by Laura Martin
‘They’re almost destitute.’
‘I know.’
‘Right on the brink. I have the impression they could lose everything in the next few months if the marriage isn’t settled soon.’
Leo’s eyebrows rose a fraction, but he didn’t look overly surprised.
‘That bad? I knew they were struggling with the upkeep of that country house of theirs and had sold their London home.’
‘I get the impression that if the marriage to you falls through they will be ruined.’
Josh watched as his brother nodded thoughtfully.
‘It would explain Lady Hummingford’s desperation.’ Leo began to lead his horse down the path and Josh realised he didn’t mean to continue on with the ride.
‘Their predicament doesn’t have to impact on your decision whether to marry her,’ Josh said, knowing he sounded completely heartless.
‘I know. Still, I need to marry someone. I suppose if an ancient family is saved from destitution in the process at least something good is coming out of it.’
‘What was the debt you owed the old Earl?’
For a long moment Josh didn’t think his brother was going to answer. There was a faraway look in his eyes and a sadness that emanated from him.
‘He helped someone I cared about, when I couldn’t. He stepped up and did the right thing even though it put him at risk.’ It was an answer, but still a cryptic one. ‘When I found out what he’d done I wanted to repay his kindness, so I agreed to consider marrying his daughter when she came of age.’
‘There would be other ways to repay the debt,’ Josh said quietly, wondering even as he said the words why he was protesting so much.
‘Money? I’ve tried that. When the old Earl first passed away I offered to settle a sum of money upon the family, in lieu of the marriage. Lady Hummingford declined. A few months ago, when she wrote to inform me they would be coming to London for the season and she hoped to settle on an arrangement, she hinted again that only marriage would do. I suppose their debts are too great for me to pay up outright, they want the weight of my name and the family fortune I will inherit to hold off their creditors.’ Leo looked at him for a long moment. ‘Is there a reason you’re opposed to the match?’
‘I don’t remember Mother and Father well, but I did have the privilege of growing up with two people who cared very deeply for one another.’
‘Your guardian?’
‘Yes. He and his wife loved one another. They’ve been married for almost forty years and have stayed strong and loyal throughout all that time. I think it is important to care for the woman you marry and I get the impression you wouldn’t much notice if it were Lady Elizabeth or one of a hundred other debutantes walking down the aisle.’
Leo ran his hand through his hair and patted his horse distractedly on the neck as he considered Josh’s words.
‘You’re not wrong. I find myself unable to feel anything for someone I barely know and my enthusiasm for the task of getting to know her is limited, but I’m not sure I agree that affection is important for marriage.’ He gave a sad little smile. ‘In fact, I think love can be destructive. Better to have a union where the focus is on duty rather than love.’
‘Do you truly believe that?’
‘Yes.’ He sounded so definite, so convinced of his own point of view that Josh fell silent. He wasn’t privy to all the major events in his brother’s life. The letters he’d received had told him of graduating university, taking over the running of the estates for Lord Abbingdon, trips to the continent and interesting insights into rural English life, but they hadn’t been very rich on personal details. This fitted with the staid and serious personality of the man walking next to him, but Josh did wonder if Leo was hiding behind that persona just a little. Just as he wondered if someone, a woman, a lover, had helped shape the unromantic stance Leo was taking. If perhaps his serious older brother had once had his heart broken.
Leo clapped him lightly on the shoulders. ‘Do not worry, let us see what happens in Sussex. Nothing is settled yet.’
Chapter Eight
‘Brace yourself,’ Joshua Ashburton murmured in her ear as they ascended the steps to Miss Culpepper’s neat town house.
Beth was flanked on each side by an Ashburton brother, feeling decidedly small between the two towering men.
‘Josh,’ Leo said admonishingly and then cleared his throat. ‘Although I do have to warn you, Lady Elizabeth, Miss Culpepper can sometimes be a little...’ he searched for the right word ‘...abrupt.’
Abrupt she could deal with. She might have lived a sheltered life in Sussex, but she had still socialised and she was well aware of Miss Culpepper’s type. Single spinsters of a certain age with tongues that spat words to sting like a flick of a whip. Beth had encountered enough in her time to know that the best way to deal with women like that was to be polite, unfalteringly cheerful, but firm. It was important not to let yourself be bullied.
‘You don’t have to come in,’ Leonard Ashburton said across her head to his brother.
‘I wouldn’t miss this for the world.’
She caught the look between the two men and she wondered, not for the first time, why Joshua Ashburton was there.
As Leonard Ashburton stepped up to Miss Culpepper’s door she leaned over and whispered quietly, ‘Why are you here?’
‘Miss Culpepper will not be pleased to see me,’ he said grimly. ‘But I had this strange compulsion, this need to come and meet the woman who separated me from Leo when we were mourning our parents.’ He shrugged. ‘You should thank me. I’m sure most of her spite will come in my direction and not yours.’
The door opened and an elderly butler ushered them inside, showing them through the neat but plain hallway into a drawing room.
Miss Culpepper sat in an upright chair next to the fireplace. She acknowledged them when they entered but did not rise. Beth found herself watching the interaction between Miss Culpepper and Leonard Ashburton. She had raised him, looked after him from the age of eight, but she didn’t move to embrace him.
‘Have a seat. Mr Watkins, will you see that tea is prepared? I will ring the bell for the maid to bring it in when we are ready.’
The butler silently glided from the room and closed the door behind him. Beth sat, feeling the tension in the room already as Miss Culpepper glared openly at Joshua Ashburton.
‘I didn’t realise you were bringing your brother, Leonard.’
‘I wanted to meet you. We are family, after all.’
‘Hmm. I understand you will soon be leaving again for India. There is hardly any point in trying to forge relationships.’
It was the first time Beth had ever seen Joshua Ashburton at a loss for words. She wanted to reach out and take his hand, to squeeze it and remind him he wasn’t the little boy who had been rejected, that he was a successful and well-loved man. He had spoken warmly about his guardian and she didn’t doubt, even though Joshua had been the one unwanted by any of his own family, he’d had the more loving upbringing.
‘Lady Elizabeth, I hear my great-nephew is considering you for his future wife.’
‘We are considering each other, Aunt,’ Leonard Ashburton corrected her quietly but firmly.
‘Strange arrangement. What do you think you would bring to the marriage?’
Beth blinked. She’d expected an interrogation, but had thought there would be at least a little bit of small talk first. Instead Miss Culpepper had jumped right in with the questions she wanted Beth to answer.
‘She is the daughter of an earl,’ Joshua Ashburton said, leaning back in his chair and crossing one foot over the other. ‘Even I know an earl is higher in the hierarchy than a viscount.’
Miss Culpepper flashed him a look filled with icy disgust.
‘Indeed. Although all of society knows Lady Elizabeth needs this match more than Leo
nard. The dire situation of your family’s finances is often gossiped about.’
Feeling her stomach clench, Beth glanced at Josh and could see he was about to jump to her defence, so she spoke quickly.
‘My family may be struggling now, Miss Culpepper, but we did not through my formative years. I had the finest education, the best opportunities. My mother ensured I excelled in all the skills a well-bred young lady should, but also saw I was versed in the practical side of a marriage. I can run a large household, throw sumptuous dinner parties, make small talk with the peers of the realm. I would be an asset to your great-nephew. Other women might come with more money, but they wouldn’t have the same refinement.’
Miss Culpepper’s lips tightened but Beth saw the minute nod of acknowledgement. The old lady could appreciate the truth of what Beth was saying.
She felt a little nauseous. It was the first time she had tried to sell her skills, to show why she would be the right choice of wife for Leonard Ashburton, and none of it felt right. This was what she had been preparing for her whole life; every tutor, every dinner party they’d thrown, every moment had been leading up to this.
‘Did you grow up here, Mr Ashburton?’ She turned to Leonard Ashburton, asking the question quickly to try to avoid any further probing from Miss Culpepper.
‘I spent some of my childhood here and some in the countryside.’
‘Lord Abbingdon has a number of estates and when he heard I agreed to raise Leonard he allowed us use of one of the more moderate-sized country houses in Kent,’ Miss Culpepper said briskly.
‘You are not related to Lord Abbingdon?’ For some reason Beth had thought Miss Culpepper and Lord Abbingdon must be brother and sister.
‘No. Lord Abbingdon is from Leonard’s father’s side of the family, I am from his mother’s.’
‘Our mother’s,’ Josh corrected her quietly. ‘She was my mother too.’
Miss Culpepper didn’t say anything to this, instead stood abruptly and went to pull the bell cord situated in the corner of the room. Ten seconds later a maid hurried in with a tray piled high with cups and a large pot of tea.
They all sat in silence as Miss Culpepper poured the tea. Beth knew if her mother were here she would be urging Beth to make conversation, to distract from the awkwardness in the room. It was her chance to show her skills at smoothing things over, but she found she had no desire to. Joshua Ashburton might be a successful man in his early thirties, he might have people who loved him, a business of his own and a way of seeing the world that meant opportunities were endless, but he was still being held back by the knowledge that this woman had looked at him at the age of six and decided he was not worthy of her care.
Leonard Ashburton was being his customary silent self, observing the interactions, but even though he was the figure that connected them he still seemed to be on the outside of it all.
‘Here is your tea, Lady Elizabeth. I assume you don’t take sugar. You wouldn’t be very attractive if you grew fat.’
Next to her she caught a glimpse of the movement of Joshua Ashburton’s shoulders shaking as he tried to hold in a laugh. It must have been too much effort because within seconds he let out a shout of laughter that startled Miss Culpepper into dropping the delicate silver spoon into the teacup she was holding with a rattle. Tea splashed onto the saucer.
‘Oh, I’m sorry. Did I startle you?’ Joshua Ashburton leapt forward with exaggerated concern.
‘You did.’
‘I couldn’t help myself. I think you must be one of the rudest women I’ve ever met, Great-Aunt Culpepper.’
‘Don’t call me that.’
‘You might have excluded me from the family as a child, but you still are my great-aunt.’ He seemed much more relaxed now he was actually saying what he was thinking rather than trying to hold it inside.
‘Josh,’ Leo said in a warning tone, but Beth got the impression he wasn’t going to step in, as if he realised his brother needed to get the trauma of rejection off his chest.
‘Lady Elizabeth, would you care for a spoon of sugar?’ he asked, barely taking a breath. ‘I for one think you would look most charming even if you were plump.’
‘I apologise for Mr Ashburton’s behaviour, Lady Elizabeth,’ Miss Culpepper said, standing and towering over them all. ‘Leonard, you should not have brought him.’
‘I am not his keeper,’ Leonard Ashburton said simply, and Beth found she had more respect for him in that moment than she ever had before.
‘Enough. I’ve had enough. Lady Elizabeth, despite your destitute status I suppose you will do. Leonard, hurry up and stop dawdling with your decision. And, you—’ she turned back to her other great-nephew ‘—I doubt we will ever see each other again so I will save my words.’
She left the room without a backwards glance. Beth and the two Ashburton brothers remained silent for a few seconds as if waiting to see if she would reappear before letting out the breaths they had been holding.
‘Good Lord, Leo, she’s a dragon. How on earth did you survive an upbringing by her?’
‘Shall we leave?’ Leonard Ashburton ignored his brother’s question, instead standing and motioning for Beth and Josh to precede him from the room.
Beth walked out first, hearing Leonard Ashburton lean in and murmur to his brother when he thought she was out of earshot, ‘I’m sorry, Josh. I know you wanted more from that encounter. I think she was so abrupt because she feels guilty for what she did all those years ago.’
Joshua Ashburton shrugged, but even from her position in the hall Beth could see the pain he was trying to hide in his eyes.
‘I apologise, Lady Elizabeth, that was not how I wished the afternoon to go,’ he said once they were outside. ‘I should have arranged for a separate meeting for you and Miss Culpepper, rather than combine it with taking Josh to see her.’
‘Lady Elizabeth got the dragon’s seal of approval,’ Josh said cheerfully, ‘so it wasn’t an entirely wasted afternoon.’
‘Hmm. Josh, would you be so kind as to see Lady Elizabeth home? I should go and smooth things over with our great-aunt.’
‘It would be my pleasure.’
They watched Leonard Ashburton make his way back inside the house before Josh offered her his hand to help her into the waiting carriage. Beth settled against the plush seats as he took his place opposite her, their knees almost touching.
‘I’m sorry,’ he said quietly after the carriage was moving. ‘You shouldn’t have had to see that.’
‘You don’t need to apologise.’
‘I do. I should have stayed away, let you meet Miss Culpepper without my dislike of the woman getting in the way.’
‘You needed to confront her, and I doubt she would have agreed to meet you otherwise.’
He was silent for a moment. ‘I did need to confront her. What does that say about me?’
Beth leaned forward and placed her hand over the top of his, feeling the warmth of his skin even through her gloves. It was an intimate gesture, one of friends or lovers, but it felt right to try to comfort this man who had come to mean so much to her.
‘Of course you’re going to have questions for the woman who could have changed the course of your life.’
‘I don’t understand why I’m still so angry. It turned out well for me. I got a loving family, a life of adventure, and soon I’ll be in charge of one of the most successful businesses in India. I should be thanking her for setting me free.’
‘It did turn out well,’ Beth said slowly, ‘but I think you’re angry for two reasons. The first is she separated you from your brother when you needed him the most. And the second is she did it all without knowing it would turn out well. It was only luck that Mr Usbourne stepped up and took you in—when Miss Culpepper refused you she didn’t know what life she was condemning you to.’
‘You have a logical head on
you, Lady Elizabeth.’ As he looked at her she could see some of the pent-up anger seeping from his body. His shoulders began to relax, his jaw unclench, his posture soften.
The journey was short and already the carriage was slowing to a stop in front of her town house. She shifted in her seat to prepare herself to step down, but Joshua Ashburton gripped her hands and stilled her.
Beth looked up, her eyes meeting with his, and for a moment it felt as though their thoughts were as one. She felt every hurt and every hope of the man sitting opposite her. She knew he wanted to kiss her, wanted to take her into his arms and forget the world outside the carriage window, but she also knew he would respect her request to not jeopardise her chances of marrying his brother. For a moment she cursed herself for making the request and wondered how foolish she would be if she leaned across the space between them and kissed him.
‘I will see you in Sussex, Lady Elizabeth,’ he said softly.
With a great effort she nodded and tore her gaze away from his. As she stepped out of the carriage she made the mistake of glancing back, and felt the sudden realisation that it was something much deeper than pure desire that filled her heart. Quickly she pushed the thought aside, but she knew it had lodged somewhere deep down as she felt her heart squeeze at the thought of this man leaving her life for ever in a few short weeks.
It took a gargantuan effort to compose herself enough to enter the house, knowing her mother would be waiting just inside the door for a detailed account of exactly what had passed. Beth didn’t know if she could recount it all without letting slip her feelings for the wrong Ashburton brother.
Chapter Nine
The salty breeze swept Beth’s hair from her face and whipped it around her neck. When she’d left the house she’d been perfectly groomed but the weather was conspiring to make her look less than poised and perfect, although Beth couldn’t bring herself to care. It was one of those beautifully warm days where in sheltered spots it felt as she imagined tropical climes to be, but when the wind blew you were reminded you were still in England, not nearer the equator.