A Wicked Scandal For The Bluestocking (Steamy Historical Regency)

by Lucinda Nelson

  As guilty as she felt for having run away, there was a part of her that definitely felt glad for what she had done. She could never accept Lord Ambrose’s marriage proposal, regardless of the outcome of the trial. And she dared not face the shame society brought against her.

  No, she was positive that if she had stayed there in her aunt’s home, regardless of the outcome of the trial, she would have died of shame.

  She finally managed to drop off to sleep for a few hours. She woke feeling ever more exhausted. She only hoped that one of these days, her continued exhaustion would make it easier for her body to slip into sleep at night. If not, well, she supposed she would just have to get used to this feeling.

  She headed to the apothecary even earlier than usual that morning. Her boss wasn’t there yet, but there was a new man in there. Her hackles immediately went up. “Who are you?” she asked, freezing just inside the door.

  “I work here,” the man said, raising an eyebrow at her.

  Charlene frowned. The owner of the apothecary hadn’t mentioned that there was anyone else working there, but she supposed it made sense.

  This was one of the most visited apothecary’s in this part of the city, and it would have been impossible for one person to keep the place operational. Charlene had only begun to work here recently.

  Still, she couldn’t help but feel uncomfortable there with him, alone in the shop. Perhaps it was the fact of her upbringing: she knew that she shouldn’t be alone with a man, not under these circumstances.

  She was unmarried still, and although things were done differently in these parts of the city, she doubted that they were done so differently.

  What should she do, though? She couldn’t lose her job here, and she couldn’t ask him to leave until she had some explanation from the apothecarist.

  The man slid closer to her as she worked, until he was practically breathing down her neck as he watched over her shoulder.

  “You have the most beautiful, dainty hands,” the man said in an undertone.

  Charlene glanced to the other side, but there was still no one else to overhear the man’s comments. She tried not to grimace. She tried especially hard not to cringe with worry and discomfort.

  Why were men all so horrible?

  Not all men… She pushed thoughts of Eric out of her mind, though, and forced herself to concentrate.

  “Sir, I’m simply not interested,” she said coolly.

  He barked out a laugh. “Well, all right then,” he said affably. He winked at her. Charlene couldn’t help but feel nauseous.

  She wondered why his face looked so familiar. She almost felt as though she ought to know the man. But here in this part of the city, it was so unbelievably impossible that she would know anyone. She had never been to these parts before. No one that she knew had been.

  Probably, he simply looked like someone else that she had met since she was here in Whitechapel. That was the only thing that could possibly make sense.

  Fortunately, when she refused to say anything else, the man fell silent. Charlene could feel his eyes on her still, but he didn’t say anything else.

  Charlene had resigned herself to a lifetime alone. Even though she knew that her virginity likely made no difference anymore, she still didn’t have any desire to couple with anyone.

  Eric would only ever be the only one for her. Even if he wasn’t…the one for her.

  She sighed and tried to focus on her work. Somehow, it was difficult for her to do. She couldn’t shake the feeling that she knew this man sitting beside her.. But she had no idea why.

  Chapter 30

  Mr. Harvey Parsons

  Harvey could hardly believe that Charlene hadn’t recognized him. Of course, he hadn’t been so foolish as to go by his real name here at the apothecary. And she had practically ignored him after her warning about the fact that she wasn’t going to be with him.

  He wasn’t interested in her either. At least, not in the way that she seemed to expect that he was. He had plans for her, sure, but they had nothing to do with sleeping with her.

  He knew that he was meant to be lying low. His employer had told him that he shouldn’t be anywhere near London anymore. Nor near Bath. Unless he was called back for another position, he was meant to disappear.

  However, it wasn’t as though anyone knew of his involvement in Lord Henrich’s death. So why should he be made to disappear, to hide in the shadows for the rest of his life? It was enough that he wasn’t allowed to tell everyone what he had done.

  He wanted everyone to know that he was the one who had killed Lord Henrich. He certainly wanted everyone to know that he had been the one to put the blame wrongfully on that foolish doctor. He would have to wait at least until after the doctor hanged first, though.

  He wouldn’t do anything to jeopardize seeing Dr. Ellington sentenced to death in disgrace.

  It wasn’t enough just to see the doctor die, however. He wanted to destroy the daughter as well. She had stood by and watched as her father brought that ludicrous case before the medical college. She could have stood up for him. She could have reminded everyone that he had never done anything to harm her.

  She had never paid him even the slightest attention. She had avoided being in the same room as him. Now, she couldn’t avoid him any longer, but she thought that all he wanted was to have sex with her.

  His obsession with her went a lot deeper.

  What a foolish girl.

  He remembered her from when he had first started working for her father. She had been jealous of his position then. She seemed to have thought that he was taking over her space. It was a space that she could never have deserved. She was a foolish female, and her father was one of the best doctors in Bath.

  That was what Harvey had thought, that was. Until Dr. Ellington had made a fool of him and driven him out of the older man’s practice, and indeed out of medicine entirely.

  Harvey knew that he had never done anything worthy of the ill repute that the doctor had graced him with. A true scientist needed to experiment, else no new discoveries would ever be made.

  Dr. Ellington, in Harvey’s opinion, should never be called a scientist at all, no more than a minstrel should be mistaken for a bard.

  The doctor deserved whatever he got. And his daughter deserved whatever punishment he could give her as well.

  He had known that it would be a risk to be this close to her. What if she recognized him? He knew that Duke Cumberland of Havenport was trying his damndest to determine who had really killed Lord Henrich.

  The man had become quite a pest, really. But he had yet to find Harvey, and Harvey would bet that the man lacked sufficient evidence to really bring him to trial.

  He had decided to take the risk when it came to the girl. What were the chances that she would remember him? Now, he was glad that he had taken that risk.

  Clearly Charlene was so caught up in her thoughts about herself that she wouldn’t look past whatever was right in front of her nose.

  Harvey was safe. When the time was right, he would show the foolish chit just how unsafe she truly was. The world could be cruel. Fate, he had decided, should be just as cruel to her as it had been to him.

  He would disgrace her. He would harm her.

  He simply did not know whether to do it before or after her father’s death. If he killed her before the doctor was hanged, then someone might realize that there was something amiss.

  Someone might look a little deeper into things and find that the doctor had in fact not been the one to poison Lord Henrich.

  Harvey almost liked that idea. How would it be if Dr. Ellington had to live the remainder of his life without his dear daughter? Yet he knew that his employer would be angry with him for refusing to lay low as he had promised. His employer would be certain that Harvey would lead the investigators right back to him.

  Harvey had no desire to invite his employer’s vengeance. The man had an evil streak that was not to be trifled with.

&nbs
p; So perhaps he would be better off waiting until the conclusion of the doctor’s trial. As much as Harvey tended to be impatient, he had to admit that there was a certain pleasure to be found in that. He felt like a spider, spinning his web, just waiting for the woman to do something too stupid.

  Perhaps he would befriend her first. Convince her to trust him. Convince her that he wasn’t like other men, who apparently only wished to bed her. He would become her confidant. And then, when she counted him as a friend, he would reveal to her who he really was. Her father’s killer.

  She would be distraught. He would lock her away in some dank basement, where she could do nothing but think on the fact that he had killed her dear old man. He would continue to toy with her. To use her. To ruin her.

  And when he grew tired of her, he would kill her too.

  Harvey glanced sidelong at the woman. She was working resolutely with mortar and pestle, making no sign that she was aware of him at all anymore. But he knew that she must be.

  He wished that he could hear her heartbeat. To feel her fragile little pulse beneath his fingertips. He held her life in his hands. And she didn’t even know it.

  He felt lust surge through him. But it wasn’t her body that he desired, not in that way. It was the sense of power that stirred his body to attention.

  He knew that he couldn’t wait to have her. He couldn’t wait until after her father’s trial.

  In any case, it would be dangerous to wait, Harvey reasoned with himself. If I stay too long in this place, at this apothecary, the chances of being discovered are too high.

  He doubted that Duke Cumberland had realized who he was, just yet. He had no desire to allow the lord to realize the truth.

  He should take her tonight, he decided. In some abandoned alleyway. Where was the harm, anyway? He had a place where he could bring her. She would never be able to escape from him. Besides, who would notice that she was missing? Who would manage to discover her?

  Young women disappeared all too often, in these parts of town. It was why most sensible women did not go out without a man’s escort, not when they looked to be as pretty and well-bred as Miss Ellington.

  No one would remark on her disappearance. In fact, most of her erstwhile companions would probably believe that it was good riddance for her to disappear like that. They would never have to face the truth that they had convicted an innocent man, no matter what evidence the Duke of Havenport managed to discover.

  Harvey smiled to himself as he thought of what he would do. Yes, he would take her tonight. From this night on, until her death, she would be his plaything.

  A fitting revenge, for his having had his life stolen away from him. Harvey had no prospects left, and neither would Charlene. He would never practice medicine again in any real capacity, and neither would she.

  Yes, that was the perfect plan. He only needed to wait until she was alone and out on the streets.

  Chapter 31

  Mrs. Helene Wynter

  Helene hunched her shoulders and drew her shawl more tightly around her shoulders. She avoided making eye contact, as best she could, with anyone else on the streets. The last thing she needed was to be recognized in this part of the city.

  Of course, what did it really matter? Her family, and their reputation, was in tatters by this point..

  She swallowed hard. She had lost her whole family once, and she refused to lose it again. Yet she feared it was already too late.

  She was grateful for the additional pause on Aldric’s trial. The circumstances were not ideal, of course. They were the sort of circumstances that would ruin her family’s reputation further, she was certain.

  She smiled grimly as she thought back to that scene with the judge. She was proud of her actions, whatever they might mean for her family’s future. She would do things just the same if she had another chance.

  The trial had begun. She had been appalled to see how haggard and weak her brother looked. He was being kept in a nice cell, but it seemed his time there still had not been kind to him. Small wonder, with the vicious rumors cycling about his involvement in Lord Henrich’s death.

  Lord Ambrose had mounted evidence against the doctor, seeming extra-vicious in his attempts to discredit the man and prove his guilt.

  So Lady Helene had asked for a private audience with the judge. She had told the judge of Lord Ambrose’s indecent proposal.

  She had furnished proof of that proposal, in a letter that Lord Ambrose had written to her, threatening to send poor Aldric to the gallows if the doctor’s daughter refused his suit.

  It was a gross misuse of power, and the judge had been furious with the chief investigator. Helene knew that they had not seen the last of the man, but for now, the trial was paused while a new chief investigator could look into the situation.

  Everyone was talking about the strange turn of events, although no one seemed to know exactly why the marquis had been removed from the trial. The judge was keeping things quiet so that it wouldn’t affect the trial.

  Helene certainly appreciated that.

  Now, it was time for Helene to locate her wayward niece and bring her back home. It was safe for her now.

  The trouble was, rumors of Charlene’s whereabouts had become few and far between. She had been seen helping Miss Anne, one of the favored perfumers of London.

  Unfortunately, it sounded as though the woman had chased Charlene out upon discovery of who the girl really was.

  How foolish, Helene thought. It was easy for those of the ton to misjudge someone due to baseless rumors, when they themselves are not affected by it. Miss Anne was no different from the rest of them.

  Still, that was as good a place as any to begin.

  Helene pretended to browse the small shop as Miss Anne helped another client find the perfect scent to “make her desired fall madly in love with her”. Helene did her best not to snort at such foolishness.

  The women of England seemed to become increasingly vapid as the years went by. Sometimes, Helene wondered if she had made a mistake in bringing Charlene to London. Perhaps life would have been different if her niece had remained in Bath rather than coming to London.

  She could not change the past now, however. Best to think about the future.

  Finally, she was alone in the shop with Miss Anne. She stepped forwards, drawing back her hood. Miss Anne’s smile faltered. “I’m afraid I – ” she began, but Helene didn’t let her finish. Nor did she allow the woman to retreat, snaking out an arm and catching the other woman’s wrist in an iron grip.

  “My niece,” she said flatly.

  Miss Anne tossed her head, her eyes narrowed. “You mean the witch?” she asked. “She left, days ago. She no longer works for me.”

  “I heard she did not leave, but that you chased her out,” Helene said evenly, tightening her grip slightly. The other woman gasped, and Helene smiled cruelly.

  “Well, if I chased her out, it was only because she deserved it,” Miss Anne countered. “She tricked me into hiring her in the first place.”

  “Do not blame my niece because you only desired her talents until the rumors became too much,” Helene snapped.

  “She disguised herself!” Miss Anne cried. “She used her wicked witchery to fool me into believing that she was some other poor young woman in need of a place to stay.”

  “What is this foolish talk of witchery?” Helene snorted scornfully. “My niece is no witch. There is no reason to slander her.”

  “No witch?” Miss Anne challenged. “With mismatched eyes like hers? The child should have been burned the moment her queerness became apparent.”

  Helene barely refrained from slapping the woman. She leaned in close, her eyes flashing with fury. “Where is she?” she asked. “I know that you know where she has gone. Now tell me, before I use my own witchery on you!”

  Miss Anne recoiled in horror, her eyes slipping away from Helene’s as though she was afraid to look the other woman in the eyes. “I have heard rumors that she
is working for a different apothecary,” the woman reluctantly admitted. “In Whitechapel.”

  It was Helene’s turn to feel horror course through her body. Whitechapel was not the sort of place for a young, pretty woman like Charlene to go to.

  Of course, it was the perfect place for someone to disappear. None of Charlene’s peers would ever find her there. Helene only hoped that she would be able to find her niece. That the woman wouldn’t have disappeared for good.

  Not that she would risk going into that part of the city by herself. As much as Helene desired to find her niece there, she knew that that was a risk that she could not take. She would need to send someone. Her most trusted friend. The man she had once thought she might marry.