Flirting with His Forbidden Lady--A Regency Family is Reunited

by Laura Martin

  ‘It’s a bad situation.’ Even Leo was showing a hint of emotion. ‘Stay around for a little longer. She may yet change her mind.’

  Josh shook his head. She wouldn’t change her mind. Of course, he wanted her to, wanted her to come bursting through the doors declaring she’d made the worst mistake of her life, begging him to give her a second chance. He couldn’t wait around for it though; the sting of rejection was fresh and he hadn’t realised how deep that had cut. It had opened the old wounds that he’d thought healed but instead were just lurking under the surface.

  ‘I’ll catch an earlier ship back to India. If I leave for London tomorrow there will be a ship I can book passage on by the end of the week.’

  ‘If that is what you think best.’

  Nothing felt right, but he knew he couldn’t stay around and watch Beth marry his brother. That would be devastating. Travelling to half a world away it would still be upsetting, but at least he wouldn’t have to witness it, wouldn’t have to see them do what he had hoped for himself.

  ‘I’ll miss you, Leo.’

  ‘And I you, Josh. Perhaps in a year or two I will be able to come and see you in India. Until then we will have our letters.’

  Josh could picture Leo stepping off the gangplank of a ship just docked in the clear blue waters of the Indian Ocean. In the picture Beth was on his arm, parasol held above her head to protect her from the strong Indian sun, her hair blowing in the warm breeze. He would have to insist Leo didn’t bring his wife on any trips.

  They both lapsed into silence, Josh taking a gulp of brandy and appreciating the burn in his throat, anything to distract him from his morose mood.

  Half an hour later Josh collapsed into bed, squeezing his eyes tight and hoping that his sleep wouldn’t be filled with images of Beth, but knowing he would be disappointed. There hadn’t been a night in the last month he hadn’t dreamt of her.

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  You’ve made the worst mistake of your life, the little voice in Beth’s head kept telling her spitefully.

  It was only a few hours since Josh had ridden away without a backwards glance and already she was pining for him. The thought that she would never see him again made her feel as though her heart were ripping in two.

  You sent him away.

  And she had, cruelly and without any hint of emotion. She’d had to make him leave, knowing her resolve could crumble at any moment, knowing one kind word from him and she would collapse into his arms.

  Beth closed her eyes and tried to shut out all the self-recriminations and doubts. She’d done it for Annabelle, for her mother. She had done her duty. In years to come, surely she wouldn’t regret that.

  She was sitting in the summer house on one of the wooden benches, trying to block out the memories of being in here with Josh. When she trailed her fingers along the wood of the seat she felt as though he were there with her, about to materialise with that easy grin and tease her about something.

  She remembered all of their conversations, from the first time they’d met at his brother’s party when she had mistaken him for Leonard, as they’d got to know each other little by little in London, to the times she’d bared her soul to him down here on the Sussex coast. He’d loved her, knowing exactly who she was, knowing every last flaw and secret.

  Wrapping her arms around herself, she hugged tight, trying to fool herself it was Josh holding her. Despite her words, despite pushing him away so completely, Beth realised she was having doubts.

  ‘It’s too late,’ she murmured to herself. Too late to change her mind, too late to change her future.

  She wanted to do her duty, to see her family looked after, but as her mother had watched Josh ride away with a satisfied smile on her face Beth had seen for the first time what others might see, looking in. She’d remembered Josh’s protestation that she couldn’t blame herself for something that happened when she was five years old, that their mother should be the one to feel responsible for leaving Annabelle unsupervised and five-year-old Beth wasn’t at fault. In all the years that had passed, years filled with guilt and regret, it had always been Beth’s fault. Annabelle had never placed the blame at her door, but their mother had, and now Beth was realising that it just wasn’t fair. It shouldn’t be solely her responsibility to provide for Annabelle’s future. Of course, she wanted to look after her sister, but it shouldn’t be that she had to; that should fall at their mother’s feet.

  ‘I thought you might be hiding out here,’ Annabelle said, pulling the light shawl up around her shoulders as she stepped into the summer house. It was still a bright day but not as warm as the last few had been and there were clouds gathering in the sky.

  ‘How are you?’

  ‘Better, thank you. I’m sorry for being so self-indulgent.’

  ‘Don’t be silly. It was a horrible ordeal for you.’

  Annabelle came and sat down next to her, taking the spot Josh had sat in only a few days earlier.

  ‘I think you might have done something stupid, Beth,’ she said quietly.

  ‘I think I have.’

  ‘I saw Mr Joshua Ashburton riding off at quite a pace earlier today. He didn’t look like a man who had got what he wanted.’

  Pressing her lips together to hold in the emotion, Beth shook her head.

  ‘He asked me to marry him.’

  ‘Why did you say no?’ Annabelle sounded shocked, her fingers clutching at Beth’s.

  ‘I didn’t, not at first. He asked me to marry him and I said yes.’

  ‘But...?’

  ‘We had it all planned out—how you would come with us to India if you wanted, and Mother would have to sell the house, but we could set her up in a modest residence. It wasn’t perfect but it allowed me to follow my heart and not feel completely guilty about leaving you and Mother behind.’

  ‘Oh, Beth, please tell me you didn’t give it up for me.’

  ‘I was rushing home to tell you, I couldn’t wait, and then we saw what happened in the village with those horrible men. You were so upset...’

  ‘Beth.’ Annabelle shook her head, looking much older than her twenty-one years.

  ‘And then you said you could never leave the house again and I knew I couldn’t force you to come to India with me, or even leave Birling View, not when it is where you feel safe.’

  ‘Why didn’t you just ask me?’

  It was a good question. For so long she had tried to protect Annabelle from the world, without acknowledging that she was now a young woman with her own thoughts and opinions.

  ‘I knew you would have said to marry Josh and not worry about you, but of course I worry about you.’

  ‘I’m an adult, Beth. I know I might not go out, I might not have the chance of a family of my own, a house of my own, but I still can make my own decisions about my future.’

  ‘I just wanted to protect you.’

  ‘I know. You always do. And you have done so well all these years, but now isn’t it time for you to reach for your own happiness?’

  ‘Mother doesn’t think so.’

  Annabelle scoffed. ‘Mother has become so consumed with money and the debts Father left that she doesn’t remember you are a person too, entitled to hope for more for your own future.’

  It was true. Their mother had never been the most maternal of women and over the years she had become more distant, but it had become much worse since their father had died, leaving her to deal with his debts.

  ‘I just wanted to protect you,’ Beth repeated, the knowledge that she had made a big mistake taking hold deep down.

  ‘I know, but I don’t want your protection at the price of your happiness. Not when the alternative is entirely acceptable. I’ll take a pleasant little cottage from Mr Ashburton and will be just as happy there as I am here. Happier, even, as I will know you are contented.’

 
‘I pushed him away, Annabelle.’

  ‘Do you think you can get him back?’

  Beth considered for a moment. He had been unable to hide the hurt in his eyes when she’d rejected him, but he did love her.

  ‘I have to try.’

  ‘You should go before Mother finds out your intentions.’

  ‘No,’ Beth said decisively. ‘I’m not creeping around any more. I will tell her what I plan to do and she will just have to accept it.’

  Annabelle squeezed her into a hug and Beth felt her resolve hardening. She would go after Josh and show him how sorry she was and hopefully that would be enough.

  * * *

  ‘Ah, Elizabeth—good. I wanted you to see the letter to Leonard Ashburton before I send it.’ Her mother passed over the neatly written note, staying seated at her writing desk and straightening her stationery as Beth read the words.

  Dear Mr Ashburton,

  After careful consideration, Lady Elizabeth is eager to settle the details of the arrangement between you. She is keen to announce the engagement as soon as you are happy to do so and would like a date in the coming few weeks set for the wedding.

  I know you will honour your promise to my late husband and hope you will be in contact shortly to finalise the details.

  Yours sincerely,

  Lady Hummingford

  It was short, to the point and left no room for doubt. Beth held the note out so her mother couldn’t miss what happened next and then promptly tore the paper in half.

  ‘Elizabeth, what are you doing?’

  ‘I am not going to marry Leonard Ashburton, Mother.’

  ‘Don’t be silly, Elizabeth. I don’t want to discuss this again. That other man has left, never to return, and now it is time to forget all that silliness and think of your future.’

  ‘I am thinking of my future. I am going to marry Josh.’

  ‘Don’t be selfish, Elizabeth. Think of your family, the debts.’

  ‘They’re not my debts, Mother. I will not leave you destitute, but I am not going to give up my chance of happiness just for the sake of keeping up appearances. Sell the house, the debts will be settled.’

  ‘And your sister? You would see her out on the street?’

  ‘She won’t be on the street. She can come with us to India or she can stay here with the modest yearly income Josh can provide.’

  ‘You think that’s enough?’

  Beth forced herself to remain calm. Normally this was the point when her guilt would start to kick in and she would concede because she felt so responsible for Annabelle.

  ‘Yes. It is.’

  Her mother looked at her long and hard, a flicker of contempt in her eyes.

  ‘You know I would never blame you for what happened to your sister...’ she began.

  ‘You always blamed me.’

  ‘That’s unfair, Elizabeth. You were only a child, of course. But it is indisputable that you have certain advantages, chances that your sister will never have. If you choose to throw that away on a man who cannot support you and your sister in the appropriate manner...’

  ‘Yes, Mother?’

  ‘Well, it is selfish.’

  Beth took a deep breath and steadied her nerves. Her mother had always been strong and impossible to argue with, but she had to do it now or risk a lifetime of regret.

  ‘You and Annabelle will be provided for,’ she repeated calmly. ‘And I get to be happy. Surely you must want one of your daughters to be happy.’

  ‘Happiness is fleeting. Security is not.’

  ‘You speak as if Josh was a labourer or a poor sailor. He has good prospects and is from a good family.’

  ‘I cannot let you marry him.’

  Beth remained silent for a moment, holding her mother’s eyes.

  ‘If you marry him I will have no more to do with you.’

  Even though Beth knew her mother was just pushing her, testing her limit, she felt the pain of the betrayal.

  ‘So be it,’ she said calmly, hoping her voice wouldn’t catch on the lump in her throat. She turned to go, aware they wouldn’t get any further, when a thought struck her. ‘Tell me, Mother, why did you choose to take Annabelle out yesterday? After all those years of encouraging her to stay inside, why yesterday?’

  ‘I don’t know what you mean.’

  Beth saw the flicker of unease in her mother’s eyes and felt sick at the implication.

  ‘For seventeen years you’ve kept Annabelle hidden, then yesterday you pressed her to go to the village.’

  ‘If you have an accusation to make, just say it. I am too weary to be trying to guess what you mean, Elizabeth.’

  ‘You organised it, didn’t you? The young men in the village—you paid them to insult Annabelle, to ensure she was so upset she would ask me to save Birling View, to marry Leonard Ashburton.’

  ‘Don’t be ridiculous.’ The words were a denial but Beth knew with a sickening certainty that she was right. Her mother had set the whole horrible experience up.

  For a moment she was too shocked to move and then she knew she didn’t want to be in the same room as her mother a single second longer.

  Quickly she ran upstairs, throwing open the door to her and Annabelle’s bedroom to find Annabelle at the writing desk.

  ‘Come with me,’ she said, crossing the room and crouching down in front of Annabelle. ‘I can’t leave you here with her.’

  ‘Don’t be silly. You’ve got your new life to start. You don’t want me holding you back.’

  ‘I do. Come with me. Please, Annabelle.’

  Annabelle leaned forward and kissed Beth on the forehead.

  ‘For once stop worrying about me and go live your life.’

  ‘You don’t know what Mother has done.’

  ‘It doesn’t matter. I’m staying here. I will help Mother deal with selling the house and we can find a suitable house somewhere. Perhaps our cousin will assist us.’

  ‘You could come to India. It would be an adventure.’

  ‘Your adventure, Beth, not mine.’ Annabelle smiled softly at her. ‘I won’t have you stay for me, and I’m not coming with you. Just promise me one thing—that you’ll write every single week so I can hear of all the exciting things you’ll be doing.’

  Beth hesitated, but then nodded. Annabelle had the right to make her own decision, and the offer to come join her and Josh in India would be an open-ended one. If she felt the time was right in a month or a year, then she could make the journey.

  ‘I love you.’ Beth gripped her sister in a tight hug.

  ‘I love you too. Now go get your Mr Ashburton.’

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  It was almost mid-morning by the time the carriage was approaching Leonard Ashburton’s country residence. She had moved quickly at Birling View, instructing the footmen who were still there from the house party to ready the hired carriage before her mother could think to forbid it. Without even packing a change of clothes she had departed, knowing she needed to catch up with Josh as soon as possible. Even so she had been forced to stop in a coaching inn as the light failed and the coachman insisted they wait for dawn before continuing as he didn’t know the roads. At the inn she had sent the coachman to enquire about Leonard Ashburton’s exact address as she didn’t want to waste a minute driving round the area surrounding Tunbridge Wells searching for the estate.

  Now she had pressed the coachman into starting just as the first light peeked above the horizon, meaning they had made good time, but still she felt as though she were too late.

  ‘This is the last day Lady Hummingford has paid me for,’ the groom said as he helped her down from the carriage. ‘The carriage is due back in London by nightfall. Do you wish me to wait?’

  ‘Yes, please. I may need to travel to London myself.’

  ‘Very
well.’ He stepped back, leaving her very much alone on her approach to the house.

  It had a pretty brick façade with climbing flowers covering the lower half and large windows that must let in a lot of light. It was large without being imposing and looked surprisingly welcoming.

  Beth wondered how much influence over the appearance of the house Leonard Ashburton had. She knew it was one of his uncle’s properties, all of which would be inherited by Leonard, but she didn’t know if he was allowed to treat this as his own house already. It seemed too pretty, too frivolous for the stern and sober man.

  Knowing she was trying to delay the moment she had to knock at the door, Beth forced herself forward and picked up the heavy knocker.

  ‘Lady Elizabeth Hummingford to see Mr Joshua Ashburton,’ she said to the elderly butler who opened the door.

  ‘You’d better come in,’ Leonard Ashburton said, not waiting for the butler to speak, as he emerged out of a room off the main hall.

  It was bright and airy inside and Beth felt the urge to dawdle and gawp, but she quickly followed after Leonard Ashburton, perching on the edge of the seat he indicated in his study.

  ‘Is your brother here, Mr Ashburton?’

  ‘No.’

  She felt her hopes fizzle and die. Josh might have gone straight to London instead, straight to the docks if she were unlucky, to find a ship to book passage on back to India. To get as far away as he could from her.

  ‘He left about two hours ago.’

  Damn coachman insisting they stop overnight. She would have caught Josh if they’d pushed on.

  ‘Did he say where he was going?’

  ‘What business do you have with my brother, Lady Elizabeth?’

  Beth swallowed. She wondered how much of the last few days Josh had told his brother and knew by the suspicious look in Leonard Ashburton’s eyes it must have been a good proportion of it.

  ‘I need to see him urgently.’

  ‘I see. Am I to understand you’ve made a mistake that you wish to rectify?’

  Beth nodded.

  ‘Thank goodness for that. I was worried you were really dense. And, of course, then I would have had to marry you and I find it hard to tolerate stupid people.’ It was the longest sentence he’d ever said to her and Beth was struggling to work out just how many times he had insulted her in it.