Ladies of Deception 02 - Misleading Lord Martineau

by Ginny Hartman

  “Felicity,” he finally spoke, the movement of his lips tickling her bare skin, “I was making arrangements to sail to America this morning. If you won’t have me then I’ll be leaving in a fortnight. I can’t stay here and survive without you.”

  Felicity pulled back and looked at him frenetically, “Elliot, please don’t place that burden upon me. Things aren’t that simple.”

  Chapter 12

  Elliot looked up into Felicity’s emerald eyes, “What do you mean?” he asked, curious as to what her aversion would be. He felt even emptier than he had imagined once he was no longer in her arms and more than anything he wanted to pull her back to him and hold her until she agreed to become his wife.

  “Please take me home.”

  “Felicity, I told you I wasn’t taking you home until I get the answers I want and so far you’ve only managed to confuse me further.”

  “I know and I’m sorry but I want you to take me home so we can talk. There’s something I need to tell you.”

  “This carriage is completely private, tell me now,” he urged.

  She looked down on him, her eyes pleading for understanding. “Please Elliot.”

  Elliot got up from his kneeling position and took the seat opposite her. “Very well, but if you’re only going to attempt to push me out of your life again then I insist you tell me now.”

  Felicity shook her head, “I’ll let you decide for yourself.”

  Once he informed his driver of their destination, the drive to Piccadilly Street didn’t take long. Elliot eyed the familiar Pemberton townhouse with curiosity. Though it looked much the same as it had four years ago, he could see small indications of neglect such as the peeling paint on the door, the tarnished brass knocker, and the shrubbery out front that was brown and withering as if the gardener had been severely neglecting his duties.

  He silently followed Felicity out of the carriage, indicating to his driver to wait for him. If the outside of the townhouse had been a shock to him, the inside was even worse. The first thing he noticed was that they weren’t greeted by Ramsey, or any butler for that matter. He was oddly relieved to not have to confront Ramsey again but an alarm went off in his head at the absence of common servants.

  He looked around and noticed the dust that must have been accumulating for years. If the gardener had been remiss in his duties, the housekeeper had been downright negligent. The carpets were worn beyond what was fashionably acceptable and the décor hadn’t been updated in years. Felicity didn’t seem to notice anything was amiss as she showed him to the drawing room. As soon as he was seated on a faded blue settee, Felicity excused herself, promising she’d be back momentarily.

  Elliot looked around the room and noted the dank smell indicating that it probably didn’t receive much use. It seemed as if his visit to the Pemberton house was only providing him with more questions than answers.

  Before long Felicity came scurrying back into the room, quickly settling herself down on the opposite settee across from him, “Tea is being prepared and should be brought in shortly.” Elliot only nodded his head.

  The pair sat in silence for what felt like forever before Aunt Agatha came shuffling in carrying a tray complete with tea service. Elliot looked up at her in surprise than turned to Felicity, “Is that your Aunt Agatha?”

  Felicity’s face flushed, “Yes,” then turning to her Aunt she said, “Aunt Agatha, you remember Lord Martineau don’t you?”

  Aunt Agatha eyed him shrewdly; her only response was to nod curtly in agreement. She quickly served the steaming tea before retreating abnormally fast for such an old lady.

  As soon as she had left the room Elliot turned to Felicity, “What is going on here?”

  Felicity tried to play coy, “What do you mean?”

  “I think you know what I mean. Where are the servants, why didn’t they bring tea? Where’s your butler? And,” he leaned forward and swiped his finger across the table gathering a finger full of dust, “Why hasn’t the housekeeping staff been doing their job?”

  Felicity was blushing furiously but Elliot only continued as he wiped the dusty finger off on his breeches. “Why isn’t your father seeing to these details? Surely if he isn’t pleased with his staff he ought to find replacements.”

  Felicity set her tea down, the cup clinking gently against the saucer. “My father is dead.”

  Elliot stiffened, “My apologies, I hadn’t heard.” He was reeling from her declaration. He had heard something of her mother’s passing several years back, but not one single word had ever been spoken to him of Lord Pemberton’s death.

  “Don’t be sorry, he wasn’t a pleasant man, as you may remember, and I do not mourn his death.”

  Of course Elliot knew he wasn’t a pleasant man but he was surprised to hear Felicity speak of her father so. “Surely he left you ample funds in his will to cover household expenses,” he said, trying to get her to confide in him of her dilemma.

  Felicity felt her face burn at his questions. She wasn’t prepared to tell him everything about her current predicament. She had brought him to her house for one reason and one reason only and before she chickened out she knew she had to tell him. She reached over and pulled the bell pull signaling Aunt Agatha to return to the room. She had warned her Aunt why she had brought Elliot home and knew that she must’ve been waiting right outside the door when she re-entered within seconds.

  “Aunt Agatha would you please go get Edith?” Aunt Agatha merely nodded then left the room once more.

  Elliot tried to search Felicity’s face for answers. Who was Edith and what was this all about? Before he had a chance to assault her with questions, Aunt Agatha returned with a small child clinging to her wrinkly hand.

  Elliot glanced at the child then back at Felicity before returning his focus once more to the little girl. She was a beauty of a child with her raven hair hanging in loose curls to her shoulders, and round blue eyes that were wide and inquisitive. Was this Felicity’s child?

  Felicity answered that question for him when she spoke. “Darling, come to mama, I have somebody I’d like you to meet.” Aunt Agatha let go of the girls hand so she could totter over to Felicity. She climbed up into Felicity’s lap and melted into her embrace before turning her attention to Elliot.

  Felicity ran her hand over her daughter’s thick curls as she spoke, “Sweetheart, this is Lord Martineau. He’s a special, uh—friend of mine.”

  “It’s a pleasure to meet you poppet.” Elliot said, not able to take his eyes off the child.

  The girl giggled, “My name’s not poppet, it’s Edith Margaret.”

  Elliot managed to pull his eyes away from the child to look at Felicity with question. His mother’s name had been Margaret but maybe that was a mere coincidence. Before he could decipher anything from her gaze, Felicity quickly looked back down at the child, clearly avoiding his questioning look.

  Edith managed to wiggle out of her mother’s arms and gingerly walked over to stand next to Elliot. She looked up at him with large ice blue eyes and said without candor, “Are you my papa?”

  Elliot wasn’t sure if it was him or Felicity that gasped. His heart felt like it had been pricked. Was he this girl’s father? He eyed her more closely this time, and decided that her eyes could be the mirror image of his, eyes that he had inherited from his own father. His breathing was labored as he turned to Felicity, “How old is she?”

  “She just turned three the end of January.”

  All of Elliot’s senses felt like they were reeling. His thoughts were rapidly racing through his head and he wasn’t sure he knew what to say. Her age was about right, she could easily be his. His thinking was interrupted by a tug to his coat sleeve. He looked down once more on Edith’s round face. “Are you my papa?” she asked him once more, determined to get an answer out of him.

  His jaw clenched tightly before he answered. “I think you better ask your mama that.” Then both of them turned inquiring eyes on Felicity.

  Felici
ty squirmed under Elliot’s piercing gaze, not sure how to read the look he was giving her. Did he know? Would he be mad at her for not telling him sooner? Now was the time to find out. Looking down at her daughter she said quietly, “Yes sweetheart, he is your papa.”

  Though he had strong suspicions that he was looking at his child, hearing Felicity confirm it felt like a pierce to his heart. He looked from mother to child then child to mother, feeling as if his life had just been turned upside down. All of these years he had been mourning the loss of Felicity when he should’ve been mourning the loss of their daughter as well. Their daughter. He couldn’t quite believe it. The possibility of their producing a child the one time they had been intimate had never occurred to him, not once. He felt completely betrayed by Felicity for not telling him that he was a father, that they had a child.

  His mind instantly went to all the scenarios that could’ve taken place in their absence—what if he had been able to move on and had married only to be confronted with an illegitimate child later on? What if Felicity had married and somebody else would have raised his daughter? Then he thought of her ruse as the widow of Lord Davenport and he had to know if there was any truth to it.

  “Are you really Lord Davenport’s widow?”

  Felicity looked confused, her eyebrows furrowing together as she answered, “No, I never married.”

  Elliot was beyond relieved at that. The thought of sharing Felicity with another man had been bad enough but knowing now that he would have also been sharing his daughter was completely unacceptable to him. They were his family and the sudden surge of protectiveness for them both that welled up within him caught him off guard. In the last several minutes he had gone from being an orphan, a man without a single living relative that he was acquainted with to being a father.

  Without thinking, Elliot bent over and scooped Edith into his arms. Her surprise at his actions was quickly overcome with delight as she snuggled close and began to giggle. Tears welled up in his eyes as he held onto the child, realizing how right she felt in his arms. There was so much he needed to discuss with Felicity but for right now all he wanted to do was to hold onto his precious daughter that was a result of his and Felicity’s love.

  Felicity watched the two people in the world she loved the most hugging and she wanted to cry; cry for missed opportunities but also weep tears of joy at the rightness of the scene in front of her. Elliot’s strong arms were wrapped fiercely around Edith, his face snuggled into her mass of black curls. She could tell he was emotional by the way his jaw was twitching and his eyes that were blinking back unshed tears. She hadn’t been sure how he would react to the news that he was a father, but he seemed to be taking to Edith naturally and she seemed to love every minute of his attention.

  Elliot reluctantly pulled back from Edith and said, “I’m glad I get to be your father, poppet,” He reached forward and tweaked her nose, “But your mother and I have some very important things we need to talk about. Can you go find Aunt Agatha so we can have some time to talk?”

  Edith looked up at him in all her childlike innocence, both of her chubby hands frantically grabbing onto his. “Are you leaving me?”

  Truthfully, he wasn’t sure what the future was going to hold between him and Felicity, but one thing he knew for certain was that he was never going to be absent from his child’s life again. “No, I’ll never leave you,” he promised her.

  She smiled at him, “So you’re gonna live here now?”

  Elliot reached up and raked one hand through his hair as he exhaled slowly. Before he had a chance to come up with an acceptable answer for her, Felicity interjected, “Sweetheart, there’s a lot of things that need discussed, I promise I’ll explain it to you later. Now please run along and see if Aunt Agatha has any of those lemon tarts left.”

  The promise of a treat seemed to do the trick. Edith slid from Elliot’s lap and scampered out of the room, but not before stopping and turning to blow a kiss to her new papa before leaving.

  The room felt devoid of life after Edith had gone. Though he had only known of her existence for less than a quarter hour, he found that she already occupied a tender spot in his heart. He was puzzled and intrigued by the instantaneous bond between parent and child.

  His thoughts were weighing heavily on his mind as he and Felicity sat in utter silence, neither of them quite sure what to say. Finally his head wrapped around the one thought that kept prevailing in his mind. “Why didn’t you tell me we had a child?”

  Chapter 13

  Felicity was shocked at the anger she heard in Elliot’s voice, though she knew he had every right to be mad. The only thing she could think to say to him was, “I’m sorry.”

  Elliot exploded at this, bolting to his feet and stalking close to where she was sitting. “Sorry isn’t good enough. I don’t want your apologies Felicity, I want answers!”

  Felicity put her head in her hands and began to weep. Elliot sat next to her on the settee then reached over to pull her hands from her face so he could look into her eyes. “All of this time you knew that we had a child, that I was a father, but you refused to tell me. I’ve begged you to marry me but you refused, instead choosing to have our daughter wear the ugly stain of illegitimacy.”

  Felicity’s eyes were wide as she shook her head back and forth, silent tears coursing down her cheeks. “I wasn’t sure you’d want her, my father said—”

  Elliot cut her off with a growl, “Haven’t we already established the fact that your father lied? I never stopped wanting you and had I known you were with child, I wouldn’t have wanted you any less. In fact, I would’ve made sure to make things right as quickly as possible.” He suddenly felt deflated as his words sunk in and part of the puzzle began to click into place. “Did your father know? Is that why you disappeared?”

  Felicity couldn’t speak through her sobs so she simply shook her head yes. Feeling his anger ebb, Elliot pulled her into his arms and held her why she wept. It was as if a dam had broken in her heart and years and years worth of tears seemed to flow freely from her eyes. Elliot just held her, rocking her gently back and forth as he brushed the hair back from her forehead.

  Felicity hadn’t felt so secure and loved since he had held her in his arms four years ago on that fateful night in the cottage. Her life since then had been depressingly void of love and affection except for her one bright spot, Edith.

  When her tears were finally ceasing, Elliot cleared his throat and spoke with sorrow, “I ache to think that I’ve already missed out on so much of her life. I never got to see her suckle at your breast, I never got to rock her to sleep or see her take her first steps or hear her speak her first garbled words.”

  A fresh batch of emotion erupted as Felicity began crying once more. Between her barely controlled sobs she exclaimed, “Neither did I!”

  Elliot held her out at arm’s length so he could see her face, “What do you mean?” he asked completely stunned.

  Felicity wiped her eyes with the back of her hands and sniffled. “After my father had learned that I was ruined he banished me to our country house to wait to see if I was with child. I became terribly ill and when I missed my monthlies it was confirmed that I was indeed going to have a baby.” Felicity blushed as she continued, “My father was furious, I’d never seen him so mad. He forced me and Aunt Agatha to live in one of the abandoned cottages on the estate to await the delivery of the child so no one would have to know about my disgrace.”

  Elliot interrupted her, “I don’t understand why he didn’t force me to make things right. I wrote him and told him of my desire to seek your hand in marriage and he never wrote back.”

  “He told me that he spoke with you and that you told him you wanted nothing to do with me or our child.” She hiccuped before continuing, “Obviously that wasn’t true. I later learned that there was more to the story—my father had a penchant for many expensive vices that were quickly draining his holdings. Apparently there was a man he owed a large sum of money
to, Lord Kilpatrick, who was being relentless in his attempts at extracting the money owed from my father. He had been threatening my father with social ruin if he didn’t pay up but there was no way my father could come up with such a large amount, not when he had other obligations draining his finances at the time as well. In his desperation, he offered my hand in marriage to Lord Kilpatrick as payment towards his debt.”

  “You mean by way of settling the debt completely, right?”

  “No,” she bit her bottom lip before sighing sadly, “The debt was much too large and I didn’t hold enough value to cover the totality of it.”

  “The bloody fool,” Elliot spat. “Your hand in marriage is far more valuable than any amount of wealth. I think I can see where this story is going—when your father found out about your ruination he was furious because he knew that Lord Kilpatrick would no longer accept you as payment, correct?”

  “Yes. I think he was still holding his breath for a time hoping desperately that I wasn’t with child so that he could still attempt to pawn me off on Lord Kilpatrick. When my confinement was confirmed it pushed him over the edge, he knew he would never be able to hold up his end of the agreement with Lord Kilpatrick then.”

  “I can see why he was so upset, but he should have directed his anger at me, not you.”

  “I can’t pretend to understand my father’s rationale, all I know was that from that point on he completely disowned me. He hated me with a vengeance I hadn’t known he was capable of.”