Three Times The Rake (The Northumberland Nine Series Book 3)

by Dayna Quince

  Lake was silent, but his expression revealed his cautious excitement.

  Gavin clapped the man on the shoulder. “Right now, I feel like I can do anything. We’ll make it work, Lake. That I promise you.”

  Mr. Lake shuffled his feet and wiped his brow. “If need be, I can take a lesser wage to offset the cost of hiring so many to replace me.”

  Astounding, a man with a new child to support was willing to take less? This was exactly the type of mentality his father had always demanded. For his employees to give more: more time, more effort, more everything, and that left almost nothing for anything else outside of work. But the employees didn’t have any riches to show for their relentless work ethic.

  Greed, Georgie had called it.

  And she was right.

  It was about more than money to his father. He was ruthless in his expectations but tight-fisted with the rewards.

  Gavin was not going to keep the status quo any longer.

  “Tell Mrs. David what you need your salary to be and it is done. I’ve got to get back to my house party.” Gavin stopped at the door, so giddy his head was spinning. “It’s a new day, Lake.”

  “It is indeed, sir.”

  “Don’t keep your wife waiting a moment longer.”

  “I won’t sir.”

  Nor will I.

  Gavin went across the street to the Gold Inn and booked a room. He wanted to ride straight back to Georgie but he and his horse needed a solid night’s rest, and he should inspect the forge before he leaves. He would have to stay a day at the very least and convince Lake he hadn’t lost his mind.

  Which he hadn’t.

  He was just in love.

  Chapter 23

  Georgie tried to keep her attention on her sisters but every one of them seemed as distracted as she. For two nights Bernie had been missing, but guiltily, or maybe because Violet and Anne kept assuring them she was fine, Georgie’s thoughts were mostly on Gavin and what Lord Luckfeld had said.

  Don’t belittle his feelings.

  She replayed that night in her room over and over, and each time his words took on new meaning. Did he want to marry her and duty and honor were only convenient excuses?

  She’d wracked her brain for hours and it was still only morning. She’d already been to see her patients before the sun rose. Opal’s leg was healed and she’d even been able to hop around the tack room. Georgie was relieved and happy that Opal could soon be released but saddened to let her go. Now Georgie was back in her room, her head and heart hurting, and her temples throbbing.

  Jeanie and Josie rushed into her room, startling her.

  “Mother is here. Something terrible has happened to Bernie!” Josie cried.

  Georgie rubbed her head. “What?”

  “Come,” Jeanie yanked her up. “We’re going to Kirkland.”

  “Did Lord Kirkland catch them?”

  No, that couldn’t be right. Chester had been back and forth between the castle and Kirkland while Bernie was gone. Though he had been acting strange.

  “Our sister needs us. Hurry!” Jeanie bid.

  Georgie jumped into action. Most of the household was making their way to Kirkland on foot. There certainly must be quite a commotion but her sisters didn’t have any answers for her.

  They reached the drive of Kirkland manor, the air filled with the buzz of speculation. Lord Kirkland’s carriage drove up, stopping in front of the manor, and Georgie was transfixed by what appeared to be a body strapped to the top of the carriage.

  Josie gasped. “Is that…”

  Lord Selhorst came to her side. “Look away, Miss Josette.” Josie did, turning into his side. Jeanie rushed to them after speaking to one of the Kirkland servants.

  “She was kidnapped,” Jeanie whispered.

  “Oh my God. This whole time?” Georgie asked.

  “No, only since this morning.”

  Georgie shook her head in confusion. “Where has she been all this time?”

  Just then the carriage door opened and the occupants debarked, Chester, Lady Kirkland, their father, and then Lord Kirkland with assistance.

  “He’s hurt,” Georgie whispered.

  Bernie stepped out last, pale and disheveled.

  Georgie wanted to run to her, but the crowd swarmed around the coach as Lord Kirkland was assisted inside and Violet reached her first. Georgie couldn’t hear what was said, but soon they were all urged to return to the castle.

  “What is happening?” Georgie asked in agitation. She wasn’t about to be pushed aside.

  Lord Luckfeld took her arm. “They won’t tell us anything just yet. We may as well return and wait in comfort.”

  Georgie eyed him. She didn’t want to listen to him or anyone else. She was tired of all the secrecy, the lies going around between her sisters. This wasn’t like them. Nothing had been normal since the start of this party, and though it clearly wasn’t his fault, she wanted to blame someone. He seemed to be growing more comfortable with her family, which was strange and a bit disconcerting. Even if Anne married Roderick, there was sure to be a huge scandal now. The Northumberland Nine would not only be infamous, they would be social pariahs.

  “You know what this means, don’t you?” she asked him.

  He nodded stiffly.

  “We’re all ruined,” Georgie whispered. “None of us will be able to marry. No one will accept us.” She swallowed. “All of you should leave or you’ll become a farce like us.”

  His gaze pinned her. “I know what the ton is capable of. Society is an intricate web we must all navigate.”

  “An interesting analogy. Are my sisters the flies that are now caught, soon to be devoured?”

  He touched her elbow and they both slowed, the crowd moving on ahead of them.

  “I didn’t think you, out of all your sisters, would fall to hysterics.

  “I’m not hysterical,” Georgie hissed. “I’m worried about my sisters. Do you know what that feels like? Do you have siblings?”

  “I do. Two. A sister and a brother. I’m all they have and I know what it means to worry over them, over their futures.”

  “Then you should go home to them because nothing good will come of staying here, of being near us. Bernie once said we are cursed and now I think I believe her.”

  He chuckled. “So now you seek to push me away?”

  Her gaze snapped to his. “Why would you stay? We mean nothing to you.”

  His expression hardened. He looked ahead of them and Georgie followed his gaze. Jeanie stood apart, waiting for them.

  Georgie studied him. “Unless I’m wrong about you, as I was wrong about Gavin?” she prodded.

  His attention moved back to her, his face stern. “It may come as a surprise to you that I could care about someone other than myself, but I wouldn’t expect you to know that about me. Most people get what they see with me, the rake, the charmer, the showman. But no one knows me, not the real me.”

  “So who are you?”

  “That isn’t important now, is it? What matters this moment is how you will choose to react. Will you fight for your sisters?”

  “Of course.”

  “Will you fight for Gavin?”

  She bit her lip. Then she nodded.

  “Then the scandal doesn’t matter. What others think doesn’t matter anymore and you are free to be truly happy. Your indifference to it becomes your greatest strength. For example, Weirick. He was one of the ton’s biggest scandals and yet he is now most coveted.”

  Georgie rolled her eyes. “He’s a duke, and he never goes to town. He loathes society.”

  “True but not giving a damn, pardon my language, is the key. The ton will scent weakness and attack it. But strength is lauded, individuality, cunning intelligence, those things are greater allies. Plus friends like me. Weirick will go to London when necessary to fulfill his duty in the House of Lords. He doesn’t socialize but Violet does. She is welcomed in every circle of the ton.”

  Georgie hugged herse
lf. “I can see how they could overcome their past but their circumstances are very different from my sisters and me.”

  “You are strong and so are your sisters.”

  Georgie bit her lip. “Thank you, but…”

  “No. Do not for one second doubt what you have here. I knew of you before but having spent nearly two weeks with the lot of you, I know you. You are all exceptional, and I doubt your lack of wealth will hinder you very much should you make it to the London season.”

  Georgie scoffed. “Are you mad? We won’t ever have a season now. We’ll be lucky to live off of Roderick’s generosity.”

  Now he stopped, forcing Georgie to stop.

  “Would you care to make a bet?”

  Georgie scoffed. “I beg your pardon?”

  “I predict no less than four Marsden sisters will be betrothed by the end of this party. You will be one of them if you heeded my advice two days ago.”

  Georgie laughed. “Are you mad?”

  “I’m observant, Miss Georgette.”

  She shook her head. “I’ll take that bet. I can’t lose.”

  He grinned and presented his hand. “When I win, you’ll owe me an apology and I’ll have rights to name your first child.”

  Georgie blushed. “Ridiculous but very well. And when I win you shall owe me a favor.”

  “Agreed.”

  They shook hands and turned back toward the castle. Jeanie was waiting for them.

  Georgie chewed her lip, watching Luckfeld from the corner of her vision as he studiously stared at Jeanie. There was something in his gaze. Georgie didn’t know what it was, but it was something with fire. Her arms prickled as her hair stood up.

  “Which four do you predict?” she asked, biting back a smile.

  “What?”

  “You predicted four. Which sisters? Jeanie?”

  He glanced at her, his eyes narrowed.

  “Why do you say her?”

  Georgie shrugged. “I just have a feeling.”

  “Yes. Well,” he cleared his throat. “She isn’t one of my predictions.”

  “Then who?”

  He smiled crookedly. “Obviously, Anne and Bernie.”

  Georgie sobered. “Bernie?”

  “She and Chester will marry. If they don’t, I’ll eat my hat. Then there is you and Cage.”

  Georgie sucked in a breath.

  “When he returns, he’ll have come to his senses,” he said, grinning at her.

  “What does that mean?”

  “It means he’s mad for you and some time away will only have clarified that to him. He’ll come back and this time he won’t take no for an answer.”

  Georgie gasped. “He told you?”

  “Yes. He comes to me for sage advice from time to time.”

  Georgie glanced away, a blush climbing her cheeks. How much did Luckfeld know about her and Gavin?

  “You thought I was a Gemma,” she retorted.

  He chuckled. “An unusual way to put it but yes, at first I did.”

  “That doesn’t speak well of your observational skills.”

  “If you knew Gemma, you might think otherwise.”

  Georgie glared at him. “She is a courtesan!” she hissed.

  “Yes, but she is so much more than that. Just as you are so much more than a poor gentlewoman. Gemma is my friend. She is funny and kind, and more importantly, she controls her life, which is something I also see in you. You defy convention, just as Gemma does.”

  “I see,” Georgie said. She chewed her lip again, thinking about how she could possibly have something in common with a woman like Gemma. “But that wasn’t what you saw in me at first.”

  “It was Cage who changed my mind. He saw something I did not. His attraction to you was undeniable, even to himself. I read you wrong, distracted by your unusual qualities. Forgive me.”

  “I forgive you. But don’t say those other things aloud, I beg you. No one can know about Mr. Cage and me.”

  He stuffed his hands in his coat pockets. “You will be one of the sisters who marries. It is only a matter of time before he returns, and he will propose again. What will you say?”

  Georgie’s heart tripped over itself. “Hush.”

  “What will you say?” he pressed.

  “I don’t know. There is too much to think about.”

  “Think quickly. I predict he will return before the ball.”

  “Predict. Do you read palms, Lord Luckfeld?”

  “Honestly I’ve never tried, but that does sound like something I’d be good at.”

  Georgie snorted.

  Jeanie joined them as they reached the castle. “We should see to mother.”

  Georgie nodded, hesitantly meeting his gaze. “Thank you for your advice, my lord.”

  “I look forward to seeing the outcome, Miss Georgette.” He bowed and moved away.

  “What was that about?” Jeanie asked as they headed toward the dowager duchess’s private parlor where their mother was resting.

  “Nothing,” Georgie said.

  “It didn’t sound like nothing, and given all that has occurred, I’m averse to more secrets between us. First Anne, now Bernie, and—” She threw her arms up in the air.

  “We’re Marsdens. Did you expect anything less from this party than utter catastrophe?”

  “Yes I did!” Jeanie said. “I hoped and prayed for it.”

  Georgie put her hand on Jeanie’s shoulder and they stopped in the hall.

  “It’s all right,” Georgie said. But her throat tightened. Because it was a lie, like it usually was. Jeanie was the closest in age to her and they’d relied on each other, lost in the middle of Marsden children together. They hugged, Jeanie sniffing as she fought tears.

  “I’m frightened.”

  “Me, too.” Georgie admitted.

  “I saw…the body. I don’t even want to think about what happened to Bernie. But it feels like so much is being kept from us. We’re sisters. Why didn’t we know Anne was in love with Roderick, or about Bernie and Chester?”

  “I don’t know.” Georgie rubbed her back. “We’ve all been”—lying to each other, falling for men who will or won’t marry us—“distracted by our own hopes for this party. We’ll find out the details soon enough.”

  They saw to their mother, and then their father arrived to take her home. He answered their questions, revealing the deceased person on top of the carriage to be Mr. Rupert, the young lad who had tried to kiss Bernie in the maze at Kirkland. He’d tried to kidnap her to force her to marry for the money that Lord Kirkland had promised him.

  Bernie returned to the castle in the evening and another sister meeting was called.

  Bernie confessed to her whereabouts, having never been farther than Kirkland Manor all this time with Chester hiding her, and Bernie confided that they were in love and would marry.

  Already Lord Luckfeld was halfway to winning the bet.

  But what shocked Georgie even more was that all these things had been happening right in front of her and she hadn’t noticed.

  Her two oldest sisters were like strangers to her, living these different lives in secret, falling in love.

  And then as she reached her room, Georgie realized she’d done the exact same thing. Georgie closed her door and slumped against it. She’d been keeping secrets from Jeanie, huge secrets. She’d bottled all her emotions about Gavin inside until they were so mixed and crammed together, she didn’t know how to pull them apart again. But how could she begin to explain what they’d done, how much he’d come to mean to her. She thought love and passion existed separately, that she was old enough and wise enough to keep them apart, to protect herself. But she’d succumbed so completely.

  She’d ignored the dreams of her girlhood, accepting that marriage, a home, and family of her own were out of her reach.

  But were they?

  Could she learn to be the wife Gavin needed as she had learned to take her father’s place?

  But that still didn�
�t change what he’d said. His business came first.

  She could not agree to the kind of life his mother endured. She would not bear children to a man who would ignore them.

  But Gavin did not appear to be such a man, no matter what he said. He was too considerate to do such things to someone he cared for and he did—Georgie realized suddenly, he cared for her. His actions spoke louder than all the warnings he’d given her. He was not his father. He would be different somehow. He’d cared enough to warn her about the dangers of their affair, and then he’d cared enough to marry her to protect her. There was more to this relationship between them than she’d recognized.

  But did he love her? Could he love her?

  If he did, she would marry him.

  She would not refuse him again if he proposed, as long as she was sure of his affections.

  Her decision washed over her, a tenuous joy blooming inside her. She knew what she wanted and she was going to reach for it; she might fall, but if there was one thing she was good at, it was getting back up again. And this time, she might have the man of her dreams there to help her.

  Chapter 24

  Gavin rode all day, arriving at the castle well after dinner. He had to wake the stable boy to let him in, and then walk the path to the back of the castle in the dark. But when he knocked on the back door, there was no answer, so he had to make his way to the kitchen entrance by the light of a weak moon partially covered by clouds. He thanked his stars it wasn’t raining as it had the night before.

  He woke the scullery boy, patting his head and slipping him a few coins. He got to his room and considered ringing for his valet just to let him known he’d returned but then thought better of it. The only thing he wanted to do was see Georgie. He’d thought of nothing but her for two days and he couldn’t wait to see her.

  But did she want to see him?

  He hadn’t time to speak to her before he’d been called away, and Luckfeld had been his only hope for telling her he’d gone and would return.