

  'Then I may take him?'

  'Would he allow us to go without him?' Jack chuckled. It was a delightful sound and one that

  Olivia had seldom heard from him. 'But if you or he imagine that he is going to share our

  bedchamber you are both much mistaken.'

  'I dare say he will not mind that so very much,' Olivia said. 'Providing we leave him a nice juicy

  bone.' She reached up and kissed him on the mouth. 'And now, my love, I think we should go in

  before all the servants stop work and come to watch the spectacle of their master making love to

  his wife in the garden.'

  Jack laughed out loud as he saw that several pairs of interested eyes were already turned in their

  direction.

  'Anyone would think they have nothing better to do,' he said in a voice that carried to the

  gardeners. 'Clearly I employ too many people.'

  Olivia giggled as the men went instantly back to work. She smiled at Jack and they walked into the

  house, their arms about each other.

  Jack lay on the bed, watching as Olivia sat brushing her hair. They had been married for nearly

  three months and were at home again after a visit to Ireland, where they had seen the Earl

  comfortably settled in his home.

  'Well, my love, when shall we think about leaving for Italy?' Jack asked, reaching out to scratch